Hotel Frontier

I had booked what I thought was a hotel room, but it turned out to be an apartment. The amenities were standard, so I had no issues with them. There is a front desk room, but it is always unattended, which made me a little uneasy about what would happen in an emergency.

The outside of the building is old, but the rooms have been renovated nicely. I picked it because I wanted to do some simple cooking, and the spacious room and table made it easy to spread out my luggage and feel comfortable. The washing machine and detergent were free to use, and the clothes dryer cost just 100 yen for 30 minutes.

I was able to relax here. I booked a room-only stay with parking included, and since I was driving, I went to the nearby natural hot spring, Genki no Yu, for a day visit. The building is easy to reach on foot from the station, though the walk back is uphill, so a short taxi ride might be easier. There isn’t much shopping nearby, so I went to Ekiyo Aeon on foot and walked around and shopped there. With a car, you can shop anywhere, and it’s nice to bring groceries back to eat and drink in the room. The place is labeled as a rental house on the wall, but it’s been renovated into a business hotel. It’s old, though renovated to the standard you’d expect.

No Wi-Fi in this day and age is a real shame, and there’s no washlet either. The room smelled moldy, and the semi-double bed smelled of sweat. It felt like an apartment converted into a dormitory, with an electric stove and kettle. I’ve traveled for work for 25 years, and this place deserves one star. The price is very cheap, just under 5,000 yen with breakfast and dinner, but you have to pay the full amount for all your nights. My Room Ishinomaki manages it, so you have to go there whenever you need something, and receiving packages is a hassle.