Hakata Ward Holidays from £352

I only stayed here for 2 nights, but it provides an actually livable space with more everyday amenities than a standard hotel. Admittedly, it doesn’t have that hotel ‘niceness’ since it’s more or less a glorified apartment, but I enjoyed my time.

This is our second time at THE GATE HOTEL FUKUOKA by HULIC. I love this hotel as its newly built with modern finishes in the guest room. We stayed in a Corner Double Room and it's so spacious. There is a short hallway with a mirror as you walk in. The toilet/bidet is in a separate room; it has a sensor so the lid opens as you get closer. The wash room includes the wash basin, with the separate bath tub and shower sectioned off with a sealed door. The bed is huge for two people, but the pillows were fairly average as it tends to sink as you sleep. While there is no public bath (sento), the bath tub in the room makes up for it. There is also a Nespresso machine with 4 pods but we didn't use it during our stay. The breakfast here is one of, if not, the best. Freshly squeezed orange juice as you enter. You are then asked if you prefer the French toast, eggs benedict or Japanese style breakfast for your main. There is honey comb at the buffet, a teppan with a chef to cook a selection of vegetables, as well as Western and Japanese options. It is directly connected to the Tenjin subway so it's convenient. Lots of shopping options nearby so you can hop out of your room and stumble into the various malls surrounding this hotel including ONE FUKUOKA. Also lots of food options so you're spoilt for choice. I'd stay here again in a heartbeat.

We stayed here after staying at two other Tokyu Stay properties during our Japan trip, and unfortunately this was our least favorite. The rooms felt older than expected, weren’t very clean, and there were unpleasant odors throughout our stay. Our room was also right next to the train line, so we heard trams throughout the night and ended up taking sleeping pills both nights just to get some rest. The hotel is within walking distance of Hakata Station, but it’s farther than we expected. The staff were kind enough to lend me a curling iron, which I appreciated. However, when we asked for extra pillows because the ones in the room were extremely thin, we were told there weren’t any available. Overall, the stay wasn’t terrible, but for the price and location, there are much nicer hotels in the area that offer a better experience. I personally wouldn’t choose to stay here again.

Check in process was a bit challenging. You are given a code to unlock the door to the property a day or two before check in. When we put the code in, it didn't work. Needed to call the number that was listed to see what we needed to do. Needed to hold a button down for about 10 seconds before unlocking. Once finally checked in we noticed there was no washer/dryer in the room. If you look at the pictures in Expedia for the specific room, it looks as if the washer/dryer is in the room. However, when we checked with property, they said it's just one community washer/dryer. Luckily, when we needed to use it was available, just not convenient. However, the location of this hotel is pretty convenient and in a quiet neighborhood. It's in a very narrow street so taxi/uber drivers had a difficult time finding location. I would recommend using a hotel toei which is on side street as your location for pickup. Area is very walkable. There's a 7-11 and Lawson's within a 5 minute walk from property. Also many restaurants.