After having stayed at the Mitsui Garden Premier hotel Jingu-gaien at the beginning of our trip, I was expecting a similarly phenomenal experience. Apparently the word ‘premier’ indicates a different hotel classification, which is completely understandable. Lesson learned.
Positives: The location of the hotel is fantastic, and the buffet breakfast was delicious with a friendly, excellent staff working there.
Negatives: The hotel needs to be updated. I’d booked a superior room, so I’m not sure what the basic would be like.The walls in our room were scuffed, and the room had a general feeling of being dated and disheveled. Also, we’d arrived back from Kyoto earlier than check-in time, so we had to access our luggage that we’d had sent earlier to the hotel to pull out clothes and change in the lobby washroom. We continued with our day and when we returned and checked in around 9:30 p.m., we picked up our luggage from the front desk. In Kyoto, the hotel staff had thoughtfully already transferred our luggage to our room.
We asked for a late check out (1 extra hour) as we were heading on a walking tour that morning and wanted to freshen up before our return flight. We were told it would be an additional 2000 yen per hour (up to max. of 2 hours), if we wanted that.
I personally think it would go a long way for the hotel management to make small accommodations for guests when possible, as every small gesture leaves an impact.