During a recent trip to Sendai we stayed at the APA Villa Hotel Sendaieki – Itsutsubashi. The hotel was conveniently located just six minutes south of Sendai Station by foot. It was a high rise building with a good amount of foot traffic. We chose the APA Villa Hotel Sendaieki – Itsutsubashiin in Sendai for its moderate reviews on Google Maps and TripAdvisor, its great location, and reasonable price.

Our reservation said check in time was at 15:00. We arrived around 14:30. We were waiting in the lobby for a few minutes when a hotel receptionist told us we could check in early if we wanted. The check in process went smoothly. The hotel staff was very kind and accommodating. They had a good number of stations open, so the wait time was minimal. At each station there was a screen where we inputted the required information. Parking was a reasonable ¥1,240 for the night and included in and out privileges.

Pro Tip: Get an extra key card if you can. The lights and air conditioning in the room require a key card to be placed in the special holder. Otherwise the electricity will not work. To insure that our room was cool when we got back, we left one of our key cards in the holder while we were out. We were able to run the AC even when we weren’t in the room.

Sendai was known for their Tanabata Festival which was held annually from August 6th – 8th. Typically people write their wishes on tanzaku (colorful pieces of paper) and then tie them to a bamboo branch. The city of Sendai in particular hangs these beautiful Tanabata-gami throughout the city. The hotel had a few on display.

After check in we headed to our rooms on the 9th floor. There was a faint hint of smoke in the elevator and in the hallways of the 9th floor. Our rooms too had the faintest smoky odor. Amy was a little sensitive to the smoke, but she found it tolerable. Another indication of a problem was that our room came with an air purifier. After all, why put an air purifier in the room if there’s no problem.

APA Villa Hotel Sendaieki – Itsutsubashiin Room Review

The rooms were pretty small, even by Japanese standards. The bed was a decent size, probably in the semi-double range. There was a chair and desk, that when pulled out bumped into the bed. This room was meant for two people, but we were constantly bumping into each other. We struggled to find a place to put our medium sized duffel bag. We ended up using the bag stand and putting it at the base of the bed. A larger suitcase or more than one suitcase would have been very difficult to manage.

The bathroom and shower were all together. The space inside was comparatively large compared to other Japanese hotel bathrooms we’ve been in. We were able to sit on the toilet without our knees hitting the door. The tub was deep and it allowed us some room to move around.

One included hotel amenity was a gender separate public bath on the second floor. It was pretty hot that day, so we settled with a cool shower in our room. Another cool benefit was free movies on demand. They had a couple of the new Marvel movies among many others. Unfortunately, we were so tired that we just went straight to sleep.

Final Thoughts

If you are very sensitive to smoke, this might not be the hotel for you. Other floors may have been different, but the 9th floor had a faint smoky odor. Our room was pretty small too. If we each had one international carry on size piece of luggage, there would have been no space to open them. The location however was excellent. It was a short walk from Sendai Station, the morning market, and a ton of restaurants. The cost of the room and parking were both quite reasonable. The room was ¥9,173 for two people and the parking was ¥1,240 with in and out privilege’s. If your looking for a reasonably priced accommodation in a great location and don’t mind the faint odor, then we recommend APA Villa Hotel Sendaieki – Itsutsubashiin in Sendai.

More to Come…

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