THE BLOSSOM HAKATA Premier — Hotel in Fukuoka

The Blossom Hakata Premier was the perfect choice for my stay in Fukuoka. I used it as my home base while staying in the city, staying with them on three separate occasions over a period of two weeks. The hotel is new, clean and stylish, with a modern Japanese vibe. It is perfectly located within one subway stop or a 5-minute walk from Hakata Central Station. The staff were very friendly, professional and accommodating and I was extremely pleased with the level of service. They kindly kept a large suitcase for me between stays while I travelled with a smaller bag for my overnight outings away from the hotel. My room was very attractive with a super comfortable bed, tons of amenities, cotton pajamas, nice lighting and a nice large shower. My only criticism of the room is that the chair and sofa bench were extremely hard and not comfortable for sitting. Daily maid service was perfect and the room was always left in top condition for my return. There is super convenient coin laundry available off the lobby, and while some have mentioned that they are often busy, I found the laundry machines to be frequently accessible. You can monitor from your TV in your room. The public hot spring baths available are lovely, though I must say some of the guests left them a bit messy, so perhaps the hotel could check on the baths more frequently between cleanings to tidy up the towels, wrappers and used combs lying around. I tried breakfast one day and the quality and variety were excellent. There are also restaurants in the building and many convenience stores nearby. The Kushida Jinja subway stop entrance is just on the next block and the Kawabata Dori Shopping Arcade is within short walking distance. For additional high-end shopping and a magical lower-level specialty food department, check out Hankyu Department Store. It is in Hakata Central Station a short walk or one subway stop away. I really loved my stay at The Blossom Hakata Premier and would...

I have very mixed feeling about this hotel.

I booked directly through the hotel website and when I had a change in plan, I changed my check-in date to delay it by a day. I screenshot the changes in my revised booking but did not received any email confirmation on the changes. Since changes were made on the hotel website, I trusted that their system would have been updated correctly.

On the morning that I was supposed to check-in, I received an email from the hotel stating that I did not turn up for check-in and my reservation is now invalid & cancelled and penalty imposed for no turn up. I was totally shocked and double checked my print outs and screenshot to confirm that my check-in date is today and not yesterday.

I emailed back the hotel to show them the screenshot and asked them to please inform me asap if my reservation is still valid as I will have to find new accommodation if they cancelled it. It took them 4 hours to reply me back and by then I was already at the doorstep of the hotel for check-in.

The saving grace from these was that I was not charged for the previous night but there was no explanation and nothing. Email basically reply me to say reservation is valid. So did they messed up the reservation? No answer.

Staffs are welcoming and room is nice. Location is not bad although you need to walk around 10 mins from Hakata station. The Canal City is partially under renovation so there are not much to shop there at the moment.

Will I come again? Maybe. Will I book via their website again? No.

Given that this is a high end hotel, I would have expected better customer service when it comes to communication via email and also nicer tone used in communication. However, the staffs replying the emails are definitely not trained and tone is rude and demanding. The whole incident left a bad taste in my mouth.

You can get better service and room in other hotels...

Not sure why this is called The Blossom Premier when the rooms aren’t very premium.

Initially was going to stay here for two nights but extended it for another night as wanted to rest in Hakata instead of heading back to Tokyo (which was a huge mistake as I should have kept the hotel booking in Ginza instead of extending my stay here). Booked the Hakata floor king room but it was more compact than the room in the Blossom Kumamoto while the equipment provided was quite old like the TV (no Youtube or casting feature), and the soundproofing was not that great as I could hear the people in the room next door yelling at each other late at night, and motor revving noises from the main street below.

The room was initially dusty as well: I could see dust on the wall painting and dust in top of the bed, which made me cough the whole night. After complaining to the front desk the next morning, think the housekeeping vacuumed the carpet and changed the bedding, which was a huge improvement as I wasn’t coughing anymore. Oh yeah, and the TV only had a few channels but the only English channel (BBC) wasn’t working at all.

Breakfast was just terrible - the restaurant should provide á la carte options as there were guests coughing in the restaurant and god knows whether they coughed onto the food but it was quite unhygienic.

The only good thing was the lounge, which was an oasis away from the madness downstairs. Since those staying on the 14th floor are paying a higher premium for their rooms, it would be great if the hotel could provide breakfast options at the lounge instead of the restaurant similar to Hotel Granvia Hiroshima.

Would I return to this hotel? Not really sure as it attracts rude guests from neighboring countries, but if they improve the hotel...