Wakayama Urban Hotel - Wakayama Station

Wakayama Urban Hotel is very recommended since it is just a stone throw away from the JR Wakayama Station and also very close to convenience store and dept store which has a big food court on the basement where you can find very delicious Wakayama Ramen. The room is quite big with bath tub and complete amenities. They also provide nice buffet breakfast. Hotel services is also best. Very recommended.

This hotel was the perfect pick for our first night after landing at KIX. After standing in line for ages to activate our JR pass, we got limousine bus tickets to Wakayama station and this hotel was literally just steps away from where the bus dropped us off. In the morning there was a very filling and delicious breakfast with Japanese food, and in a pinch the 7-11 was right behind the building between the hotel and the train station. My only complaint and the reason it was not 5 stars is because they only had smoking rooms available and the smell permeated our clothes. Luckily we only stayed the one night so it didn't matter, but I would recommend making that stipulation if you need non-smoking rooms.

Imagine rushing into the hotel to avoid January weather in a coastal city with temperatures in the mid 30’s outside...only to find it’s not much warmer inside. The lobby ceiling is so tall it’s impossible to heat so they don’t try. While waiting for a friend to arrive I sat in the lobby and actually had to wear gloves and put my heavy winter scarf over my ears. When I finally got to my room there were 5 very 10ft tall, narrow windows that were covered by nothing more than thin shades so the cold air just poured into the room. Running the heat full blast at 28 c on automatic - meaning when the machine sensed the temperature in the room reached 28 it would click off and then come on again occasionally to maintain that temperature. Literally, the heater NEVER clicked off. Now then, in order to supply the room with electricity you’ve got to insert your room key into a little box near the door, once that key card is removed everything powers off immediately. Knowing how cold the room was we asked for an additional room key so we could keep the room heated while out sightseeing and were refused. I realize I’m not in America but is there no sense of fairness or customer service? You would never be refused basic heat or a second room key in the states, it’s laughable... we ended up sliding a used up Starbucks gift card into the electric box and it worked like a charm. The hotel did offer extra blankets but even with the heat I woke up the next morning with a sore throat from breathing cold air all night... we slept fully dressed just to stay warm. I’ve never experienced anything like that in a hotel in any of the nearly 20 other countries I’ve travelled in. The staff was friendly but nobody with any English fluency on staff if needed which made getting directions hard. The hotel was very clean and the breakfast buffet served scrambled eggs and toast with jam which was nice. The buffet was generous but mostly very traditional food - fish, soup, vegetables, etc... NO FRUIT at all though which I found strange but I was happy to just have scrambled eggs. This hotel was very close to the train station and lovely shopping and dining. Wakayama has amazing ramen right in the bottom of the station. For the off season price this was a good find but if I ever stayed here again I’d request an interior room or one with no / minimal windows if traveling in winter. The cold was truly unbearable.