HOTEL R9 The Yard Koga

Very good, the business I’ve been dreaming of.

I gave this place one star because the road-facing rooms were so uncomfortable that I thought charging guests to sleep in them was terrible. In my view, people who make decisions there should try staying in one themselves. The rooms that don't face the road are the normally comfortable R9 rooms, but I think 16 of the 43 rooms are bad, about 37%. If I booked several nights and got one of those, I imagine it would be hellish. I chose a container hotel for comfort, yet a road-facing room carries a 37% chance of being so noisy I can't sleep. If I booked the night before something important and ended up there, I expect the next day would be miserable. I’m sorry to repeat myself, but I find it strange that guests can be charged to stay in such uncomfortable rooms. The trouble seems to affect rooms 34-39, 33-28, and 11-14. I stayed in room 36, and people in room 37 have written similar reviews. I experienced the same thing in rooms 33-29 and 11-13. Sorting reviews from worst to best, you’ll see people saying much the same thing. I doubt anyone could sleep in a road-facing room. The wind noise and shaking went on all night, like a once-in-a-decade typhoon, without exaggeration. Diesel trucks waiting at traffic lights were clearly audible, and each passing truck brought vibrations. Since the hotel is beside a major road, trucks keep going past all night. It sounded like watching planes at Narita Airport. I was so short on sleep that I overslept and, for the first time, had to check out late that day. The main comfort a container hotel offers, soundproofing, is completely lost in those rooms.

We'd like to come back if we get the chance. Our family of three shared a double room and a single room for two nights without meals, and we were able to relax. The landlady was friendly and easy to talk to, and the inn has a long-established feel with a retro Showa-era atmosphere!