Hotel AreaOne Obihiro

I went on a Hokkaido road trip with three friends. One friend handled most of the planning, but I try to help choose hotels and speak up when the reviews look bad. I'd never stayed at an Areaone hotel. The room photos on Google looked okay, but the real place was much worse than they suggested. My room was #807, a single. I had to try the key at least four or five times before the door opened. Inside, there was a small, dark entryway and then another little door to pass through. I felt uneasy and moved slowly. The room itself was large, with old furniture and an odd layout. The white sheets and pillows looked clean, but I didn't feel like lying down. The “sofa” looked like a makeshift sofa bed. The bathroom area was strange too. A not very nice curtain hung at the entrance, so I wasn't even sure at first if that was the toilet and bath. It looked like a place that hadn't been renovated in 20 years, and I didn't feel it was clean. There seemed to be stains and dust around the base of the toilet. The room gave me a spooky, unwelcome feeling. This was only the second time I'd felt that way in 40 years of travel. The first was in Cuba in 2016. I decided I couldn't stay in that room. I went to the lobby and asked the woman if I could switch rooms. She handed me a key for 707, apparently left by someone who had just checked out. I said I didn't want No. 7 and didn't like the room. She turned to her male colleague and repeated “Don't like,” maybe because she took offense. Her face turned cold, and she said there were no other rooms. I knew there was no point discussing it further. I had assumed this would be a very cheap hotel, so I told myself to be tolerant. At checkout, I learned my single room, with no meals or breakfast, cost ¥8,550 for one night. That was definitely not worth it. I checked my friend's room across the hall later. It was quite different, with a square layout that looked like a normal hotel room, though it still seemed old and “low cost,” and the base of the toilet was stained and dusty. My friend kindly gave me the bed and slept on the sofa bed, using the bedding we'd moved from my original room. Another friend was sharing a corner room with his wife. When they went in, it smelled so awful that his wife nearly vomited. They sprayed the room and left the balcony door open for an hour, after which they said it was better. The lobby was awkward with luggage, too. When we waited for my friend to check in, it seemed a bit strange. From the reviews, I later understood it may have been converted from a former love hotel. I care about affordability, but also cleanliness, comfort, and how a place feels. This stay didn't meet those needs, and I definitely wouldn't choose AreaOne Hotels again.