Toyoko Inn Ueda Ekimae

A nice, affordable hotel near Ueda Station. I stayed two nights and took trains to visit several places in Nagano.

Clean place, nice staff, and buffet breakfast.

The rooms are great for a reasonable price.

Getting my car after checkout took far too long. The attendant had guided me properly when I parked at the multi-story garage beside the hotel during my holiday trip to Nagano, but later I was told to wait at the front desk and wasn't called for quite a while. Staff seemed to check their watches, go to the garage for the next task, then return to handle something else. They didn't check whether cars were being prepared or taken out, and that back-and-forth wasted a lot of time. The elevator was another problem. There's only one, and during busy periods it was impossible to get to the first floor. It happened twice during my stay. The building's structure would make another elevator prohibitively expensive, so I understand that probably won't change. A monitoring screen in the parking area could at least help the front desk see when a car is ready and guide guests. I understand the need to cut costs and that staffing is tight, but customers shouldn't be left waiting so long. A minute in the morning matters differently from a minute in the middle of the day.