There are so many different things with the hostel, which mark my words it is, rather than a hotel.
Lets start with the good -
It's somewhat is a decent location, about 10minutes walk from the JR nara stop (uphill though)
It's a somewhat modern building and have usual features that occur in most mid tier places in Japan.
Unfortunately, there are so many big and small issues that just make the stay unpleasant.
Bad -
Firstly, showers are unavailable from 10am-3pm, for "cleaning", but I am pretty sure it is never done.
You will need to go to another floor to shower if you are in a mixed dorm, because the mixed floor hosts the female showers, so if you're a man, you need to go through the common room through people sitting down and shower and then go back through. It's honestly a nightmare, to top this off when you need the bathroom two ridiculously tiny ones are inside near the kitchen, and the slightly bigger are actually outside and are melting inside.
All the hallways and lift are ridiculously hot too, so youre sweating again before you've even returned to your room.
When you are in the shower, unfortunately it's just full of hairs, different size, length and colours. This was directly at 3:05 when it should have been "cleaned". The cleaning staff are just doing a very poor job all around.
Now, let's move on to the bedrooms, and what a mess it really is. On paper, they look nice and even when you walk in, it seems okay. But then people start to come in and out of the room using the touch pad and every single key makes a loud noise, followed by a song, and once the door closes behind it plays more songs. And, if you want to leave to use the bathroom? You have to press a button that automatically unlocks it and plays another round of beeping. I have no idea why on God's earth this isn't am disabled or had the speaker wire cut.
And finally, the actually area you sleep. You are given the bedsheets, bottom sheet, and pillowcase, and you are expected to make your own bed. Now, although this placed isn't expensive, it isn't exactly cheap either. The last thing after arriving and not being able to shower, is to make your own bed. But, to make matters even worse. It's ridiculously hot inside the wooden box, everyone is equipt with a fan, because my god do you need it.
All in all, it wasn't a great experience. The staff at the front desk are lovely and it's really not their fault. The cleaning really needs to be sorted. It's a real shame, because I really think if the installed a few more air conditioning units in the common room indoor bathrooms, and the hallways it would be a better experience. But, the cleaning really needs to be improved. I have included pictures of different times of going to bathroom, and it's just dirty.
Please just buy more ac units, and hire two full time cleaners, who make your beds and check the bathrooms hourly. People will pay more money for a better experience.
