Hotel Nagashima — Hotel in Kuwana

My friend and I stayed at Hotel Nagashima for two nights. We are both from Hong Kong and don’t speak any Japanese. We were mainly there to go to the theme park. I will start with the positives and then move onto the criticisms. ||The location of this hotel is wonderful if you want to see all of the Nagashima resort. Everything is super accessible (no more than a 5 minute walk away). The room we had was a twin room and the size of the room was good as well as the view from the room (we were facing the sea but other rooms also would have views of the rollercoasters). ||They give you a coupon for 40 free tokens to use in their arcade and the arcade was very reminiscent of Jumping Gym in Hong Kong so my friend as I had a great time in there. ||Finally, the Hot springs (Onsen) are absolutely beautiful. There are several pools all dotted around a beautiful Japanese garden. It was raining while we were staying but several of the outdoor pools are undercover so it didn’t stop us using the facility. There is a super hot bath, a massage bath and several others all around. It’s the best Onsen I’ve been to in Japan.||Now for the criticism…||First of all, the staff have very little English ability. I don’t mean to say that everyone in Japan should speak English just to accommodate tourists but if you are paying over £250 per night, you expect that a hotel at a world famous resort would have basic English. One of the most outrageous things that we encountered was when we called the front desk to ask for additional duvets and they literally hung up on us TWICE after saying “No English”. ||Secondly, the beds were like torture devices. Both my friend and I had two of the worst nights sleeps we have ever had on those God awful mattresses. The pillows were also very uncomfortable. One of the reasons we called to ask for an extra duvet was because I wanted to add a layer to the mattress to see if I could make it any more comfortable. Eventually the staff member (who hung up on us) did come up to our room and when we google translated what we wanted, he told us there was a fee of ¥2100 for an extra duvet. This is (apparently) a 4 star hotel and they wouldn’t give us an extra duvet for free, even when we google translated that the reason was how uncomfortable the mattress was. ||Thirdly, breakfast and dinner are included in the price of this hotel. I am a vegan (and don’t get me wrong, I was aware that there would likely be no food I could eat in this resort) but when I arrived, I asked at the front desk if they had any vegan food and the staff member went into the back to ask their colleagues and it seemed apparent they had no idea about dietary restrictions, which in this day and age is pretty unforgiving in a 4 star hotel. She suggested they might have salad on the buffet so I paid for breakfast and dinner in the price of the room and I wasn’t able to eat anything (thank goodness I had instant noodles and rice cakes with me for the 2 days I stayed).||Fourthly, everything closes in this place at around 8pm (apart from the hot springs). Even the 7 eleven in the shopping mall closed at 8pm. So only vending machines are available to you between the hours of 8pm and 7am (when breakfast is served). ||Finally, the Hotel is clearly modelled to be of traditional Japanese interior design but you can really see how dated this place is. Everything felt old and the room had some cleanliness issues (mainly the stained carpet and the hairs in our rooms private Onsen). It just felt a little bit gross sometimes. Even the robes provided for the Onsen had some stains on them. The room was quite big but the TV in the room was tiny and far away from the beds so you would have struggled to watch that in bed (not that you would want to stay in those beds any longer than you had to). I think they need to spend some money modernising the rooms if they are going to keep the prices as high as they are. ||Overall, if I had a choice to stay anywhere else and be close to the theme park, I would have, but the other two resort hotels were even more expensive than this one so this was my only option. I really couldn’t stay there again unless they changed the mattresses. It really was the worst two nights sleep I have ever had in a hotel. I was more likely to get a good sleep on the rollercoasters than...

First of all, the staff have very little English ability. I don’t mean to say that everyone in Japan should speak English just to accommodate tourists but if you are paying over £250 per night, you expect that a hotel at a world famous resort would have basic English. One of the most outrageous things that we encountered was when we called the front desk to ask for additional duvets and they literally hung up on us TWICE after saying “No English”.

Secondly, the beds were like torture devices. Both my friend and I had two of the worst nights sleeps we have ever had on those God awful mattresses. The pillows were also very uncomfortable. One of the reasons we called to ask for an extra duvet was because I wanted to add a layer to the mattress to see if I could make it any more comfortable. Eventually the staff member (who hung up on us) did come up to our room and when we google translated what we wanted, he told us there was a fee of ¥2100 for an extra duvet. This is (apparently) a 4 star hotel and they wouldn’t give us an extra duvet for free, even when we google translated that the reason was how uncomfortable the mattress was.

Thirdly, breakfast and dinner are included in the price of this hotel. I am a vegan (and don’t get me wrong, I was aware that there would likely be no food I could eat in this resort) but when I arrived, I asked at the front desk if they had any vegan food and the staff member went into the back to ask their colleagues and it seemed apparent they had no idea about dietary restrictions, which in this day and age is pretty unforgiving in a 4 star hotel. She suggested they might have salad on the buffet so I paid for breakfast and dinner in the price of the room and I wasn’t able to eat anything (thank goodness I had instant noodles and rice cakes with me for the 2 days I stayed).

Fourthly, everything closes in this place at around 8pm (apart from the hot springs). Even the 7 eleven in the shopping mall closed at 8pm. So only vending machines are available to you between the hours of 8pm and 7am (when breakfast is served).

Finally, the Hotel is clearly modelled to be of traditional Japanese interior design but you can really see how dated this place is. Everything felt old and the room had some cleanliness issues (mainly the stained carpet and the hairs in our rooms private Onsen). It just felt a little bit gross sometimes. Even the robes provided for the Onsen had some stains on them. The room was quite big but the TV in the room was tiny and far away from the beds so you would have struggled to watch that in bed (not that you would want to stay in those beds any longer than you had to). I think they need to spend some money modernising the rooms if they are going to keep the prices as high as they are.

Overall, if I had a choice to stay anywhere else and be close to the theme park, I would have, but the other two resort hotels were even more expensive than this one so this was my only option. I really couldn’t stay there again unless they changed the mattresses. It really was the worst two nights sleep I have ever had in a hotel. I was more likely to get a good sleep on the rollercoasters than...

Our family of 4 stayed for 3 nights at Hotel Nagashima in April 2024.

The good things: Excellent service, friendly staff, free access to Nagashima Spaland, free access to the excellent public Onsen facilities, spacious rooms, in room private onsen bath, fantastic all-you-can-eat breakfast and dinner buffet included in the accommodation price.

The hotel has free shuttle bus runs between the hotel and Kuwana station and the Nabana no Sato gardens, so you don't need to pay for any public transport to/from the hotel.

To be aware of: Room price does NOT include any ride passes at Nagashima Spaland. A discounted all-day, all-access ride pass is ¥50,000 for guests, or ¥58,000 for the public.

Guests get 15mins early access to the park before the public gates are opened.

The rooms and some facilities are a little dated, but everything is clean, tidy and functional.

This is not a typical western tourist resort. I got the sense that Westerners were few and far between at the hotel. Indeed, for 2 of our days, we didn't see any another westerners at the hotel.

There was absolutely no problems with this, but it's just something that struck me as unique from the other places we visited in Japan.

The place is about a 1.5hrs from Nagoya. It's not super easy to get to my public transport, but the hotel Shuttle bus between Kuwana Station definitely helps. Contact the hotel by email for shuttle bus times.

We took a cab from Legoland Nagoya to the hotel. Approx 20mins and ¥60,000.

The bad: My daughter got food poisoning after dinner at the buffet on our first night. We are blaming a questionable oyster-like shellfish (Turban Shell) - this was the only things she ate differently to the other 3 people in our family. The staff were very apologetic and allowed us to stay an extra night to make up for our missed...