Yamagata Eki Nishiguchi Washington Hotel

The reception is on the 24th floor, and you need to take a separate elevator from there to reach the rooms. After getting off at reception, turn right. For guests who don't speak Japanese, if you enter the building from Yamagata Station via the overpass, the passage to the elevators is on your right. If you want a window, be sure to book a room marked "View".

You can leave your luggage before check-in, and there's a microwave and ironing boards available. The double beds may feel small for a couple with a young child. The hotel has lots of places to eat nearby, including an Indian restaurant. Its location is excellent, connected to the station by a covered walkway, so you don't need to go outside to reach it. The rooms were clean and renovated, with a lovely city view, and the price was good for what you get. We had a great stay.

We left after the first night, only because nothing else nearby was available on a Saturday. The place was extremely expensive for what we got. The room was tiny, dirty, and very dusty, and the duvet cover was filthy. I don't think it had been changed in weeks. The AC was awful: in October they had it set to heating only, so it was very hot, and I couldn't even open the window a crack. Finding the hotel as a foreigner was almost impossible, like an elevator mall maze, and the staff didn't speak any English. The next day we moved to Daiwa Roynet, which was amazing by comparison.

The building is connected to the JR station, which is a big plus. We were given one of the few rooms facing inward, though, so there was no view of the city or mountains. There was definitely a lingering cigarette smell in our room. Maybe they mixed up our reservation, or maybe it was being converted to non-smoking. The bed and pillows were very firm and didn't suit me, but that's my own preference.