SOIL Setoda

The staff were pleasant. The room was down a dark alley and tricky to find. In a separate building two blocks from the main accommodations. There was a septic smell which took four hours to disappear! The room was unfinished plywood, difficult to figure out the heating system. Not impressed!

Great base for bicycle trips from Setoda on the Shimanami kaido route. Great hotel right next to the harbor of Setoda and very helpful personal.

地元商店街活性化の一環でおしゃれな宿を作って、地元商店街に送客して、というコンセプトはいいが、金額が見合っていない。 ウェブサイトも宿泊に関する説明が全然足りないと思った。 お盆の時期なのも悪かった。 素泊まりで、商店街の中の隣の美容室の看板しか見えない戸建て2階で、1階は造作中で、非常にコンパクトすぎる居室。海が見えなかったら話にならない。湯船ない。それで1泊2人で約3万円。銭湯があるのは知ってたが、こちらもおしゃれ銭湯で1人1100円。朝食は1000円。夕食をみなとやで頼むならコースで7000円。弁当は800円。 チェックインはメインの宿泊施設の隣で説明してくれたが、説明がシンプルで伝わりにくい。ここで楽しんでねというおもてなし感をスタッフから感じられなかった。情報をあまり持っていないし、こっちのコンセプト知って来てますよね？という感じがしました。 銭湯のYubuneも同じ。おしゃれでシンプルだがスタッフは不親切。 おもてなし感を感じたのは商店街の料理屋さんやコロッケ屋さん。あなご重、天ぷら、地元の冷酒が美味しかったです。

Every thing was great. Room lighting is very dim. Toilet button was not working.

The location is amazing: right along the middle of the Shimanani Kaido and the island is very scenic. There is a Buddhist temple nearby that is cool to check out, if you catch it in the spring at the right time the Sakura blossoms are breathtaking. The laundry is convenient and it's a flat 500yen fee to use it, even if you do multiple loads. If you are arriving by car there's a free parking you can use. The address is in the check in instructions and it's a 2 minute walk from the actual hotel. Now to a couple nitpicks. There was a place to park my rental bicycle but I had to lock it to a stair post. It's not like there an actual bike rack. The door handles to the rooms are made of wood, which is a cool aesthetic but doesn't work as well as a door handle. It got to loose and fell out one time but I was just able to shove it back on and shove in both handles on each side of the door to tighten it up.