Super Hotel Premier Saitama Oomiyaeki Higashiguchi

The natural spring bath is a nice extra alongside the bathtub, and the tablet lets you check how busy it is before going. The tablet in the room also handles the lights, air-conditioning, and TV, with timers to dim or switch on the lights around bedtime and wake-up. I hadn't seen features like that at other hotels I'd stayed at in Japan, and they made the stay stand out. My standard room had plenty of space for one person, with a built-in desk and enough sockets for work or travel. Super Hotel Premier Saitama Omiyaeki Higashiguchi is about an eight-minute walk from Omiya station. There are lots of places to eat and convenience stores on the way. I had a great stay and look forward to coming back.

The room, facilities, and meals were all very good. What left me disappointed was the service. A considerate response would have been to offer suggestions or help sort out the problem. Instead, the woman at the counter, who looked to be in her thirties, seemed impatient, gave a couple of perfunctory apologies, and appeared to want me gone as soon as possible. Her unfriendly manner made me very uncomfortable. Japan is working to develop tourism, and hotels need to do more to meet foreign visitors' needs. This experience at the Omiya hotel left me with bad memories of Super Hotel's service. I won't stay in Omiya again.

The free bar before 7 pm and the little hot spring bath earned the three stars from me. The room itself was small, with just okay amenities. The pillow was very flat, and although you can ask for another one on the ground floor, there weren't many available. I checked in at 5 pm and couldn't get one.

Omiya turned out to be more enjoyable for us than central Tokyo. It's cheaper, lively, and has loads of food and entertainment, with easy access to the station. The hotel was modern and tidy, the breakfast was good, and we had a comfortable stay. Nice little onsen on site, too.