Hotel 1-2-3 Maebashi Mercury

The breakfast and snack service was great, and it was also nice that they had coffee available. The service from the cute little staff member when I went there at 3:20pm was fantastic.

The parking lot is spacious, so even if you don't rush, it's unlikely to be full. The building itself is old, with stains on the ceiling and other minor details that appear to be quite dilapidated. There's also a leak next to the lobby (a sign warns of this). However, the hotel's appeal lies in the service it provides, even overcoming the dilapidated interior. The evening snacks were filling (the options included curry, ochazuke (rice with tea), oden, salad, potato salad, creamed chicken, and spring rolls). We ate at a table in the corner of the lobby. Unfortunately, the lights were off to save energy (a few spots were unlit), so we ate in the dark. Staff passed by, but they didn't say anything. It seems you can also bring your own food to your room. The breakfast selection is quite limited, so don't be stingy. The rice was a bit hard, which is a shame. I recommend taking it as a free breakfast. The bathroom is shared with the toilet (as is often the case in business hotels), so there's a slight drainage smell. There are several day-trip hot spring facilities within a few minutes' drive, so it might be a less stressful option to use one of them. For a one-night stay, it was a good hotel with good value for money.

I stayed there because I had an event going on. I selected a non-smoking room, but it turned out to be a smoking room. The room smelled strongly of cigarettes. The smell even got on the clothes in my suitcase, which was unpleasant. The breakfast menu was also very limited and not what you'd see on the official website. It felt more like they just thawed frozen items rather than made them fresh. They didn't even refill the cups when they were empty, so I wasn't satisfied with my meal. However, there was a Starbucks nearby, which was nice.