Hotel Select Inn Aomori

Good value for the price. The room has shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, a toothbrush, kettle, TV and towels. Parking costs 550¥. There's a Daily shop on the first floor, and the fish market is a five-minute walk away.

The staff were friendly and helpful across the front desk, room service, kitchen and cleaning team. We did need Android translation to communicate with them. We asked for the room to be made up each day, and the towels and linen were replaced with clean ones and neatly arranged. For the price, our four-night stay was a good one. If you pay for breakfast, it felt like getting meals about three times a day, since they also gave guests two extra breads for free and a simple dinner like curry rice or yakiniku rice. I'd never had that kind of service elsewhere. The room was small, with a tight shower and toilet. The shower had a seated bathtub, and the toilet had a heated seat and bidet, typical in Japan. The amenities were great. The bed was narrow for two, and there was only one blanket. There were only local TV channels. The curtains on the main window weren't lightproof, so by 6 AM the sun was already strong enough to keep us from sleeping. On the fifth floor there were several ¥100 laundry and dryer machines. Movies on demand cost ¥100 per night. The fourth floor had a coffee machine available 24/7, with good free coffee. Just outside the hotel downstairs is a Daily Yamazaki convenience store that closes at 10 PM. It was a quick, useful place to pick things up, and they always had different local cakes that don't come from big factories.

The facilities are dated, worn and tired, to be honest. Still, this was my favorite place to stay in Japan because of the staff. They were the best, charming, helpful and cheerful. I also loved the delicious, unpretentious curry night. I stayed here in 2023.

The toilet was tiny, and there was no air conditioning in the rooms. Worst of all, I booked a non-smoking room but got one that smelled terrible. Spraying Febreze and perfume over and over didn't help. After several trips to Japan, this is the worst hotel I've stayed at there.