The work event I’m attending over these four days is hosted in Toyota City, about an hour by train east of Nagoya. Like many other built-up cities, there are hotels that are near the train station — Toyotashi Stn in this case — and the property I have been staying at these several days is Hotel Toyota Castle.
Comments about the stay:
The room I stayed in was a Twin Standard Room located on the ninth floor. Size-wise, it was significantly larger at 30sqm compared to the small 14–15 sqm rooms in the station hotels I have routinely stayed at in Fukuoka, Nagoya, and Tokyo. The room had space for a full-sized bathroom and toilet, with the bathroom separated from the toilet by a door. The TV was disappointingly small though — not that there was anything interesting to watch on the broadcast channels available.
Check-in time is at 3PM, and like most other Japanese hotels, they do not seem to allow early check-ins. The hotel accepts luggage storage though, so there are no issues leaving your heavy bags there if you’re arriving early.
The hotel seemed popular with business travelers: each morning at breakfast during the days I stayed, there was a group of Western business guests — Americans, judging from their accents — who would come in early for BF before continuing on to their morning activities.
The hotel is also an easy 1–2 minute walk from the station itself and is adjacent to a small mixed-use complex. The complex itself has a Pronto cafe with light eats and the usual range of beverages — convenient if you need a late-night cup of joe!
Unlike some other business hotels I’ve stayed at, amenities like shower accessories and beverages aren’t self-collect/help-yourself at reception but are pre-supplied in the room itself. These were replenished every day with daily room service. I couldn’t find coin-operated laundry machines though: any laundry you might have would be handled directly by the hotel.
Location-wise: the area around Toyotashi Station is fairly quiet, but there are a few shopping malls nearby, including a mid-sized one called T-Face. This multi-floor mall has a large department store that would have everything that you’d need, and a large supermarket in the basement.
That’s a wrap for my four-night stay at the Hotel Toyota Castle. In short, pretty OK though nothing particularly extraordinary, though I certainly appreciated the fairly large-sized rooms!