Isahaya Terminal Hotel

You can get the Shimatetsu One Day Pass here.

The free breakfast comes with three kinds of bread, soup, coffee, and juice, and the parking is plentiful if you arrive by car. The hotel is also right across from the station, which is a great location. The rooms tell a different story. The wallpaper is coming off, and the bathroom and toilet are dirty. Repairs in the bathroom look poorly done, with stains that won’t come out, and the space is incredibly cramped. Even a small movement in the shower has you hitting the walls or curtain. The tub is so small an adult man might get stuck trying to get out. The hallway carpet is worn down where people walk, and the room door uses a regular key instead of an automatic card lock. Some reviews claim the building is old but the rooms are clean. That’s just not true.

The room has fast Wi-Fi, a fridge, and individually controlled Mitsubishi Electric air conditioning that works well. There are two elevators, and I had no trouble using them. Check-in was smooth, and the hotel is easy to find, about a two-minute walk from Isahaya Station’s east exit. The downsides are hard to overlook. The single room is only 12m2, and noise carries from neighboring rooms and the hallway, including snoring and footsteps. The small modular bathroom has strong water pressure, but its two-handle tap makes it hard to set the right temperature. There’s no ventilation fan, so humidity and smells linger. The old-fashioned room key has no auto-lock, so remember to lock the door when you leave. You can take the key with you. There’s no microwave. Breakfast is free in the second-floor lobby from 6:30 to 9:30, but I didn’t find it very tasty: corn soup, three small pieces of bread, and a drink such as mandarin juice. I’d skip it and pick something up the day before at Family Mart Meihinkura Isahaya Station Branch, on the station’s second floor, about two minutes away. The location is good and the price is lower than nearby hotels, but the dated facilities, cramped bath, lingering odors, and lack of ventilation mean I can’t recommend staying here.

A light breakfast is included, and the room has a bath plus a shower and toilet. It’s an easy fit for a business trip. The building’s a bit dated, which helps explain the reasonable price, but the spot right in front of Isahaya Station is excellent.