HOTEL LiVEMAX Himeji Ekimae

Be careful when booking, since there are several LiveMax hotels in the area and we accidentally booked this one through Orbitz. The desk managers were very nice, but the room was quite terrible and far too expensive for what it offered. It was tiny, had no view, and the bedding was poor quality. The bathroom was like a raised closet, slightly crooked, and awkward for an adult to balance and move around in.

The photos don't show the hotel's real condition, and the room was gross, below even my lowest standards. We couldn't open the window, and the room ceiling had nasty stains. On the fourth floor, the corridor smelled of fried, burnt food, and the carpet was stained in front of every door, like a horror movie. We requested a non-smoking room but got a smoking one; staff said they had no other room. The shower curtain was yellow with smudges and whatever else, and there were yellow stains on the shower floor too.

The hotel is reasonably close to the stations, but we weren't told that reception isn't staffed in the morning. As a foreigner traveling in Japan without mobile phone access, reaching the off-site staff was difficult. We had to go all the way back to JR station and use its storage lockers for our luggage. If we'd known about this, we'd have booked somewhere else.

There isn't a restaurant at the hotel, so breakfast isn't offered. The Wi-Fi was so-so, and we had trouble with the bathroom: the water wouldn't drain, and they couldn't fix it until morning. The rooms are small and a bit run down, with stained carpets and uncomfortable beds. They're okay otherwise. We stayed a couple of nights in Himeji, and what you're really paying for is the location, close to the station and restaurants, and within walking distance of the castle.