Okayama Universal Hotel Annex

エレベーターが小さいためすぐ満員になる。また2基しかなく、かなり高層階まであるため使い物にならない。

Everything was great, you have your own toilet, bathroom, you may use the public onsen+sauna. The Aircon could be set to cold or heater. There is a fridge in the room. The only 2 not so good thing is the hotel isn't new so the soundproof isn't done very well. We stayed at the 9th floor but I could still hear the busy street with the window shut. Another problem is they do not have a water fountain or anything that lets you get free drinking water in the hotel. You may not bottle the water from breakfast or dinner. The food was good though.

The Universal Hotel in Okayama is a little far from the station to walk with luggage, 20-25 minutes, but you can take a bus or a tram quite close. When you arrive there are stairs down, then stairs up to the lifts, which again, is not great if you have a lot of luggage. The staff were excellent, really great and the lobby is very nice. They included breakfast and dinner with each nights stay, served in the basement area, partially buffet and partially to order. In the second basement there is an public bath, its nothing special but it is a good size. They also offer a coin laundry service here. The problems begin at check in, when you leave the hotel you leave the key at the front desk, if you then return during check in, which I did each day, it can take time to queue to get your key returned. When you want to go to your room there are 2 lifts (elevators) that service 17 floor and are almost always busy at peak times to the point you often had a long wait, especially if someone had bags or staff were moving rubbish or bedding. The room itself was tiny, the bathroom was great, spacious and with good facilities, but the rest of the room was narrow and small. There was a bed, fridge and small stool to sit on but no room for anything else. The bed itself was terribly uncomfortable, this might be personal preference but I didn't sleep well any of my 3 nights. I can't recommend the hotel, I really liked the staff and the public areas, but the room was so uncomfortable and getting to and from it so inconvenient that I just wouldn't want to book it again.

Carpets and bedding were stained. The window in our room didn't seal shut, so we heard a lot of noise from the street, including many emergency vehicle sirens throughout the night. We booked a room with twin beds, but got one double bed and a bed that wasn't actually a bed with a mattress but more like a sofa folded out, such that there was a big uneven crease in the middle of the bed; the springs seemed busted on the side of the crease that most people slept on. It was very uncomfortable. We didn't bother using the baths since you had to bring a towel from the room, your own toiletries, and a coin for lockers. The dinner and breakfast were okay.