Hotel Pacific - Kochi
Situated in Kochi Prefecture, Hotel Pacific offers guests a motel drive-in style experience. Please note this hotel has two names so do not worry if the name on the hotel does not match. Located south of Kochi city, the hotel requires a fair bit of walking, or you must catch a very infrequent bus. To get to this hotel, I ended up taking a taxi both ways, which was a little costly. So, for location, I award 3. This is certainly a hotel where a car is needed.
For ease of access, the hotel can be booked via couples.jp, a website designed for Love hotels and displays hotels by prefecture and city area. I recommend checking the website if you’re planning to stay at a love hotel, as the website will have images, maps, rates, and even display the hotel's website if they have one. It will also let you book via their website if the hotel has opted in. For this trip, I was unsure of my plans, and I ended up turning up at night without a reservation. After a call, the hotel was helpful enough to explain how many rooms were currently available and that they would try to hold a room, which is not usual practice.
Once you arrive, you can view a thumbnail of the rooms outside. Rooms are drive-in style, so they are usually in a circular shape with the road doing a loop. The hotel had a slight resort vibe to it. The rooms were all in their own buildings, like lodges or holiday homes. They had their own garages, where you park and then head inside, and the room then displays them as being unavailable. For ease of access, I award a 7, as without the call in Japanese, I cannot be certain a room would have been waiting, and with the distance from the city, it was a bit of a gamble. The score rises to 10,
There is no amenity bar at this hotel, but the rooms follow the usual turn up empty-handed idea. Rooms come with a generous supply of goodies that are free or included with the price. For amenities, I award a 6, taking the total to 16. For food, due to arriving so late, I was unable to try anything, so I will give the usual 5 and take the total to 21.
When I arrived, there were only two rooms left. Each room at this hotel has a theme. The two I had left were a future beach and a European wooden cabin. I decided it would be interesting to see what their idea of the future was. My room had a glass floor section with LEDS, and the room colors were white and blue. The bed was big but a little hard to sleep on. The room had an outdoor bath section, so there was a staircase in the room. However, the bath was so small I would have described it as a footbath at best. The bathroom included a jet bath, but the size was smaller than other hotels I have stayed in. The roof section wasn’t the cleanest, but the main room was clean, so I will give a 7 for cleanliness and comfort. The new score is 28.
Overall, the hotel was pleasant, but it felt cold; perhaps the air conditioning in the room was not the newest. The theme wasn’t really emphasized, and it felt like the room perhaps didn’t even need the theme, as the idea of the future set expectations in my head before seeing the room itself. I also found the bed covers a little thin, perhaps adding to my idea of feeling cold. Overall, I award a 6 for overall enjoyment, whilst it was pleasant, I was somewhat glad my stay was one night and brief. The new score is 34.
The final category is likelihood of returning, and for this, I am certain that if I come to Kochi again, I will not book this hotel. The distance from the city itself is not convenient, and the hotel itself wasn’t anything to shout about. So, for this, I award a 3, taking the final score to 37/70.
