Hotel Il Palazzo — Hotel in Fukuoka

I was having such a great time on my 3 night stay until the last night. On my second night, I had dinner downstairs which is included with the stay with extra for the drinks. I wanted to do the same for my last night, but I was told that I could not sit in the section close to where the food and drinks were because that area was 'not for hotel guests ' and for 'course menu' paid reservations. I sat there the previous night and saw many hotel guests in the section as well with only ONE table with the 'course menu' outfitted with a black table cloth and they had a server.

When I asked if I could make a reservation (like I did for the previous night), an older lady with bangs told me that I could only sit far away, close to the concierge desk. I pointed at the table I sat at the night before and said that there was an Australian couple (also hotel guests) sitting next to me playing a board game. What she was saying did not make any sense. So, for more than 10 minutes, I had to do a back and forth with this person, LYING to me to my face saying that it was all booked for 'course menu' when only one table had a black table cloth on it at that moment. She did not move from my presence the whole time I was talking to her. I saw another employee from the night before and she came over and confirmed that I was sitting there and the Australians. The old lady with the bangs then tells me that 'maybe' I can sit there in a couple of hours. Then I question why she said it was all booked. She said there was 'new information '. She had 2 pieces of papers in her hands and shuffled them back and forth - old and new. Then she said something about cancellations???? Like, a whole swath of cancellations just happened in the course of then 10 minutes that I've been standing with this dolt?? I even asked her if I come back down in 2 hours am I going to see that section full of 'course menu' guests and that all the other tables will be outfitted with the black table cloths? She had the nerve to LIE to me and say 'yes'. In regards to the 'new information', I called her out on her not leaving my presence the whole time with the SAME papers in her hands. She then takes off her ear piece and says it came from there!!!! Are you telling me that you just had 6+ cancellations in the 10 minutes that you have been LYING and arguing with me??

The manager was called and confirmed that he saw me and the Australians with their board game the night before. The manager and someone else did say it was ok for me to sit there again tonight. This is my last night at this hotel. Is it that hard to make your guests feel welcome and comfortable? Why treat your guests like second class citizens and lie to them?

When I came back down a couple of hours later, there were 3 out of 9 tables set up for 'course menu'. One table actually was a real reservation. One table sat empty the whole time and the other was given to 2 super old ladies who were just sitting with the rest of everyone else.

IF a 'course menu' cost about $110usd where you get service (and you can get stuff from the buffet yourself), the buffet costs $15usd for non guests, and I'm staying there for 3 nights for over $1000usd buffet is free for me (drinks extra), why try to put me in the far away area????? Someone who pays $15 is more special than a GUEST of THREE NIGHTS??? What about the people who pay for the 'course menu'? I don't think it's fair that these people dress up only to eat in a shared area with $15...

We had a terrible experience staying at this hotel, and before I get into that I will say that the room was dated, but comfortable. The design with the split bathroom was thoughtful, and we appreciated that it made it feel like the bedroom was separate. The breakfast beat expectations also, with some interesting dishes, though there was no variety day to day outside of the western-style soup. ||||Now onto the negatives:||||-The staircase entrance is not stroller or child friendly at all. Nor would it be possible for anyone with disabilities to stay here. You would think that given that there is a huge staircase to get into the hotel someone would be there to help with bags, but you would be wrong. No one is there, and no one was ever there. If you have any mobility issues at all, do not stay at this hotel. ||||-Hidden costs. We booked the hotel in part because in previous reviews people had said cribs were available. In searching the website there was nothing about any additional costs for a baby bed (which the hotel admitted). So we were a bit shocked when the manager insisted that we pay an additional ~$35/night for the baby bed, which was basically a 15% price increase of the rate we were paying. ||||-Terrible manager. So we were pretty upset about the additional cost, but what put it over the edge was the incredibly rude and dismissive manager, who refused to even entertain the thought of reaching a compromise on the baby bed issue. If you end up having to deal with this guy, he's the taller one with the glasses, be prepared for him to seem entertained by your misfortune and smirk throughout the interaction. In our reservation we had made it clear that we wanted a baby bed, and nothing throughout our booking process mentioned that there would be an additional cost, and he still refused to budge, and just continued to quote us the same ridiculous price. His staff appeared to want to make an accommodation for us, but he prevented them from doing so. He told us that they had baby beds available, but would not give one to us. ||||-Air conditioning vents dirty. The vents appeared to have some mold in them and werein desperate need of cleaning. ||||-Windows look out into other buildings, so there is little natural light. ||||-Watch out for the elevator doors, they will slam on you...

I think this was my least favourite hotel I stayed in Japan after travelling there for over 10 times, frying from different countries, pre and post COVID.

There was a mid aged female staff with glasses who refused to lend me an umbrella when I was going for a walk with my families including a baby. She rejected a lady guest who was also asking for an umbrella before us. She left in the rain angrily. We asked her why she couldn't just lend us the umbrella as she was carrying one or two, she just rejected. Amazing.

The shower pressure is LOW. When asked why your shower pressure is so much lower than all the other Japanese hotels, front desk staff smiled awkwardly and said yeah our shower pressure is just low.

The shower facilities are not from top notch Japanese brand such as TOTO. Instead, they used Grohe...Maybe they think this is some sort of posh choice, oh well it's not if you ever lived in western countries.

Room size is alright, lovely new toilet but the cleaning service is way below average other Japanese hotels. Not a single day then room was cleaned to a traditional Japanese standard. Forgotten corners, dirty floor, carelessness everywhere.

Breakfast and dinner at the restaurant...very salty and nothing impressive, except for some of the dessert. But you can't eat dessert to fill your stomach right? Service is also horrible. Foreign workers are not trained to be professional and the only Japanese waiter we met daily was 9/10 days grumpy.

The restaurant has no proper ventilation locating at lower ground floor. There is a sewage toilet smell daily near check in counter so you walk pass the smell before having meals daily.

The baby kit was lovely though nonetheless. Location is convenient although very noisy.

Overall, we won't be staying in this type of hotels when traveling to Japan again. Even state owned chains will give you a much better shower experience, plus the hard working staff who know about...