Century Marina Hakodate — Hotel in Hakodate

I am so happy to have found Century Marina Hakodate hotel for our stay in Hakodate. The hotel really provided value for money. It was walking distance from the main JR Hakodate station. Good views from the room. Looked like a postcard. The option to pick (for free) your pillow and aroma for the room was great. I find the quality of a pillow can really improve your sleep and thankfully I was able to find one that suited me. Please note the pillow and aroma shop opens at 5pm and is first in first served. The breakfast buffet really is amazing as you will read in the other reviews. It really is one of the best the wife and I have been to for breakfast, and that is saying alot when you travel for work and have tried many buffets. Great selection of everything. Really loved the fresh sashimi, (check out the video,). Friendly staff. The room was clean although quite small for something out of a big city. We arrived an hour early but we're able to get access to the room early.

The only constructive feedback I could give:

There is a light in the entrance area of the room that doesn't have a switch and is turned on by motion. This light is so bright, and really lights up the whole hotel room. This is a pain. When your other half gets up for the toilet in the night and it lights up the whole place. I like the idea of a night light but this was way to bright. The lifts are slow to arrive but that is what it is.. can get busy. Good onsen facilities (modern). Picking your pillow at the shop is a little strange. The pillows that everyone is feeling / handling, are actually the ones you take if you like. Atleast you get a new pillow case :)

We are looking forward to returning one day.

The wife and I wish we had stayed an extra day and night in Hakodate, we ate so well, has great sleep, enjoyed the breakfast and found there is more to see and do...

The room wasn’t too spacious. It would be fine in Tokyo standard, but this is Hakodate so we were expecting a larger room; even our hotel room in Sapporo was bigger.

Usually, we only return to hotels late at night, but due to heavy rain during our visit, we were stuck in the hotel during daytime. The room felt especially cramped for such long hours. We also asked for extra coffee capsules but was told that we’d need to pay for extra… Fortunately, we found a machine in lobby that dispense instant soup.

Despite above issues, there were things we love about this hotel. Firstly, they offer a huge selection of pillows. You can try out different pillows every day if you wish. We had stayed at many hotels before, few had such a large selection of pillows.

Secondly, the breakfast. Oh, that wonderful breakfast! They offer such large variety of food that it trumps many restaurants’ dinner buffet. There were dedicated areas for: salad, sashimi, cooked Japanese food (three separate areas if I counted correctly), Western food, bread, dessert. And you can order hot pot soup to your table. By the way, have I mentioned there’s a free flow of champaign? I’ll let the photos do the talking. Be sure to wake up early as the restaurant gets crowded soon.

The hotel also had onsens/ hot springs. We didn’t use them but saw a lot people going there. So, guess it wasn’t bad.

For the breakfast alone, we could overlook the issue with small rooms. Even if you’re not staying in the hotel, we recommend going to their restaurant...

Opened in 2019, this hotel has all the modern conveniences. We stayed in a suite with a private hot spring on the suite floor, which is tastefully decorated in cedarwood with many accent lighting, not to mention power plugs placed in convenient locations. As part of the benefits of staying on the suite floor, beer and non-alcoholic drinks in the fridge are complimentary, but the best perk is the priority line at breakfast, which can be as long as 30 minutes wait otherwise. And the breakfast did not disappoint. There's unlimited sashimi such as tuna, salmon, and salmon roe, plus made-to-order stations for omelettes and pancakes. It has chinese food, ramen, salad, japanese breakfast, western breakfast, etc.||The hot spring baths on the top floor is just awesome. There is a hot spring open-air pool on the roof, with lounge-chair like seats in the water, overlooking Mt. Hakodate. Or you can choose to go to the enclosed one on the top floor, which also has saunas and mineral baths. There is a mini-bar outside the onsen on the top floor that serves beer and some light food.||As with most hotels in Hokkaido, the staff struggles a bit with English, but they tried hard and the service is impeccable. Our luggage was unloaded from the car when we arrived and they were already in the room by the time we finished the check-in. Usually some hand gestures are enough to help with communication, and google translate also works well. We wish we could've...