Solo Trip Nagoya (August 2023) - Sakae Actel Hotel

The last hotel I was staying at in Nagoya was Actel Hotel, right at Sakae area, just behind Donki Quijote. It cost almost 52+sgd per night, and I was staying for 7 nights! A full week stay! It was a splurge for me! Yes 52sgd is a splurge cause my budget per night was 50sgd! But it was ok, I have saved up some money from the first two hotel! Above was the view from my window. It looked directly to the Sunshine Mall and Ferris Wheel. I never did go to that mall, lol. But I sat there looking out at the meal whenever I am eating in my room. 

Here is a location map of the hotel. Interestingly, when I went over in the morning to drop my bags and asked if I could checked in early, the receptionist said no. The full conversation was in Japanese. When I return after check-in timing, another receptionist attended to me, and upon checking my passport, spoke to me in English. I was stunned for a moment as I haven't spoke in English for a week now. I noticed that the receptionist in the morning also looked shocked, and I laugh to myself in private, and replied back to the receptionist in perfect English. I was amazed at myself for surviving a week here on my own and going native. But to be honest, I didn't speak much. Mainly key words here and there, and the rest with body language and gesture, I could get myself understood. 

So what do you get for a 52sgd expensive hotel in the heart of Nagoya? For a start, free coffee machine at the lobby! This machine is a life and budget saver for me! It was in the middle of summer in Nagoya, and to come back after a mid day exploration, to help myself to a ice americano or a latte was heavenly! Not to mentioned the times I contemplated enjoying some cakes or bakery at a cafe, and decided to just buy the cakes or pastry back to my hotel instead cause I didn't want to spend money buying coffee when I can get free one here! I think on average, I drank two cups of coffee a day, always with ice. Sometimes, I come here just to get ice for my other soft drinks or alcohol.

Here are some other special perks staying at this hotel. They are super woman friendly. And they provide free bath salts if all different flavour for you at the lobby. So I tried every single one of them on my stay!  Ahhhhhh. This was one of the most relaxing hotel I've stayed in. 

Besides Bath Salt, they also have other hair oil, shampoo etc. Just help yourself! I usually visit the lobby at mid day, and take whatever I need for the night.

Assorted tea bags! I went mostly with green tea and houjicha though. 

Here is my room! Big and comfy! I think it has a humidifier, but I didn't know how to use it. It has a fridge under the table too, which stores a lot of my anmitsu, and alcohol, and cheese.... And I usually sit on my bed and eat, using the desk to put my food. Sometimes I sit on the desk, so that I can look out into the window and the view below. It was only near the end of my stay did I realised that my hotel was kinda located at the club district o Sakae. I didn't encounter any problem staying there. But the roads were more dirty, and if I came back late at night, like maybe 8pm (lol), there will be crowds of people on the street smoking and drinking. When I checked out to catch an early train to the airport on my last day, there were actually drunk people sleeping on the streets! 

The bath room where I had my nightly bath with the assortment of free bath salt. The water pressure wasn't that great, but it will do. Sometimes there were drainage issues too and I can smell stagnant water in the room. Luckily they provided a room fragrant spray which I use to spray the bath room and room whenever the smell gets too much. I did have to meddle with the toilet flush on my last few days of the stay. The water wouldn't stop flowing down to the toilet bowl, and it was such a waste of water and got too noisy for me. So being the introvert that I am, instead of calling reception to report the issue, I opened up the toilet flush and fixed the issue instead. Talk about being hands on! 

The other thing worth mentioning was, although they provided daily housekeeping, I decided to only request for alternate day cleaning. But what touches me was, whenever I put the sign out for no cleaning required, they still put a bag outside my room with fresh water and towels for me. I thought that was just so heartening. I was staying at the top floor, and I suspect the floor is a girls only floor. Given a chance, I would stay here again cause it held so much good memories for me on my solo trip to Nagoya.