Hotel Primrose Saito

Breakfast was simple, without much of a chef-made feel, but it tasted good. The staff were kind, which made the state of the facilities all the more disappointing. The heater wouldn't start from the remote. I could reach the unit because the ceiling was low, and pressing its button got it running, but it still blew no warm air. The backs of the open vents were covered in mold, so I shut it off quickly and aired out the room. It was cold, but I wrapped myself in the futon and went to sleep instead of using the air conditioner. Like at many business hotels, the sheet didn't stay tucked around the futon and kept flipping up, leaving my skin against the futon itself. It felt like management wasn't putting enough into maintaining the facilities.

The room felt like a prison. When I opened the fourth-floor window, all I saw was a wall, so no sunlight came in. There was a moldy smell, and the shower room was humid with poor ventilation. The towels were damp and disgusting, and so was the bed. At checkout I asked whether this room cost the same as one on a higher floor. They said it did, which is unbelievable. They seem far too complacent to charge the same for this room as for a clean, well-serviced room in Miyazaki City. I was visiting my hometown and had to stay here, but I'll never use Primrose again. The place also feels creepy. I really can't recommend it.

The bath drained quickly, and the shower pressure was fine. The rest fell below what I consider a basic hotel standard, even allowing that I booked on the same day. The front desk arranged a taxi for the next morning after I gave them the destination and departure time. Both were wrong. The driver apologized, but I paid just under 3,000 yen instead of the usual 2,000 yen. There was no ballpoint pen, memo paper, or shoe polish pad in the room. The pillow was so flat I wondered if it was meant for a newborn. In hundreds of hotel stays, I'd never seen one like it. There was visible dirt too: pitch-black mold on the air-conditioning vent, grime inside the kettle, and a paper cup liner so dirty and sun-discolored in places that it looked like guests were expected to wash it.

The annex was a bit of a maze to navigate. From the front desk on the fifth floor of the main building, you cross a connecting corridor and reach the annex on its third floor. Finding the direct route to the first-floor exit from there was confusing. I was in a slightly small single for work, but otherwise it was pretty standard and the Wi-Fi was decent. The breakfast was tasty, especially the rice, served warm and freshly cooked. It's the only business hotel right in central Saito, with izakayas and snack bars scattered nearby.