HOTEL le bordeaux -ル ボルドー-

The hair dryer and iron were both clean and easy to use, despite the bad things I’d seen in other reviews. The unit bathroom was roomy too, which was nice.

The elderly woman looking after the place was very polite and made a good impression. If I were judging only her service, I’d give five stars. But the room and the rest of the service didn’t come close to justifying the price. We booked ahead for 18,000 yen during the fireworks, hoping to avoid the traffic afterward. The room felt like a small renovated business hotel room, and the unit bath had a broken showerhead. The hair dryer had something like plastic wrap around it, so I didn’t feel comfortable using it. Restaurants nearby were packed with fireworks spectators, so we came back to eat at the hotel. They turned us away, saying there was no one to cook. If they expected it to be busy enough to charge a special rate, I wish they’d arranged for more staff.

The female staff member was pleasant, but the rest of the stay was so bad I wouldn’t even give it one star. My partner was already depressed after I made the reservation for our first stay at a love hotel together, and it was hard to see. The room looked just like a business hotel. The bath and toilet shared a unit bathroom, there was no changing area, and the tub was too small for two people. Bath salts were offered as an amenity and at the front desk, but the shower curtain separated the tub from the rest of the bathroom. When I drained it, water leaked from beneath the sink, apparently by design. The curling iron was unbelievably dirty. Its rubber part was visibly worn and sticky, and there was even hair stuck to it. I didn’t want to touch it. The hair dryer was barely usable. How could the staff cleaning the room not notice the state of that iron? This was the worst love hotel I’ve ever been to. Maybe being in a busy area is part of the problem, but I’d tell people to think of it as a hotel for escort services. It didn’t feel suited to couples.

At 2 a.m. on May 27, I bought a cigarette marked 580 yen on the menu and was charged 600 yen. When I asked the older woman working overnight for the difference, she said the price had gone up and that convenience stores sell it for 600 yen too. She said the menu was old and that I could return it if I only wanted to pay 580 yen. Can you actually do that? It felt really bad that they hadn’t updated the menu. I won’t stay there again. I can’t shake the feeling I was scammed.