Imabari Kokusai Hotel — Hotel in Imabari

Very disappointed to be writing this review...||Firstly, their website is dreadfully dated and their booking system puzzling, even comically so. It almost feels like using the Wayback Machine...||I tried booking five or six months in advance and so I wrote to the hotel to express my excitement for both coming back to Imabari where I once lived and worked teaching English in 1999, and also that I had always wanted to stay at the hotel, as I actually lived directly across the road from the hotel and always thought it so exclusive and luxurious-looking, and it was the talk-of-the-town back in '99 when they were still very new.||I was willing to pay a substantial room rate for a Tatami Suite (approx. ¥30,000 per night for three nights) however was advised that they were sold-out for my desired dates-of-stay in March 2023. What irked me is that no alternative accommodation options were offered, despite there still being availability on third-party websites such as Booking.com and Expedia for other room types, and there was no acknowledgment of my excitement and enthusiasm for wanting to be a guest of theirs' after so many years, or for any disappointment caused. This is terrible service, and not exactly what one would call 'growing the business' to reject a potential guest despite having other rooms and suites available to sell. ||We instead booked ourselves a washitsu (traditional Japanese tatami room) at Hotel Kikusui Imabari down by the port, which was cute, comfortable, clean, and looks to have had recently had a refurbishment of their guestrooms as the bathrooms while small were nice and new. The cost of this room was also about a third of what the Kokusai Imabari Hotel asks for their Tatami Suites as well.||I still wanted to go to the Kokusai Imabri Hotel however and at least see their gardens and lobby, pick up some Imbari towels from the official store at the front entrance, and have breakfast in their restaurant.||The lobby is very nice and it does have the grandeur of a Japanese hotel trying to be a European hotel without being tacky or dated, and it does appear that they have recently cleaned all the chandeliers (I'd read other reviews and this seems to have been a first impression for a lot of guests, so this was a nice surprise to see them dust-free).||We had a look at the gardens outside and they were very nice and maintained as to be expected with Japanese gardens.||So why the 1 star review? Well, we wanted to treat ourselves to what we thought would be a five-star breakfast. We were told to go upstairs to the mezzanine level and we met a nice lady staff member who advised that breakfast would be roughly ¥2,400 per person. No problem, that's fair for a good buffet breakfast. We were then however lead into a huge banquet hall with only a couple of dozen guests dining, which made it feel even emptier and more like a school cafeteria rather than a classy restaurant. We then went to the buffet and it seems that none of the bain maries were turned on as ALL the food was cold, and quality utter crap. And this was just the western breakfast food options, the Japanese/Asian food wasn't much better.||Now look, I'm no Karen - read my other reviews - but what angered me is that I complained to a staff member in Japanese (yes, I can speak the language) that all their food was cold and was just told 'oh okay'. No 'gomennasai'. No 'mōshiwakearimasen'. No 'shazai shimasu' or 'ayamaritai desu'. Just 'oh okay'. ||Um, no mate, it really isn't NOT 'okay'. Not for ¥4,800, of which I regret I was too embarrassed to go and ask for a...

How to make a great impression on a guest who wheels up on a bicycle, two hours before check- in: phone the maid and ask her to finish your room next. Five minutes later, checked- in and on the way to my room. What a nice and thoughtful gesture, two thumbs up to the staff. ||I was given room 1807, a very spacious room with a double bed (more like a queen bed, actually). The room looked north / east with a great view of three of the famous seven Shimanami Kaido bridges connecting Shikoku to Honshu and the only set of big bridges in Japan with bikeways.||The room décor was that of an older, full- service Japanese hotel: lots of figured wood veneers, lots of drawers, large, good closet space, very stylish furniture from back then but a bit dated now – still, very pleasant and in great condition. There were just two things missing: enough mains ports / USB charge points and no way to control the room temperature.||The bathroom was nicely fitted with a black granite sink countertop and lots of amenities. It was all very clean.||A big perk for bicyclists, they invite you to keep your bike in your room. That’s probably only done at hotels on the two ends of the Shimanami Kaido, the 70km bikeway across all the bridges to Honshu. Fortunately, there’s plenty of space for a bike or two in this room.||The Hot Springs at the hotel offers inside / outside baths, a steam sauna and a relaxation room. Just the thing for tired legs.||Here are two restaurants and a bar on the top floor, 23F. There are more at lobby level. The teppan restaurant is exceptionally good, though (not unexpectedly) pricey.||Breakfast was very good, with a nice selection and a beautiful garden view out the windows.||Nothing’s really near anything in Imabari, it seems! The town is very spread out. The Kokusai is 900m from the central train station and 500m from the castle entrance. There is a UniQlo next door and a konbini a block away. All in all, it is as convenient a location as you can get in a spread- out place, I guess.||The hotel is highly recommended for great...

A beautiful hotel with a pool, a Japanese style garden, 25th floor bar etc. and in general very fancy. But here's the catch. The G R E E D. Everything is "additional surcharge". Wanna use the pool that the hotel advertised? Almost 20$ per usage. Wanna go to the Onsen that the hotel offers? Better pay up. And guess what... It's only open early in the morning and in the evenings. Wanna go to the beautiful japanese garden? Well tough luck, that's only for luring in customers, once you're there it's off limits. The only way you can even get close to it is if you dine at the rediculously overpriced restaurant where a curry rice costs upwards of 15$. Wanna park you car? Guess what, 7$ per night parking fee. Ridiculous. Breakfast is 20$ per person and the only available meat was fried chicken, fried shrimp and grilled (extremely salty) salmon. Same menu every day - no cancellation available once you sign up for it. Everything in this hotel screams "minimal level of effort". They will try to charge you for the air you breathe. Get ready for capitalism at its lowest. The view from our 20th foor room was...