Guest House First Bless

Great location

Nothing

Very spacious studio unit, great amenities and within 4 minute walking distance to 2 stations.

The building felt a little bit weird, it wasn’t just a residential building.

The place is super close to both Dobutsuen-Mae and Shin-Imamiya stations. Actually, as soon as you come out of Dobutsuen-Mae station, there’s a huge Donki right there waiting for you. It was one of the Donkis with the biggest variety of Pokémon items that I saw during our whole trip in Japan, including the ones in Tokyo. The location and easy transportation were great, and even though the apartment building was old, having an elevator was especially useful for a family with kids like us. There are also lots of convenience stores around, like FamilyMart and Lawson, and one Lawson is literally about 20 steps away. Also, compared to many other places in Japan, the apartment was fairly spacious. The rooms were small, but having a shared/common area at least made it much easier to organize our suitcases. Overall, it was definitely a great value-for-money place.

Sadly, I have to say that this place has more cons than pros. Of course, it is a good value-for-money place, but I think it is important to know the downsides as well. So here they are: 1. As soon as you enter the apartment building, you are welcomed by a very heavy and unpleasant food smell. You will also smell it again in the morning when you leave the apartment. The property really needs to do something about this. 2. When you get into the elevator, the doors only wait for around 10 seconds, maybe even less, and then close directly on you. Families with children should be especially careful. The doors do not really detect children as an obstacle. Even as adults, when we were between the elevator and the door, it hit our shoulders and squeezed us a little before opening again. This definitely needs attention. 3. When you enter the apartment, you first go through a very narrow hallway where only one person can pass at a time. The bathroom and toilet are also located in this narrow hallway. If you are staying with several people, this can be a bit of a problem, especially when entering or leaving the apartment. 4. When you reach the living room, the apartment feels more spacious. However, the two bedrooms are extremely small, basically only enough for people to move around the beds. Still, this was not a huge issue for us because we kept most of our luggage in the living room, which made things more comfortable. 5. One of the biggest problems, and the one that affected me the most, was the beds. The beds, especially the ones in the first room, make a very loud squeaking noise with even the smallest movement. The pillows are very flat, and the bed itself was honestly very uncomfortable. A bad night’s sleep really affects your next day as well. Also, this did not happen to me personally, but my wife and son were sleeping in the bed next to mine, and when they woke up in the morning, both of them had quite serious redness and swelling on their skin.

Staff = 10/10. Very responsive! Location = 10/10. Family Mart, Lawson and restaurants along the way to the property. Only 200m to Shin Imamiya station and Dobutsuen- Mae metro station. Bonus: Mega Donki Quijote just around the corner for your shopping convenience. Shinseikai is a little further down and is bustling with tourists and locals. Bonus: there is an elevator in this building! And the Living area is very spacious!

Facilities = 7/10. We paid for 10 nights for 4 adults and 2 children but only 4 rolls of toilet papers were given! When enquired with owner, instead of providing more, we were asked to go buy it ourselves. For a stay of this type, we expected a more adequate supply of basic necessities such as toilet paper, rather than needing to purchase additional rolls ourselves. Cleanliness = 5/10. My child dropped a toy and it rolled under the bed. I saw a thick layer of dust under the bed. Comfort = 3/10. This has to be the cheapest beds and pillows ever provided, in a Japan accommodation we ever stayed in. The pillows are so thin that we had to fold it in half to sleep on. ALL four beds creak LOUDLY with even the slightest movements, making it impossible to have a good night sleep. Even my 2yo (barely 10kg) makes a loud creak when she climbed onto the bed. Unfortunately, one side of my bed frame has cracked right through but instead of replacing with a new bedframe, they had screwed on a L bracket to hold it in place, which did not do any good because now my bed is sagging to the right side and creaks insistently . In addition to that (if you are unlucky with inconsiderate neighbours), you can hear every conversations, luggage dragging, usage of the washing machine, through the paper thin walls. Suggestion to Owner - Please listen to all past customers reviews. Provide comfortable pillows, proper beds, hooks to hang towels/clothes, basic necessities like ample toilet paper for the duration of the stay and occasionally vacuum under the beds, I would have easily rated this property a 9.