Hyatt Centric Kanazawa — Hotel in Kanazawa

I'd read online that king rooms may have views of the multi-story parking structure beside the hotel. So I booked, for a bit more, a 1 king bed city view room for my 4 night stay. I got exactly what I booked, with a view of the west entrance of Kanazawa station and the city beyond. On a side note, it was kind of mesmerizing watching the late night taxi ballet from my room, as they waited for and picked up fares.||The room met expectations. Some may think the bathroom to be open plan. It isn't. There are sliding doors to close off the sink and shower area and the toilet is situated in its own little room. One thing of note, there are no universal outlets in the room. They are all Japan standard. I bought an ice cream bar and placed it in the in-room refrigerator for about 30 minutes. The coating stayed hard but the ice cream inside had melted. Note to self: most in-room mini-refrigerators are coolers, not freezers.||Breakfast was very good. The buffet had both Japanese and western (Continental and American breakfast) items. The highlights include the local rice, the Japanese curry, the shrimp kushiage, the matcha brownies, and the miso soup. Get a bowl, take a heap full of rice, top it with a generous serving of the curry and you're set. Indeed, everything I tried on the Japanese side of the buffet was tasty. I also very much liked the scrambled eggs, which were cooked runny, wet, and flavorful rather than dry and tasteless. Worth noting, the bacon on the buffet is more like a Canadian back bacon than U.S. bacon. It is possible to order specialty coffee (latte, espresso, etc.) from the servers but, in my experience, they didn't proactively ask if I wanted any coffee or tea as they sat me down on my table. (The buffet has coffee but it's ordinary coffee.) ||Being located close to Kanazawa Station means easy access to local buses, trains and the Shinkansen. Note that IC cards issued in other regions, such as Pasmo or Suica, may not be an accepted form of payment on local buses and in some local stores. However, this seems to be changing. The local loop buses meant for tourists (210 yen per ride), for example, accept IC cards issued in other regions.||One final note, Kanazawa is a rainy city. To help out guests who may not have brought umbrellas or raincoats, the hotel provides umbrellas and hand towels at the entrance for guest's use. Nice touch that one.||Overall, it was a...

The Hyatt Centric is an excellent 4-star hotel, perfectly situated steps away from the sleek and modern Kanazawa Station.

Numerous eateries and shops are available nearby which are part of the hotel building’s development, Kanazawa Station, or the nearby Kanazawa Forus shopping mall.

Kanazawa’s main tourist attractions such as the Kenroku-en Garden and the Higashi Chaya district are a 15–20-minute bus ride from Kanazawa Station. An Uber/Taxi will get you there in 10-15 minutes.

The hotel has been recently built and it shows. It’s probably one of the newest and most modern hotels in the city.

Entering the hotel, an elevator takes you to the hotel lobby floor. A separate set of elevators take you to the hotel room floors.

The hotel staff were very welcoming and professional. English is widely understood and spoken by the staff.

The hotel lobby was normally quite busy as I believe that this hotel is popular with visitors/tourists to the area.

Other than the room itself, I did not use the other hotel amenities, nor did I have breakfast/lunch/dinner at the hotel.

My 1-King City View room was great. The modern décor theme gave me a cozy/comfortable vibe.

The bathroom was split into sections with the sink/mirror being part of the room and the shower + bathtub in a separate room with a door. The washlet was in its own nook with a sliding door next to the room entrance.

The room view was of Kanazawa Station below and the surrounding area.

The room had a safe large enough to store my 15” laptop.

2 re-usable water bottles were provided in the room. A water cooler is available on the hotel floor to fill up the bottle if/when required.

The Wi-fi signal was strong and stable. The TV channel selection was good and had some international channel selections as well.

The king-sized bed was very comfortable and was fun to climb into at the end of a long day of travel/exploration.

At ~150 USD per night, I found the price of the hotel more than reasonable. I had an excellent and comfortable stay and would recommend this hotel as your accommodation pick...

I have stayed at Hyatt centric hotels in Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, and Madrid, but none have surprised me like Hyatt centric Kanazawa.

Kanazawa itself is like a museum, and the Hyatt centric Kanazawa feels like a refined exhibit within that museum. This hotel, crafted by local designers, showcases their respect for tradition in every detail.

·Lobby

The hotel sign at the entrance cleverly incorporates a flute used in Geisha performances as decoration. Without closely examining the hotel name, it truly feels like arriving at Park Hyatt.

Upon entering, you are greeted by a "Welcoming Pine" made of gold leaf, as Kanazawa is renowned for its gold leaf. The blue lines on the pine tree represent the flow of the Sai and Asano rivers, which meander through the city before flowing into the Sea of Japan, ultimately feeding into the 55 irrigation channels of Kenrokuen Garden.

At the elevator, the décor features a lion’s head from the 『Kaga Lion Dance』; the lobby backdrop is inspired by the『木虫籠』of the teahouse district.

The space uses numerous side tables and antique shelves as partitions, showcasing Kutani ceramics, gold leaf products, and lacquerware, all distinctive to Kanazawa.

·Room

The suite I stayed in offered excellent privacy. Unlike the lobby’s design, the room integrates modern elements with traditional designs, featuring bold red and blue contrasts.

To illustrate that travel is an activity overlapping past and present city images, the designer laid down washi paper on the roadside for children to play on, leaving imprints of gold leaf clogs and clearly marking cracks in the pavement and shapes of manhole covers. This overlapping of past scenery on the asphalt serves as a background for the room, a thoughtful touch that became my favorite part of the entire suite.

·Restaurant

The breakfast is the most abundant I’ve had in a Japanese hotel, rivaling that of the Peninsula Tokyo, even surpassing many other Hyatts in Japan.

·Gym

Most hotels in Japan lack swimming pools, but the gym here is...