Takasaki Washington Hotel Plaza

Quite a good choice in Takasaki, even though I can find similar hotel at a lower price in Tokyo. I stay because I can go Karuizawa ski resort 1 day and Yuzawa ski resort another day, and the hotel in the ski resort is expensive. The location is near JR station, need to cross 3 traffic lights though. Hotel breakfast is just ok, not too great. Hotel lobby is very welcoming. Room is standard, a bit old, the toilet is a bit dated. Would be better if they renovate the room and toilet.

The positives: The hotel sits right next to the station so location wise it was good. The negatives: Arrived late in the night. The car lifts were closed as there was no one to man them? I had to park at a private parking facility a street away from the hotel. That is already a minus. Usually there is an arrangement with the hotel for discounted parking in these type of cases - there wasn't. Paid the usual rates. There was only one staff at the reception counter at night. He had to attend to all aspects of the checking in. Had to wait quite a few times while he attended to the other guests. Could have been better staffed. The room itself was very disappointing. There was a long corridor pass the toilet to get to the room. It was L shaped. The extra bed blocked up most of the walking space. It was just put on the floor on a slightly raised wooden frame. It felt like sleeping on the floor literally. Had no space to even open my luggage. The carpets were old and grimy. The toilet was tiny and old. The finishings were very worn. The plastic fittings have all turned yellow. The air purifier was put at one corner with no nearby socket to plug it in. Had to shift it myself to another location next to the TV to plug it in. For the price paid - not really worth it. No breakfast included. I won't come back.

This is a very affordable hotel. It is conveniently located a couple blocks from the JR Takasaki Station and the new Aeon Mall. We had a double room which was pretty good size compared to most Japanese hotels. Small if you are comparing to American hotels. The room included a buffet breakfast which had western and Japanese items. We really enjoyed the food. There seemed to always be at least one staffer who spoke enough English to help us. They helped us fill out forms for our luggage transport. We didn’t have a car, so not sure what the parking situation is. The hotel is older and doesn’t look recently renovated but our room was always clean. We would stay here again.