Hagi Royal Intelligent Hotel

DO NOT BOOK HERE unless you want a smoking room. I booked a non-smoking room a week in advance and when I checked in, the staff said there are only smoking rooms left. This is a blatant breach of contract! They give you no other option than to put up with it. According to other reviews on other platforms, it appears that this hotel deliberately overbooks the non-smoking rooms. And if you're an asthmatic, don't even bother, the floors reek of smoke. One star for the free parking space, one star for the new shower cabins.

I don't understand what people expect from this hotel, it's clearly a budget hotel and they tell you that on a sheet of paper when you arrive. The room was large and clean with a great view of the river leading into the sea. The breakfast is basic, but it is all you can eat/drink. There is a room where you can wash your clothes. The hotel itself is in a fantastic place, about 10 seconds from the bus stop and train station. It's quite easy to walk to the centre of town. In life, you get what you pay for but in this case, you get more.

We stayed here overnight. The reception was not so japanese, almost no omotenashi. Just basic "hi" and "here's the key to your room". The hotel is very old fashioned, the decoration was very kitschy. So many arts that doesn't belong to each other. What we loved was the room and the big bed. It was big and very spacious! And the view, amazing! There were so many informations inside the room and so many books to read and if you find them interesting, you can buy them from their souvenir shop at the 3rd floor. The next day, breakfast was, well, it's like being in the army. You wear plastic hand gloves and then you fall in line. Then the food was, well, you can't choose, you get what they have there. A teeny tiny bowl of salad, tiny bowl of japanese entree, a bowl of miso soup, sausage, prepared onigiri with furikake on it and 2 pcs of sliced takuan (marinated daikon). Bread, well you have to wait for a loooong time before they fill the small cabinet, which they never did while we were there. The other guests (from south korea), took them all (3 rolls each person!). You can get drinks from a vending machine (coffee and tees). The woman who oversees the breakfast hall was so busy organizing the used plates and utensils on the side of the room and it was loud. The clanking of the plates, forks and spoons was so distracting, the mood was so unpleasant. My husband and I left immediately after eating, it was an uncomfortable atmosphere. When we got back to our room, we were suprised to find a newspaper clipped beside our door. That was a very nice touch of service. We liked that a lot. The hotel would have been better if they improved their employees behavior and customer service. They gave us a feeling as if they hated their job and we guests are a bother to them. It felt so awkward. And one last positive about the hotel is the location. It is standing beside the train and bus station. Very convenient. Will I recommend this hotel? Yes, for the location, room size, big bed and nice view and IF you are not bothered by bad service and boring breakfast.

This business hotel right next to JR Hagi East station is cheap yet has everything a traveler needs (seems also popular with couples ) and the beds were comfortable. |Amenities include tooth and hair brushes, respectively shavers, hair dryer and even heated slippers! |Toilet and shower stall are separate (always a nice feature) and while there is no bath tub the hotel offers a public bath (sento) on the 4th floor. The toilet is a Japanese high tech one (by now customary in Japanese hotels) with bidet and cleaning functions (see foto).|A small breakfast buffet is included in the room rate. |On the 3rd floor (reception area ) there are vending machines offering soft drinks, beer and instant food at only a very small markup. A pool billard table and some exercise equipment are also available.

Unless one is staying in a ryokan it is hard to find a good hotel in Hagi, especially for western visitors. But the Royal Intelligent is very poor indeed. No welcome on arrival, just a reading out of the hotel rules. One of which is that if you want your room to be serviced then you must not return between 10.00 and 16.00. We chose not to have it serviced but the hotel is not a hostel and is charging mid-range prices. The room was very small but we didn’t expect more. The bath towel was tiny. And, worst of all, the bathroom and the room smelled of drains except immediately after one had showered. ||||I’ve no problem that the breakfast was Japanese but the ingredients were of very poor quality and by 8.30 were not being replenished because breakfast ended at 9.00 and everything was immediately cleared away. ||||Hagi is wonderful and we’re so pleased that we went. It is a must to visit even if the travel requires several changes of train, but maybe that Is one reason why Hagi is such a jewel because the tourists who were there were not numerous and were overwhelmingly Japanese. The Uragami Museum is superb, the merchant and samurai quarters beautiful to wander round, the Shoin-Jinja shrine and the Toko-ji tombs hauntingly lovely in very different ways, and we ate brilliantly in local izakayas (Maru is strongly recommended including the tasting tray of six local sakes which at 1200 yen was a bargain). ||||So, don’t be put off Hagi which is wonderful. ||But the Royal Intelligent is a terrible hotel and to be avoided.

Very eccentric place. Artwork and sculpture strewn randomly about as though someone was interrupted in the middle of packing/unpacking their things. Full amenities of the building are not as advertised, as the whole first floor seems to be under renovation and few shops are open.

This hotel is located right beside the Higashi Hagi Railway Station, which is the main station of the town and the long distance buses from cities in the region also stop here. The surrounding area is quite quiet but the main business area of town is not very far and the tourist spots can be reached using the local bus (there are 2 local loop bus routes: the eastern loop has a stop at the Higashi Hagi station, while the nearest stop of the western loop is a few minutes’ walk away across the river).||||The room of this hotel is similar to the usual business hotels in other cities, but I feel my twin room is more spacious than in most others. The shower and toilet area are separated. Room facilities and wifi works without any trouble. Standard Japanese breakfast is served in the morning with few items of western taste. Free tea / coffee is available on the drinking machine on each floor. ||||The check-in staff speaks a bit of English, and hands out a full English information sheet with instructions on remotes to TV & air-con, information of public bath (which I did not use) and other facilities in the hotel, etc. The reception counter is unmanned from around midnight till 10 am. On check-out before 10 am, I instructed to simply drop the room key to the collection box. For baggage storage, there are self-service lockers for use at lobby, which is not free but at a lower rate than in the railway station.

We stayed two nights in the larger double room. The room and bathroom are large by Japan standards, yet price was reasonable. The lobby is out dated but in a funky way. Seems like 1980s style. Breakfast is not much. The front desk staff are helpful, thought very little English spoken. The over-the-top winner was the dinner which was included in the price of our room. We enjoyed seven course or portions almost kaiseki style dining. I would stay here again and recommend Royal Intelligent to other westerners. Chris from Kansas City.