Niigata Grand Hotel

I've had several meals in the past for work, but it was just another one, including the quantity and taste. This time, as expected, the meal did not live up to expectations.

We enjoyed our stay at the Niigata Grand. The room housed the three of us and our luggage well, without feeling too cramped, especially with a closet in which we could keep some bags out of the way. The bathroom was big enough, though not as spacious as some of the others we’ve encountered on this trip to Japan. However, we appreciated that it had some hooks and small towel rails, as well as a clothesline you could extend from the wall. Also, the mirror did not fog up after a shower, though my husband found the lighting could have been better for shaving. The beds were comfortable and I very much liked that we were provided with more than one pillow each. I ended up sleeping on what turned out to be a Tempur memory foam pillow, which worked quite well for me. There are night lamps for the two main beds, allowing for light levels to be adjusted as required for earlier sleepers. An unusual feature of the room these days, but one that I liked, was that we didn’t need to insert a room access card into a slot to activate the lights and air conditioner. The room we were in seemed to have undergone a refurbishment relatively recently, with modern furnishings and fixtures and a more minimalist style. It didn’t match with the foyer and reception areas, which presented more ostentatiously more likely reflecting the era in which the hotel was first built. Check in, as seems to be more common with the business-style hotels we’ve been encountering on this trip, was via a machine that dispensed our room access cards. There is the option to choose from a range of languages, so I guess it makes it easier in a way, if rather impersonal. We could park our rental car in the hotel’s garage in the basement, though parking is unreserved. The cost for this was 600 yen, which we paid when checking in. As we didn’t know where to find the garage at first, we parked in one of four parking spots at the front entrance of the hotel while we checked in. There is a lift from the garage to the lobby area, but a separate lift goes from the lobby level to the guest rooms. The hotel itself is located by the river, about a 20 min walk away from the train station. There is are buses that stop nearby, but more that stop on the other side of the river, though it is an easy stroll, with beautiful views over the bridge to get to the hotel that way, especially at night, with the lights on the water.

It's a well-established hotel with 10 floors above ground. When you enter the entrance, you are greeted by this spacious lobby. The front desk clerk was a foreigner (Western), but he spoke fluent Japanese and served us politely. It seems that weddings are also held at this hotel. In rural areas, weddings are often held at hotels. Come to think of it, the separate building seems to be a building specifically for weddings. The rooms are not very spacious. I guess that's normal for a business hotel? Most business hotels these days have large hot spring baths, but this hotel seems to be a bit old and only has a bathroom in the room. I decided to have breakfast. There seems to be a choice between Japanese and Western food. I chose a Japanese dish called "Niigata Breakfast." It's a breakfast made with ingredients from Niigata. They use not only Uonuma Koshihikari rice, but also Yukihikari pork from Uonuma and eggs from the local Nakajo area. On this day, I was served porridge made with Koshihikari rice.