I recently stayed in two different Toyoko Inn (東横イン) hotels in Kagoshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Toyoko Inn is a massive hotel chain; there are often multiple Toyoko Inn hotels in each city. Below is the outside of the Nagasaki Toyoko Inn.
Toyoko Inn is a budget business chain. The rooms are comfortable, but nothing special. One thing you’ll notice if you stay in multiple locations is how similar all Toyoko Inn hotels are to each other. They look almost identical on the outside, the receptions look the same, and so do the rooms. If you want to stay somewhere unique this isn’t the place.
Spot the difference
Below is the bedroom from one of the Kagoshima Toyoko Inn hotels, and below that is a photo from the Nagasaki Toyoko Inn.
Pretty similar, and so is the room’s desk. The top photo is Kagoshima and the bottom is Nagasaki. They have the same clock, TV, hairdryer, wall light, and collection of books.
One area where the two hotels did differ greatly was in the view from the room. Here is the view from the Kagoshima room. Not spectacular, but acceptable.
Here is the view from the Nagasaki room. Yes they have built a corrugated iron, multi-story carousel car park just metres from the window at the back of the hotel. This is the worst view I’ve ever had from a hotel room!
Here is a photo from inside the bathroom. The one on the left is Kagoshima, and the one on the right is Nagasaki. Or is it the other way round…
Here’s a zoomed in shot showing their standard shampoo / conditioner dispenser, and the toilet control panel.
Room access
Most hotels have a ‘Do not disturb’ sign for you to use if you want to chill in your room while you are staying there. But not Toyoko Inn; they want you to be out of your room between the hours of 10am and 4pm – unless you phone the reception to tell them you are staying in your room. You can of course do this, but it is a bit of a hassle.
Their check-in and check-out times match their ‘room no-stay’ times. Check in at 4pm and check out at 11am. Most hotels let you check in at 3pm and check out at 11am.
If you are a business man and are only using the hotel to sleep before going to your early morning meetings then none of this will be a problem. If however you are on holiday and want to relax the Toyoko Inn chain might not be for you.
Breakfast and coin laundry
Breakfast was included. In both places there were rice balls and bread.
Each Toyoko Inn had a coin laundry with washers and dryers. Very handy if you are travelling light. Coin laundries can sometimes be a pain to find in Japan.
Overall
The rooms were comfortable and functional. Nothing special, but this is reflected in the average price. The policy of vacating your room between 10am and 4pm unless you phone reception isn’t great if you want a long sleep, but many people wouldn’t think of being in their room at those times anyway.
I don’t have any direct links for booking these hotels, but you can use the below links if you want to search for other hotels in either Kagoshima or Nagasaki.
Search for all hotels in Kagoshima… (on HotelsCombined.com)
Search for all hotels in Nagasaki… (on HotelsCombined.com)