The kids loved the second property we stayed at over Days 07 to 11 of this trip – Hyatt Hotel Kanazawa – that we had to manage their expectations for the third property over Days 11 to 13! We repeatedly reminded them that our Takayama accommodation isn’t going to be as modern nor as stylish. The average per room rates in Takayama that we found during our planning phase was at least pretty affordable compared to the likes of Nagoya or Kanazawa. But like the other properties we selected this trip, our requirements were pretty specific: support for a family room for the four of us, close to train station, and value for money.
Our stay at Takayama is Residence Hotel Takayama Station. Our comments!
We’re staying for just 3D2N and we have heavy itineraries for the days we’re in Takayama. The front-facing for the hotel notes that it’s just 2 minutes walk from Takayama Station (yep it is), and a business-centric hotel that is also equipped for long term stays. Our per night room rate is SGD106 – good value for money.
The hotel staff was happy to hold onto our luggage when we arrived before check-in time so that we could go about the day’s itinerary. The reception does not operate 24 hours though. We checked-out at 6:20AM on Day 13 morning, and dropped off the keys in a key box, and walked through the hotel garage to get back to the main road.
Our room is a Deluxe Suite with floor area 52 m². Apart from the large common area where two twin beds are situated alongside a dining table, the suite also has two separate rooms – one with two twin beds joined together to form a King-sized bed, and another smaller room that was empty but accessible to us. The room is equipped with a safety deposit box, air-purifier, a fridge (with a small range of complimentary cold drinks), coffee maker, microwave, induction stove, and a washer+dryer.
The toilet is separate from the bathroom area (with shower head and bath tub). At check-in, the hotel staff advised us that there is a finite limit to how much hot water guests can use at a time, and explained that this was because of the heating capacity of the hotel’s hot water apparatus. No, it isn’t an issue for us, even in winter – because the heater is extremely powerful, and you’d likely be scalded by heat settings that are anything past mid settings.
The hotel is all function: there is no gym, no business center that we could find, no restaurant (i.e. no hotel breakfasts) – not that we would had to use any of these facilities to begin with. But the absence of a hotel restaurant might be an issue for some: simply because if you have early morning trains to catch, you’d need to make do with takeaway food items that you get from Family Mart across the road from the hotel.
Decor wise, it’s functional and styling feels very early 1990s. i.e. a little dated.
Our room on the ninth floor has a veranda that affords a great view of Takayama Station. This has been the only hotel so far we get a great view – but it’s so cold outside that I ducked out only to take a few pictures before scurrying back inside for warmth!
The wife has a not so nice comment about the property though: when she went down to the lobby to get coffee packs – each guest is permitted one – she was eyeballed intently by staff as though they wanted to make sure she didn’t take more than her allocation! That annoyed her.
In all, we managed our expectations knowing that we would only be staying here for two nights. The room is pretty big for the four of us with generous sleeping areas and table surfaces for us to to charge devices, the kids to write their journals, and for the adults to use our laptops and iPads to review the next day’s itinerary and blog. We slept comfortably too. And it’s good value for money.