DISchurners Hotel Reviews Thread (extension of I love credit cards so much! thread)

wanderlust7 · Jul 9, 2025

Hyatt Centric Kanazawa
Kanazawa, Japan
June 2025
Hyatt Category 3

From Osaka we took the train to Kanazawa and stayed 4 nights. I booked the City View King Suite (standard suite) as a points upgrade rate. The standard rate was only about $150 USD/night, plus 6000 points. The City View King Suite connects to the City View Twin room. The standard award is the Twin room for 12k points/night. Since the cash rate was low, I decided to book Privé rate again. The TA confirmed the upgrade and the connecting rooms.

When we arrived, we were upgraded to the Kanazawa Suite (the best room)! It connected to a King room. It was gorgeous and filled with beautiful artwork. The wet bar had a full-size fridge. Now if it came with a washer/dryer, it would be perfect lol.

We were gifted a bottle of Australian wine in the regular room and a box of Kanazawa snacks in the suite. Bottled water was provided with a note that the aluminum bottles are reusable and can be refilled at their refill stations, but ours were always replenished. The suite also came with sparkling mineral water.

Breakfast was a nice spread. The tempura shrimp was especially good. We liked to dip it in the curry. They alternated between fried fish fillet and pork cutlet (little dry). Those were good to dip in curry too. Coffee is ordered at the table; you can also self-serve regular coffee in to go cups.

The location is perfect, just outside Kanazawa train station. It was raining when we were leaving, but we could find a covered route to the station and didn’t even get wet. The bus station is in front of the hotel, just past the taxi stand. Very convenient when we took a bus to Shirakawa-go. Taxis around town were inexpensive, costing around 1300-2000 yen. We never took the bus since it would cost 800 yen for the 4 of us, so I felt the difference was small and worth the convenience. There were always 1 or 2 taxis waiting outside the hotel entrance and we didn’t even have to walk the short distance to the taxi stand.

There are a lot of food options at your fingertips. Cross Gate Kanazawa is in the same building (as is the Hyatt House), though you need to exit the hotel and reenter through a different door. Not to mention the plethora of options in Kanazawa Station. There is a 7-11 in the station. DS preferred Lawson’s just outside the station but in the opposite direction from the hotel. There’s a grocery store in Cross Gate as well as in the station. Forus Shopping Mall is on the other side of the station (East exit instead of West exit for the hotel). The famous Tsuzumi-mon Gate is also on that side.

At check out, the front desk helped me send our last checked luggage to Narita. For our last 4 days, we took a carry-on and a folding duffel (glad I packed it for overflow!). Charged to room but I think it didn’t count as eligible spend.

We had a wonderful stay. The location really can’t be beat. I would absolutely stay here again if our travels take us to Kanazawa again.

Suite:

King room:

wanderlust7 · Jul 9, 2025

Fuji Speedway Hotel
Shizuoka, Japan
June 2025
Hyatt Category 6

Our last stop was 4 nights here since DH and DS are car enthusiasts. I booked both rooms with points. The King Suite Circuit View (standard suite) cost 36k for Thursday and Sunday nights, 40k for Friday night, and 44k for Saturday night. The 2 Twin Bed room followed a similar pattern and was 21k, 25k, and 29k points. It was a boatload of points! I made both reservations legacy guest of honor and e-mailed asking for connecting rooms, even though I knew that the 2 Twin Bed needed to be Circuit View to connect. Luckily, the hotel was very generous and replied saying that since we’re guest of honor they’ll upgrade the room and confirm the connecting! Cash rate averaged almost $600/night here, so I wouldn’t have gone the Privé route.

The rooms were spacious and upscale. Great view of the racetrack! It was loud and you can still hear it with the balcony doors closed. It wasn’t bothersome to me though. Racing seemed to start about 8 am and ended by 5 pm.

There was a gift of matcha chocolates, small pastries, and plums in each room. Bottled water was provided.

Breakfast had a made-to-order menu and a buffet. Coffee was ordered at the table. I had avocado toast, BLT eggs benedict, and omelet rice (just okay). The grilled fish in the buffet was especially good. It was a different type of fish each day. I think they grill in small batches because sometimes it’s empty.

There’s happy hour for suite and Globalist guests from 3:30 – 5:30 pm. We happened to be there 3 times, which is rare for us. The spread is very small, but there was a savory crunchy snack we liked. You can also order from a limited menu of wine, cocktails, and soda. We liked the Moscow Mule.

The Fuji Motorsport Museum is in the hotel. You can see some of the cars without going in. There are discounted tickets for hotel guests and include re-entry over 2 days. DH and DS went, DD and I decided to skip. The gym has a racing simulator you can book (30 minutes for each room). Children 15 and under aren’t allowed in the gym, so DD couldn’t go. She got to do Gran Turismo in the bar instead. That can be booked online now, it was first come first serve when I was planning. Since we had a suite, we were able to test drive a GTR for 4 hours (International Driver’s License required). It’s very cramped for 4 people! But I think DH had fun testing it out.

On many days, you can do the Circuit Experience and drive around the track in a provided rental car. There was an event going on when we were there, so it wasn’t offered. The flip side of that is we got to see many Lamborghinis and Formula 3 cars racing. We went to the racetrack and watched one of the Lamborghini race finals. All we needed was the hotel parking permit to get in. It’s incredibly loud when all the lambos are near the grandstand! We didn’t understand the rules or even when the winner crossed the finish line, but it was still a fun experience lol.

There is a go kart track at the speedway. It’s a miniature of the real one lol. 3000 yen for 7 laps in a single kart. It was a little pricey, but the kids and DH enjoyed it twice. They said it was very fast. The first time we went, we were confused if it was open because motorcycles were racing on it. Turns out when someone wants to go kart they use a bullhorn and tell the motorcycles to get off.

Parking is underground and very convenient. There’s a separate elevator in the lobby. DH and DS were always gawking at the fancy cars.

The location is obviously very convenient for the Fuji Speedway lol. The area is very rural and nothing else is walkable. I’m glad we rented a car even though it’s a little nerve-racking, and I’m only the navigator not the driver! DH says he can’t relax driving in Japan, but that he would do it again if needed.

The nearest Lawson is about 5 minutes’ drive away. There aren’t a lot of restaurants in the area, so I’ll mention the ones we went to. Oyama Saryo (10 minutes away) is a tonkatsu restaurant. It was really good, especially the one with shiso leaf inside and the cheese one. We tried to go to Togawa but were turned away. Not sure why, maybe reservations are needed for dinner (but there were empty tables). We ended up driving a little further to Fukufuku (15 minutes from the hotel). We had delicious set meals of eel, soba, tempura, and sashimi. Yum!

We went to Oshino Hokkai, Oishi Park, Fuji-Q Highland, and Gotemba Outlets. Gotemba was the closest, only about 20 minutes. The other places were 30-45 minutes depending on if you go on toll roads. The toll roads were fine without an ETC (toll tag). Just had to go the lane that doesn’t say ETC and credit cards work. DH was a little annoyed that he always had to get out of the car to put the card in.

This is a lovely hotel with a lot of amenities. I would come back again if DH said he wanted to do the driving experience.

Suite: