Oriental Hotel (Kobe, JAPAN)

Kobe (神戸市), the sixth-largest city in Japan, has a lot more to offer than just its beautiful harbour and prized beef. I love the city very much but I think we can all use a little more accommodation options. 



I decided to give Oriental Hotel a shot not only because Agoda gave me a super one-night deal. The hotel's rich history dating back to 1870 when it's still part of the former Kobe foreign settlement had a lot to do it as well. In fact, it's one of the most historic hotels not just in Japan but also in all of Asia. And everybody knows how much I love history.



Judging from the friendly service at the bell counter (when we dropped off our luggage), we had the feeling that it's going to be a wonderful stay.



With Sannomiya Station just a short 10 minute walk away, we quickly dropped our luggage off before spending the afternoon strolling around the city centre.



When we finally returned, it's already in late evening. Check-in took a little longer than expected (more on that later) but we eventually got our keys. We were promised two rooms next to each other but when we emerged from the elevator, we were shocked by the fact that the rooms were miles apart (as seen by the floor plan. The red dots showed our two rooms separated by the elevators). That's not our idea of two rooms next to each other.



Re-built from ground up in 2010, they've turned this historic space into a modern western-style hotel with a Japanese twist.



Rich wood tones and Japanese flower wallpapers are just some of the first things we noticed from the décor but for mom, it's the seriously dim lighting that caught her a bit off guard.



But personally, I like this kind of dim lighting that helps to put me to sleep easily.



This is a very popular setup these days where they put the bathroom and toilet right next to the entrance of the room.



So much has been said about the hotel's amazing harbour view but I was pretty disappointed to find out that even on the 11th floor, the view was virtually non-existent (Perhaps the rooftop?).



If there's one thing I really like about this hotel (apart from the history), it's the lobby. They have a truly spectacular city view from the ceiling-to-floor windows so no wonder they put all these chairs next to the windows for the convenience of the visitors.



The hotel offers four different restaurants and bars, all situated on the lobby floor: Main Dining by the House of Pacific​, Steak house Medium Rare, Sushi Kanbe and The Bar J.W.Hart. Unfortunately, there are way too many dining options out there in Kobe so we didn't get the chance to try any of them out during our stay (But it's nice to know that there're options). I heard some really nice things about their steakhouse, Medium Rare, so perhaps we will come check out their Kobe beef set on our next visit.



I thought our room price was a real bargain for a 4-star hotel in the heart of the city. But our stay would've been a much better one if we were actually offered two rooms next to each other (empty promise!). Another thing that really surprised me was the poor English skills of their front desk staff. I recalled at one point during our check-in, the on-duty manager had to actually help out his staff who had trouble understanding whether we're checking in or out (It was after 8pm so it was pretty obviously that we were checking in; otherwise, we would've requested for a really late check-out).



Rating: ❤❤❤❤
Price: ￥￥
Address: 25 Kyomachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture 650-0034 Japan

Closest Metro Station: Kyūkyoryūchi-Daimarumae Station (旧居留地・大丸前駅)
Tel: +81 78-326-1500
Website: www.orientalhotel.jp