Washington Hotel Plaza Kumamoto — Hotel in Kumamoto

I never met before so bad hotel amongst same class hotels in Japan.||||) Chief manager... doesn't speak English at all !! Not the single word. And his stuff, of course, very servile with him and if by chance somebody from them understood me, just DOESN'T translate to him my claims. But almost nobody understand. No use to call them from the room - nobody speak English.||||) They know the word "sorry", but there is all they they can say in English and... all that they can do for you! Almost nothing they could or want to make for me (see below).||||) It's VERY difficult to sleep 2 people on the bed in "small-bed double room". Almost impossible. Maybe only for children it's suitable. And room is extremely small.||||) Only 1 key to a door. It's very inconvenient. If I'm in the bathtub and my friend want to come in the room, what to do? And if I'm sleeping?? ||||) No wi-fi in the room. They have wi-fi in the lobby, but... THERE IS NO PLACE for sitting there. When we went to restaurant and used the table, they tried to push us from there. ||||) Only 2 power socket in the room||||) They DON'T give for free or even sell the adapter for special japanese socket. If you are foreign? Just sit without power, it's your problem.||||) They declare some floors and lift as no-smoking zone, but actually they don't have camera there and nobody control it, so in the corridor and even in lift is very often very smoky, and smoke goes inside room.||||) Bathtub is smallest I ever seen in my life.||||) Bathroom equipment is old. In my bathroom it was massive leaking from somewhere, and the floor was every time wet - it's very comfortable, especially you forgot about this and enter in bathroom in socks before leaving the room... or... it's nice...||||) They have TV. Really?... Yes, BUT if you switch on the only channel with movies in English, in the middle of monitor - huge text-block with some japanese text! Of course, stuff said "sorry"..||||) Fridge. You must find the switcher and switch it on! It's nice if you understand it only after some hours after you put there your sensitive food...||||) Pillows are VERY hard. What they put inside?? I'm human being, not cyborg. ||But - thanks - there is a sign that soft pillows are in our wardrobe. Good.. and next 10 minutes I'm looking the wardrobe in my room! Maybe it's somehow mounted here... or there... no use. Finally I call to reception. Nobody understand... OK, they sent somebody, he came and... show to me a small open shelf near the door. They name it "wardrobe"! And they just forgot to put there soft pillows...||||) Some of the rooms (facing next building) has very small opaque window, so you are like in cellar.||||) Almost no instructions in English inside the room. You don't read Japanese hieroglyphs? Your problem.||||) The music in the hall. It could be a minor problem, but we have only 1 key-room! So often we keep the door open, when me or my friend visit another our friends on the floor. And in this case music become very wearisome.||||*) When they clean the rooms, in corridor, before lift there is huge mess with heaps of everything.||||Because of excellent location they have and will have many tourists forever, so it’s obvious that they are not interested of...

I think people are often too harsh in their reviews but we all have different standards and different expectations. Maybe their standards are too high or maybe mine are too low. For me, a solo traveler, I happened to need a hotel at a time when almost all of the conveniently located hotels in Kumamoto were fully booked (due to a festival), so Washington Hotel came in clutch. ||||The front desk staff were very nice and made an attempt to speak English with me. This isn't a full-on fancy hotel with all the bells and whistles that you'd expect in a luxury building, but you should know that when you book it. They are listed as a 3-star hotel with basic accommodations so they aren't presenting themselves as something they aren't. Last I checked, 3 out of 5 is average and I think that applies here. Think of it as a "typical" Japanese business hotel. They do offer you basic toiletries when you check in, which I look at as a nice gesture as most people bring their own. In case you typically don't though, DEFINITELY bring your own toiletries. There is a coin laundry service (w/dryers) on the 3rd floor, which was great for me because I am staying 11 nights. I have a basic single room with double sized bed. There's a humidifier in the room, small flat-screen TV, mini fridge, phone, desk with hair-dryer and vanity mirror. It's very small aka cozy, but suitable for just one. The pillow is quite firm, but you can ask the front desk for a feather pillow if you need it. ||||It's in a good location, in my opinion. Very close to a major shopping arcade with plenty of Japanese and Western style eating options. A Family Mart convenience store is directly across from the hotel with a 7-11 just a few stores down, which is...well...convenient. However, there is a street going the opposite direction of the shopping arcade where it could be sketchy at night. It's mostly lined with host clubs and dudes on the street trying to lure young men in for a night of pampering. Sketchy being relative term. This is Japan after-all, not South Central Los Angeles. That being said, better to be aware than to see it and think, "my goodness, where am I?"||||I'd like to point out that I rented a bicycle from the Kumamoto International Center and although the Washington Hotel doesn't provide bicycle parking, a member of the front desk staff found a spot for me to park my bike on the grounds. Very nice indeed. The little things like that go a long way in making a 3-star hotel feel more...

Thats the worst hotel I stayed in Japan.||Nobody at the reception spoke English. They only knew a few words like "hi" and "sorry" but when it came to a simple question about requiring more than 2 words knowledge they didnt understand at all and didnt really care about that. Even the manager was completely ignorant, the most ignorant actually.||The room was quite old and shabby. There was a lack of information in English in the room and it took me some time to figure out how to call the reception.||The elevator and the hall stinked like smoke though the floor was announced to be "non-smoking".||The bed in the "small double room" was extremely small. It should be okay for 1 person though.||The bathub was leaking so dont be surprised if you step into a huge pool on the floor after you take a bath. I couldnt be bothered to call some of the stuff to fix the problem because any problem tackling seemed too hard with them. The reason is the langauge barrier and their devil-may-care attitude.||The room we took was too dark as the window faced the wall, and there was almost no daylight. When changed the room for another one, but it appeared to be far too small. ||There were other big and small problems which made a mess out of my holiday. You couldnt just relax and have fun there like you didn in other hotels but you always had to solve some problems. I dont...