Family Lodge Hatagoya Nasu

There are restaurants and a supermarket nearby, which makes the location convenient. The bed was just right, though it takes up most of the small room. Keep the calendar in mind, since rates can more than double on Saturdays and holidays. I didn’t like that the washing machine was at the end of the hall, so I left it unused. There’s a coin laundry a short drive away.

Breakfast is free, with bread, coffee, and orange juice, and it starts promptly at 7 a.m. It’s better to get there before it gets crowded. The rooms feel more like school camp lodging than a hotel, and have a unit bath, so they cover the basics. It works well for families who just need somewhere to sleep and plan to eat and bathe elsewhere. I choose it among the options of hotels, inns, sleeping in my car, or camping.

The inn’s setup is dependable, but it has some serious inconveniences compared with other places, even for a tourist area. It seems to be an early model, a truly old, single-story building set well back from the national highway. There isn’t even a convenience store nearby. The closest 7-Eleven is about a five-minute drive each way, and the few restaurants also require a car. It’s a very inconvenient location. There are only 12 rooms in the original property, and I remember none of the locations having non-smoking rooms back then. It’s still unclear which rooms allow pets and which are non-smoking. The guest rooms are the standard 25m2, with no difference from the current models, but because this was one of the first locations, the toilets are combined with the bath units. That’s a little better than the first location’s unit, which had a concrete floor, but the shower still gets damp and sticky from the humidity, making it uncomfortable and inconvenient. There’s a dehumidifier, perhaps for that reason or to deal with winter condensation, but I can’t tell. The smell was what bothered me most. Cigarette and pet odors had settled into the room. I even brought Febreze and sprayed it around, but it was like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water. There are no multi-purpose restrooms. The only restroom outside the rooms is a unisex, one-way toilet by the lobby. The coin laundry is at the very back beside Room 12. Vending machines are next to the lobby, but the alcohol machine is still broken. There’s a wooden deck where smoking is allowed, and parking is already limited, so I imagine it could be a hassle during peak season. There’s an extra outlet tap by the TV, and Wi-Fi is available. Breakfast bread is the same, but the coffee maker seems partly broken and the toaster oven timer doesn’t work properly, so it seems they have little intention of using it. Unless you’re trying to complete a collection of inns, I don’t see a reason to go out of your way to stay here.

It’s easy to get in and out since the building is single-story, and the male and female receptionists were both kind, which put me at ease. The parking lot is small, so take extra care if you arrive in the dark. The bathroom is a modular unit, and the toilet paper holder is a long way from the seat, which could make it hard for a small child to manage alone.