Royal Hotel Odate

A pretty solid, relatively cheap choice in Odate. You get ramen for dinner and a breakfast buffet with a range of traditional japanese dishes, and there's a free soft-drink dispenser in the lobby. The usual amenities are there too. It does feel old-fashioned, right down to actual keys instead of keycards, but there's nothing really wrong with it. Worth knowing if there are 3 of you: you'll need separate rooms.

Finding somewhere this clean, safe, quiet and spacious in Japan for so little money is unusual. The value really is incredible. Odate itself hasn't got much of a downtown, but it works as a handy base for North Akita. Akita is beautiful and there's plenty to go out and explore.

The friendly reception staff had an Akita dog, so that pretty much won me over straight away. We also got a free ramen voucher on arrival, a lovely extra at a cheap hotel. Comfy bed and a nice onsen at just the right temperature for relaxing. Great little place.

What bothered me here was seeing eito-kun, the hotel's male mascot dog, in a cage out the back among the aircon condensers. It looked as though he'd been kept there a long time. As a dog owner, I can't accept using a dog for commercial benefit while giving him such poor surroundings. Please at least give him somewhere free to move around! I don't leave bad reviews for no reason, and I've nothing against the hotel itself. The staff are great, it's very clean despite its age, and they even offer free supper of yonagi noodles and rice, much better than dor*y i*n. But I really don't understand that arrangement for eito-kun, and this is especially a point for the management.