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samtcy

Singapore, Singapore

2747

Nice dinner buffet variety

Name: Nice dinner buffet variety
Item: Sounkaku Grand Hotel
Rating: 3
Author: samtcy

Review of Sounkaku Grand Hotel

Reviewed October 28, 2012

It was the coldest day of my life. Our stay was during Feb 2012 winter season and it was -17 degrees celcius in the day time and -20 degrees celcius at night. The winds where strong and coarse snow which makes it difficult to open your eyes if you are facing the direction of the winds.

The Ice Festival was interesting. But it was so cold that we only spent about 1hr at the Festival venue before we decided to head back to the hotel to thaw off.

Pros:
- We managed to get a room with a nice view of the fireworks at the Ice Festival venue
- Lots of variety of different food at the dinner buffet (sashimi, ramen, fried tempura, crab legs...etc)
- Large room
- Hotel shuttle from Hotel to Kamikawa train station on the day of our checkout.
- Husband enjoyed the outdoor onsen

Cons:
- somewhat long walk (about 7mins walk in the harsh winter temperature of -17 degrees celcius is no joke) from the bus terminal to the hotel.
- no convenience store nearby. The nearest one is near the bus terminal which is about 8mins walk away.More

Date of stay: January 2012

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More Reviews

anuwat1303 wrote a review Jan 2012
82 contributions64 helpful votes
Nice hotel with amazing onsen
Although the rooms and service are pretty forgettable, the outdoor onsen more than makes up for it. Although I don't usually dine in the hotel, the buffet dinner was awesome. The hotel also has free transportation to/from Asahikawa so getting is not a problem. However, there are many tour groups while we were there so it can get a bit noisy.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
foldedheart wrote a review Dec 2011
146 contributions1 helpful vote
Smelly and old
The hotel greets you with a most terrible stench which immediately turns people off. The dark marble walls, yellow carpets and lack of staff makes you feel most unwelcomed. My family and I carried our own luggages to the foyer, no one came to help. We approached the front desk lady who was quite helpful and somewhat friendly (she was able to converse in english).

On the way to my room, it was clear that the lifts stank, the corridors smelt of cigarette smoke and the room itself stunk. We requested for a smoke-free room but were told there was none. We were given an anti-bacterial spray to rid the room's stench.

As I type this at the hotel, drunk people are being escorted to their rooms by their friends, talking loudly and falling all over the place.

The food was less than average. Though buffet style, there wasnt much to choose from. Most foods looked like they were left there for a long time. Fruits were over-ripe and sour. It was my family's least enjoyed meal in Japan.

The outdoor onsen was quite enjoyable - that was before the crowds came in. I definitely enjoyed a better onsen in Japan but this one is passable. Lots of products are out on display for customers to use during their baths. This is good for us to decide if we wanted to buy certain beauty products.

As the day draws to a close, I have yet to enjoy my stay here. Let's hope tomorrow will be a better day here at Sounkaku Grand Hotel because my family and I have unluckily booked two days here in advance. :(
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Smelltheflower wrote a review May 2010
807 contributions57 helpful votes
Average
Have not thought that Sounkyo would be listed in TA until someone mentioned to me recently. So this is a long overdue review.

I went to Sounkyo for the winter festival and for that, this hotel is very well positioned. A leisurely short stroll would bring you to the site, which is very important as the temperature in Sounkyo can plunge to -30 easily. I think some hotels provide shuttles to the festival site but that means you have to keep to the schedule. I'm not sure if this hotel also had shuttle to the site but that would mean just a minute's ride.

Besides choosing the hotel for its location, another factor was it provided us free transport from Asahikawa and later to Kitami. In fact, I remember it also provided transfers from Sapporo for the summer months.

We booked a normal 'plan' with a basic room but upon arrival found that our room was much larger (with sofas in living area) compared to other rooms (some tour group guests from rooms opposite us were leaving much earlier than us and were packing with their doors wide open so we got a peek). However, it was not in any terms 'grand' or luxurious, just simply a traditional Japanese room but with an additional living room area.

The buffet provided in the plan was just passable. The place was overrun with some very loud tourists (there were at least 2 tour groups) and the food was just acceptable. It's a good thing though that the staff placed us at a seperate area of the restaurant or I might find myself sitting across a lady who was sitting with her legs wide open in a yukata (as you know the yukata will open when one sits less than lady-like and the view would than be great or horrendous depending on who was looking). Alas, the lady happened to be sitting near the food station so there was no avoiding when one passed by. Not the hotel's fault though but be aware that this place had lots of tourists on package tours so these tend to be louder as a group. Yukatas were provided for guests so most wore it to the restaurant, which is a common practice.

The restaurant furnishings looked quite oldish without much charm. This applies much to the hotel. You can imagine it should be grand a couple decades ago. Some of its rivals seems to have underwent refurbishments recently and if Sounkaku does not follow soon it will have to consider dropping the name 'grand' very soon.

One thing I like about this hotel (besides the free transfers) is its outdoor onsen. It is relaxing and nice - after the tour groups left.

The winter festival in Sounkyo, though small, was one of my favourite as it was more charming and 'real'. We were welcomed warmly and given free red wine upon arrival to keep warm. An extremely large snowman figure, though not as well-crafted as those in Sapporo, had a small town yet whimsical feel to it. Ice caves (small kamakuras and a huge tunnel-like cave) were made to form and its great going into the huge one. The whole place was bathed in very nice lights that were soothing and not gaudy. Standing by the river watching the fireworks going off at this small place was well worth the trip into Sounkyo.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
JR1KDA wrote a review Aug 2022
82 contributions
黒岳登山のベースとして利用させていただきました
黒岳のロープウェイ、リフトに近く、便利なホテルです。
食事は朝夕ともバイキングですが、美味しかったです。
お風呂が温泉で、気持ち良く登山の疲れが取れました。
コインランドリーがあり、登山で汗をかいた服を洗う事が出来たのが良かったです。
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Passenger803090 wrote a review Oct 2020
159 contributions46 helpful votes
老舗のホテル
○○記念日にGo Toトラベルを利用させていただきました。広～い洋室と広～い和室が二部屋続いた素敵なお部屋です。洗面所とトイレが別になっていてこれもゆったりとした広さです。部屋付きの浴室は1.5坪タイプの高級そうなユニットバスが備えられていましたが、広い温泉の湯舟でゆったりしたいので、ユニットバスは使わずじまいです。大浴場は総大理石で二階建てになっていました。露天風呂も大きかったです。食事はバイキングで、マスクと各テーブルに備え付きのビニール手袋の着用です。耐震補強工事中で来年の五月に完成予定らしいです。専門学校の学生さんたちが大勢来ていたので大浴場も露天風呂も混むだろうなと覚悟を決めて行ってみると空っぽです。各家庭に内風呂が当たり前の現代、銭湯世代には思いもよらないことですが、他人の前で裸になる習慣が無い若者たちは、大浴場で大勢で入浴することが恥ずかしいらしいのです。
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.