Hotel Grand Shinonome

The event food was pretty average, the kind of thing you could easily make at home. The hotel looks lovely from the outside, though the interior feels a bit dated. The bathrooms are fancy, if that matters to you.

The rooms look like they haven't been updated in about 20 years, and they really need a full renovation. The one bright spot was breakfast, with a lovely view of the Japanese garden. I stayed in 2022.

The hotel's location worked well for me, about a 15-minute walk from the station, though Google Maps shows a strange route. The building looked promising, but the room wasn't good: no LAN connection, very slow Wi-Fi, and a cigarette smell. The door also seemed easy to open from outside if left unlocked. I forgot to lock it on my first night, and someone came straight into my room while I was nearly asleep, perhaps another guest made a mistake. I usually come to Tsukuba on business and had stayed at two other hotels near the station before trying this one. For just one night, it's cheap and might do, but I wouldn't recommend a longer stay. There were other shortcomings too.

The rooms need work: the beds are very hard, the pillows are small, and getting into the bathroom feels like climbing Tsukuba Mountain. Still, the hotel's location and architecture are top class, as are the halls, meeting rooms, garden, restaurant, and the view from the room. Great overall.