A Kagoshima Hotel That Caught Us Off Guard: Our Surprising Experience at FAV LUX Kagoshima Tenmonkan

Hello!

I'm still going through my Japan trip stories, and today I want to share with you our experience at the FAV LUX Kagoshima Tenmonkan hotel in the amazing city of Kagoshima, where we encountered a few unexpected surprises.

Price

We booked a room for 3 nights for two of us, and the total price was 24,260 rubles. We booked on the trip website, as we always do.Location

The hotel's location is a bit far from the main stations - Kagoshima and Kagoshima Chuo. It takes about 30 minutes to walk, but we prefer walking, so we did. You can also take trams, which are the main urban transport, but we're still big fans of walking.

The view from our room was of the city and Sakurajima, although it should have been right in front of the windows, not to the side. The construction on the other side was quiet, which was a surprise. I don't know how the Japanese manage it, but the sounds didn't bother us at all - it was completely quiet at night. Our neighbors upstairs, during the renovation (and even after it), were making a hundred times more noise.There are plenty of shops and cafes near the hotel, and in 10 minutes, there's one of my favorite stores - Loft.

The hotel itself

The hotel was built in 2024, which is impressive, considering its age. It has a total of 63 rooms, which is a relatively small number. The building is quite tall and narrow.

The reception and the restaurant are located on the top floor - 13. You can pay extra for breakfast right in the hotel - 1800 yen per person.

The windows are panoramic, offering a beautiful view. On the right-hand side, there's a mini-reception area where you can check in and out independently using special tablets - they do have English support.

Now, here's a crucial point: reception isn't open 24/7, which is why they refused to accept our luggage. We had to send it from Fukuoka to Kumamoto and then straight to Tokyo. We checked out before the reception staff arrived, but the self-check-in and self-check-out system worked smoothly.Rooms are located on floors 2 to 12, and our room was on the 10th floor. The ground floor has a sauna, a luggage storage area, a drink machine, and a smoking area.

Three lifts were more than enough, considering the small number of rooms. They were super quiet and got us to our floors quickly.

We also had a water and ice machine on our floor, and it was totally free.

Our Room

The second surprise wasn't exactly pleasant - when we went to check in, the staff member told us that there was some kind of system glitch and our room wasn't actually booked. We were given the option to take either a budget room that was 20 square feet smaller or a spacious one, but with four beds. So, my partner and I ended up in a room that's supposed to be for six people.It turns out we're not the only ones who've had this issue - there are a few reviews on the site with similar experiences. Apparently, this is a long-standing problem with the hotel. We contacted their support team, and they offered us two options: either get a 10% refund on our booking or wait for them to contact the hotel and try to get us the room we originally booked. We went with the refund.

The rooms don't use traditional key cards, but instead have a code lock that you can either enter a PIN code into or scan a QR code. The lock was a bit slow to respond, but it wasn't a major issue.

The room itself was comfortable and spacious, with even a mini-kitchen.

The microwave, kettle, and cups are all there, just like the microwave.

The beds are huge and spacious. Since we stayed for three nights, we could've slept on a different bed each night. The mattresses are comfortable, but the pillows are way too soft and they make this weird creaking noise, like there's something crackling inside. The bedding was clean, except for one thing - the duvet cover on one bed was torn. We decided not to report it to the reception, and just took a duvet from another bed, where everything was fine.

There's a table and chairs next to the beds, and a sofa in front of the panoramic windows. Plus, there's a place to store your bags and backpacks.

The entrance is small, with just a mirror and some slippers. There's no closet for clothes, just a few hooks on the wall in the room.

The bathroom is amazing! First of all, it's huge. There are two sinks, two mirrors, and it's super convenient. The towels are clean and not worn out. They change them every day.

The bathroom's got a huge window with a city view, and the shower works great - good water pressure and temperature. If I'm being picky, I'd love to see a rain showerhead, but that's just a minor quibble.

The toilet's in its own little zone with a mini sink. The smart toilet's a nice touch, but the lights are a bit finicky - they turn on automatically, and I've had them come on a few times when I wasn't even near the bathroom.

One of the best features of our room is the washer/dryer combo - it's super quiet and easy to use, even for a tech-phobe like me.

On the downside, our room's view of Sakura-dori was supposed to be from the window, but it's actually off to the side - still a nice view, though.

Housekeeping only comes if you're staying for 4 nights or more, but they do change your towels and take out the trash every day, so it wasn't a big deal for us.The soundproofing in our room is pretty good, considering it's right next to the elevators - we could hear some muffled conversations in the hallway, but it wasn't a problem. And our neighbors were pretty quiet, too.

Overall, the FAV LUX Kagoshima Tenmonkan really impressed us, but that weird 'your number is unavailable' glitch still has me scratching my head - and I'm not the only one who's experienced it. While I was writing this review, I found myself thinking that I'd actually stay here again - the view from the room is amazing, and the space is really generous.