Hotel New Gaea Iizuka

Very close to the bus terminal, with easy trips to Hakata and lots of buses to Tenjin. Ai Town, a small shopping complex, is nearby too.

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The hotel is conveniently located near a small bar district. There seems to be a parking partnership, but when I parked there, it didn’t apply, so I used the Times lot next door. The front desk is cashless and doesn’t accept cash. Toothpaste, combs, cotton swabs, and other amenities are available by the front desk, but the razor costs 200 yen. There’s a large public bath on the first floor beside reception. On the second floor, there’s a lounge with free drinks. When I visited, they had sparkling wine. Is the breakfast famous? Apparently, you can get croissants from a bakery for 500 yen, though I couldn’t try it because I eat breakfast. There’s a Matsuya nearby. The room was a standard business hotel room. You can also buy 1,000-yen cards in the elevator hall for video-on-demand, and there seems to be a free e-book service with an app for reading manga magazines. Iizuka City doesn’t have many hotels, so the service here is probably good for the few options available. I’d have given it five stars if they’d offered a Japanese breakfast.

The location gets five stars from me. There’s a direct bus from Tenjin Expressway Bus Terminal. Get off at Iizuka Bus Terminal, and the hotel is a 1-2-minute walk away. Yume Mart and a Lawson are nearby, so picking up groceries is easy. I booked a Japanese-style room with a double bed. It was handy to have a phone charging point beside the bed. The second-floor lounge is one of the best features of this hotel chain. You can have coffee, oolong tea, sparkling wine, and more. Outside food is allowed there from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, so I bought a packed lunch at the Yume Mart next door and ate it in the lounge. The large bath opens at 5:00 PM. Towels are supplied right outside, so you can go empty-handed. There aren’t basic cosmetics like lotion in the bath area, but female guests can get disposable cosmetics kits at the front desk. Breakfast is a light bread meal from Mignon, a well-known bakery near Hakata Station. I toasted my own croissant in the hotel toaster. It’s a good option if you want something light. The lounge and large bath made the stay comfortable, but keep in mind breakfast is simple.