Apa Hotel Joetsu Myoko-Ekimae

“Comfortable and convenient hotel”

I was visiting Joetsu with family for the Takada Park cherry blossom festival, so we stayed 6 nights at this comfortable hotel. I used to live in Joetsu and was initially worried that it would be a bit out of the way, but it turned out to be really convenient for the places we wanted to visit. The… Mais

I was visiting Joetsu with family for the Takada Park cherry blossom festival, so we stayed 6 nights at this comfortable hotel. I used to live in Joetsu and was initially worried that it would be a bit out of the way, but it turned out to be really convenient for the places we wanted to visit. The hotel is pretty compact, but the rooms felt bigger than the Art Hotel in the centre of the city where I've stayed before. We had a double, a twin and a single room and they were all kept spotlessly clean. We had all the amenities we needed for our stay and everything was filled up or replaced by Housekeeping every day if we wanted. From check in to check out, the staff were really friendly and helpful, and we overcame the occasional language barriers with some smiles and a bit of acting - and Google Translate! The beds were very comfy and we all slept well - even with the faint rumblings of the shinkansen in the background... Only complaint about the room was the lack of closet space - there was nowhere to store clothes other than a couple of hangers on the wall at the entrance of the room, so we had to live out of suitcases for the 6 days - quite a challenge in a Japanese sized hotel room! One small chest of drawers would have made such a difference.... The hotel seems to be set up to cater mainly for business travellers, so it lacked shared spaces to sit or socialise, which our group felt a bit. There is a small restaurant on the ground floor where we had breakfast a couple of mornings (1300 yen if not included in your room rate) and a shared bath which was maybe a bit too much Japanese culture for our group! The only other space was the seating in the laundry room on the ground floor, next to vending machines and with a microwave and TV which was fine to sit and wait for laundry to dry but not really a space for relaxing and reading a book in! Our group wanted to visit Nagano and Kanazawa, and being right next to the shinkansen train station certainly made both of those day trips very easy. We hired a car one day to visit Obuse, and it was only a couple of minutes walk to the Times car rental company (highly recommended - they had no problems renting to someone with a foreign driving licence and had lots of information and an online booking form in English). 5 or 6 minutes got us into Takada by local train, and there was also a shuttle bus running to and from Takada Park at the weekends which was really convenient. We ate out most evenings on our day trips and struggled to find somewhere to eat near the hotel one of the evenings. Hopefully this will improve as the area around the train station gets a bit busier. Overall, a very convenient and comfortable stay at this lovely new hotel - very impressed with the cleanliness and decor, and the friendliness of staff - would definitely recommend a stay here if you are visiting the Joetsu and Myoko areas.

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“Experienced a real fire-escape evacuation”

-Comparatively small room. +Clean and modern. -Reception welcoming. -little English speaking +Convenient location if travelling through +Parking available on site and train station very close by +Restaurants have popped up (shipping container-like) on the other side of tracks Our story…We had a… Mais

-Comparatively small room. +Clean and modern. -Reception welcoming. -little English speaking +Convenient location if travelling through +Parking available on site and train station very close by +Restaurants have popped up (shipping container-like) on the other side of tracks Our story…We had an overnight stay on the 8th floor. Whilst prepping for bed…Started to smell smoke and questioned why between ourselves. About 15 minutes later there was a loud announcement ONLY IN Japanese, which tone-wise sounded alarming. We acted quickly towards the EXIT door in the hallway, passing a few other guests, standing around looking a bit confused. As my partner managed to open the fire escape door, others followed along behind us. We noticed some other guests ignorantly/inconsiderately carrying down their cases. Guests and staff gathered around the parking lot and soon saw red lights from the fire brigade who worked efficiently to make the building safe for us to return to our rooms. No staff announced anything in English to explain/assist…just gestured with body language. A learning experience for everyone.

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“Nice Hotel close to Station ”

The Hotel was 3 minutes walk to the Train Station. The Wi-Fi worked well and had a Fridge and Kettle. The Room was so small had to climb over the bed to get out. The Bathroom was even smaller. We arrived 1 hour early and was told we would have to pay if we wanted the straight away. Not very friend… Mais

The Hotel was 3 minutes walk to the Train Station. The Wi-Fi worked well and had a Fridge and Kettle. The Room was so small had to climb over the bed to get out. The Bathroom was even smaller. We arrived 1 hour early and was told we would have to pay if we wanted the straight away. Not very friendly. When we left we asked if we could stay longer and was told also we would have to pay again. The Hotel was not busy at all. Found the reception staff not very friendly. Would not stay again.

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