We stayed at this hotel for one night on two occasions during a two-week tour of Hokkaido. We only stayed here as Kushiro was on the way to/from our holiday destination. I had heard rumours that Kushiro is a 'dying town' and we found little evidence to the contrary in our brief stay.

Positives

- The hotel is almost immediately opposite the JR Kushiro Station, about 30 seconds walk. Very convenient for a late arrival or early departure by train.

- The hotel was the cheapest in our whole two-week Japan holiday. We got a twin room including buffet breakfast for ¥10,600. The breakfast had a good selection of typically Japanese items (rice, fish, miso etc). But also had other items including eggs, fruit, juices, coffee etc. If you are familiar with such hotels as Travelodge or Premier Travel Inn in the UK, then this is the standard to be expected at Tokyu Inn Kushiro.

- The hotel's restaurant 'Shangrila" provided a tasty buffet comprising many different items for around ¥3000/person. There was a whole load of traditional Japanese items including fish, rice, miso but also a load of different vegetable and pasta dishes. Fruit juices, water and a dessert option of fruit, cakes and trifle were available too. We wouldn't normally consider eating in a hotel restaurant but we had had such a depressing night the previous week when we wandered down to the Suehiro Entertainment District that we couldn't face stepping foot outside the hotel. Suehiro is reminiscent of the entertainment districts you find in other Japanese towns. Usually they're a great place to find loads of restaurants, bars and general 'fun'. However Suehiro (which is only a 10 minute walk from the hotel) felt like a ghost town, many restaurants and bars were closed or derelict. Those that were open were mainly empty and an empty restaurant is never an attractive proposition.

Negatives

- Tiny rooms. I suppose you get what you pay for but once we had wheeled two suitcases in there was virtually no room to move without climbing onto the beds. The bathroom capsule is only big enough for one person at a time. Ones knees may touch the bathroom door if one is sitting on the toilet with the bathroom door closed...

- Air conditioning unit was so loud is was impossible for it to be used. For our first one night's stay we slept with the window open in a room at the front of the hotel and were disturbed by traffic noise. However a week later we returned for a further one night's stay and got a room facing out the back of the hotel enabling us to sleep with the window open the whole night without disturbance. We are used to a fair amount of traffic noise at home, so if you are particularly sensitive to traffic noise then you may have to put up with the air conditioner even if you manage to secure a room at the back. This was during summer of course - during the sub zero winter months obtaining cool room air won't be a problem!