Smile Hotel Hiroshima — Hotel in Hiroshima

I stayed here for 2 nights from 11-13 June. I enjoyed the space in the room, the bed was comfortable and it was a quiet hotel. I appreciated the breakfast buffet too, with japanese food to breads and pastries. The receptionist was very helpful and gave me information about where to rent bicycle and the price for renting it. One con is the smell of the room, there was a musky scent whenever I enter the room, but once I’ve turned on the air diffuser to powerful mode, it will go away eventually.

Useful tip for people with JR pass or JR West pas, it’s free to take the sightseeing buses. Head to bus platform 2, which is located directly below the tourist information centre at Hiroshima Shinkansen Train Station and take the green route bus, alight at bus stop Shintenchi, it’s about 3 minutes walk from the bus stop to the hotel. Note that the bus frequency is once every hour, alternatively, you can take the lemon route bus and alight at Namkidori, which is slightly further away, about 7-10 minutes walk to the hotel.

This is the info for the routes: https://www.chugoku-jrbus.co.jp/teikan/meipurupu/pdf_e/20240601meipurupu_map.pdf and this is for the timing of the sightseeing buses:...

Location is excellent as it’s near Hiroshima station. There’s also an e-bike stand directly outside the hotel. Make sure to get an e-bike daily pass if you’re in Hiroshima. You can get around really easily to the main areas and it feels much faster than public transport. Parking for your e-bike is widely available, too.

While the staff were generally friendly, I found it a bit jarring when I requested extra pillows and was told, ‘Come down to the front desk to get your pillow.’ It might have been a language barrier thing, but the phrasing felt abrupt. Also, I found it odd that each guest is only allowed a maximum of two pillows, and you only get one by default unless you specifically ask for more.

I also found it a little hard to fall asleep and fall back asleep due to the constant noises from in and around the room. There were sudden bangs from God knows where and weird creaky sounds from the bed and furniture. A little spooky…

Apart from the noise, the soft pillow, and the lack of pillows, the room is squeaky clean.

Decent...

Great location, not too loud, staff are kind and the rooms are the largest of the hotels we stayed in between Hiroshima/Osaka/Kyoto/Tokyo. Also very close to a 7/11. Hiroshima park, food options and public transport are all very close by. Fresh towels are brought to your room daily.

The downsides were some mold in the shower tile grout/shower head causing my wife's allergies to act up but she has a sensitive nose. It was not until I tried to look for it that I saw it, and it did not bother me and was typical of what I see at most hotels in the USA. The other downside is when we went, the dryer was working very poorly. My wife used the hotels washer/dryer, but she had to dry her clothes over 4 cycles just to get them not to be damp and still had to hang the clothes up in the room just to get them to dry. I do not believe we brought this up to the hotel.

Breakfast is offered if you pay for it, I did not, I'd rather wander the city and find breakfast. We weary that many "breakfast shops" open late and...