APA Hotel Wakayama

Hotel Cons: I specifically requested and booked a non-smoking room, in June already!! And my booking is for July. Got here and they said there's no non-smoking available and gave me a room where you can still smell the smoke! (My booking says smoking but I could've sworn I clicked non-smoking because I hate the smell of smoking. Agoda on my bad side now too). You have to park at a different oarking area where there's a ticket machine. One night was about ¥2200 for me!! You get tickets for the parking to have it be free for 24 hours. You also have to pay extra for these tickets, as they're not included in the room price. Speaking of parking, there was a festival or event happening in the nearby park on Monday (a public holiday), which meant that the parking lot for the hotel was full as other people have access to it too. I was lucky and as I was being indecisive as to what to do now, a couple left and I could get their spot. Got off to a bad start with the hotel because of this, also the front desk not explaining things clearly, of course only in Japanese which is understandable, but you can see there's a trainee there that speaks English as the staff member looked to them but they pretended to be busy. (The trainee probably thought I understood more than I did and would've helped if I asked most likely) The view is nothing special. It's of other buildings. The room is small. It's catering for salarymen clearly, so APA is definitely a business hotel. The step into the bathroom is very high. I had to pay ¥2400 accomodation tax on top of the payment already made for the room (which probably includes the parking tickets). This is not worth it. Next time I'll just get more expensive hotel that's worth all the extra money crap I have to add at my own expense. The only reason I mention this is because this has been the highest accomodation tax I've had to pay since being in Japan (for about 3 years now), the highest at an APA Hotel (this is my fourth stay at this franchise) as I've never paid more than ¥800 (even in Kyoto). The walls are filthy. Sound travels and people loved talking in the hallways, even after 10pm and up until midnight. Pro: It's in the middle of the city and close to the shopping street. It's about 30min on foot from the station, 14min by bus and 10min by car. There's a bus stop right in front of the hotel. Bed and pillow was soft so that was nice. There is a breakfast buffet you can pay extra for if it's not included in your room booking.

Good

Room is spacious and clean.

予約時に喫煙ルームであることに気付かず、予約してしまいました。こちらの確認不足でもあるので、その点については仕方がないと思っています。 しかし、実際に部屋へ入るとタバコの臭いが非常に強く、とても過ごせる状態ではありませんでした。部屋の変更をお願いしましたが、空室がないため対応できないとのことでした。そこまでは理解できます。 ただ、タバコの臭いが苦手で困っていることをお伝えしたにもかかわらず、消臭対応など少しでも快適に過ごせるような提案や配慮が全くありませんでした。スタッフの対応はとても残念で、サービスの質に疑問を感じました。 結局、2日間ずっとタバコの臭いを我慢しながら過ごすことになりました。同じ思いをする方が減るよう、サービスの改善を期待します。