Having been opened on November 1, 2018, Four Points by Sheraton is the latest of the five airport hotels located directly on the Nagoya Centrair airport island. It’s also the only major international brand hotel at the airport.
In the past, I reviewed two of those: TUBE Sq (a capsule hotel inside the terminal) and Toyoko Inn “Orange Side” (a business hotel a short walk away).
Earlier this month, I had a chance to spend the night at the relatively new Four Points by Sheraton Nagoya, Chubu International Airport, so here’s a close look at that one.
Booking the Stay
As is the case with most of my hotel stays, I booked the night through Hotels.com.
The standard room with a king bed cost 12,831 yen (about 120 dollars) which I found to be very reasonable. On busier days, the price tends to be about 80% more than that. The rate included breakfast.
I had a “free” night coupon worth 7,417 yen that I got through booking ten nights via Hotels.com, and so my out-of-pocket cost for the stay was 5,414 yen (about 50 dollars).
Getting to the Hotel
The hotel is, as indicated in the introduction, located on the Centrair airport island, about a seven-minute walk from the terminal. It’s in the same area as the airport’s two Toyoko Inns and Comfort Hotel.
To get to the hotel from the terminal, follow the signs for “Access Plaza” (i.e. the airport’s train station). There, you will see signs for the hotel itself. Continue through the covered walkway at the end of which you’ll find an elevator.
Go to the street level, and turn right before passing Comfort Hotel. Then turn left, and you’ll see the hotel.
There’s also a shuttle bus that operates every 5 minutes between 6AM and 12PM, 1PM and 6PM, and 7PM and 11PM. The bus, however, only runs between the end of the covered walkway and the hotel. I.e., it only covers the uncovered portion of the walk.
As such, you might just walk all the way to the hotel instead of waiting for the shuttle unless you have too much luggage with you or the weather’s bad.
At the hotel’s entrance, you will be welcomed by a a model of a Curtiss-Wright R-1820 Cyclone propeller. As you’ll see later in this review, that’s just one of the aviation-themed items decorating the hotel.
Check-in, Lobby, Dining & Other Facilities
While the exterior of the hotel was fairly “generic,” the interior was quite the opposite. The lobby, as well as other parts of the hotel were a nice mix of classic and modern.
The first thing that caught my attention after entering the hotel was a large staircase leading to the second floor. At the time of my visit, there was also a Harley-Davidson motorcycle displayed right next to the entrance.
Across from the staircase, there was a seating area with some sofas. This being an airport hotel, there were also flight information displays showing the list of both domestic and international departures.
Further down, there were three reception counters with friendly staff dressed in checked shirts. Across from those, there was some more seating.
At the very back of the first floor, there was a bar called Best Brew which included a pool table.
On the way to the elevator hall, there was also “Wrapped,” a small store with drinks, snacks, sandwiches, and so on. The prices were reasonable (in line with regular convenience stores), and the store was open from 6AM to 11AM and 3PM to 12AM.
While on the topic of food, there was a restaurant, Evolution, on the second floor. It was open from 6AM to 10AM for breakfast (I’ll talk more about that later in this review), 11:30AM to 2PM for lunch, and 6PM to 10PM for dinner.
The restaurant was quite spacey and nicely designed – with aviation being one of the main themes.
The hotel’s gym could be found on the same floor as well.
Finally, somewhere between the restaurant and the gym, there was a small seating area with some sofas and a wall decorated with aviation-themed art.
Guest Room
Before returning to the second floor and talking about breakfast, let’s take a look at the room.
I was assigned room 907 on the ninth floor, and so – after mistakenly locking myself out and getting a new key card at the reception – I found myself back in the elevator.
While the elevator halls were quite nice, and followed the same “classic” style as many other parts of the hotel, the hallways were quite uninspiring.
As for the room itself, there was a short hallway leading from the door to the main part of the room.
There was a comfortable king-size bed with a nightstand on both of its sides, and across from that, there was a small work desk. There were also a fairly large TV and a mirror mounted on the wall above the desk.
Next to the window, there were a sofa chair and a coffee table.
As for the view outside, the room overlooked an empty lot of land (perhaps another hotel or some other facility will be built there in the future), the sea surrounding the airport, and the mainland.
Going back to the room tour, there was also a refrigerator and a kettle. There were two complimentary bottles of water, as well as a selection of tea and coffee.
There were several power outlets throughout the room. The outlets were equipped with both standard power sockets as well as with USB ports.
As for the hallway, there was an open closet right past the door. Besides a few hangers, pajamas, and slippers, there were also an ironing board and an iron.
Finally, there was a nice-looking bathroom with a toilet, a sink, and a shower room with a large bathtub. All the usual amenities were provided.
Breakfast
As mentioned earlier, buffet breakfast is served in the Evolution restaurant on the hotel’s second floor every morning from 6AM to 10AM.
While it was included in my room rate, some of the rates don’t include breakfast. In that case, unless you have a status with Marriott, the breakfast costs 2,970 yen (about 30 dollars) per adult and half of that per child.
There were three separate areas where one could get food and drinks.
First, there was a buffet spread with cold drinks and lighter things to eat near the restaurant’s entrance.
Cold drinks on offer included orange, apple, tomato, and “purple vegetables” juices as well as milk.
As for food, there were some cereals, pastries, and bread with a variety of jams and other condiments. There were also cold cuts, salads, cut fruits, and yogurts.
The second area was a counter along the restaurant’s wall with a selection of hot drinks. There were a limited selection of teas (considering the quality of the remainder of the buffet spread, I would have expected more) and a coffee machine.
Finally, at the very back of the restaurant, there was a section with hot food. That included both a buffet with a selection of mainly western and Japanese dishes, as well as an egg cooking station.
At the latter, one could get freshly made scrambled eggs, omelettes, and fried eggs.
As for the hot buffet, the western items were included sausages, boiled eggs, bacon, and so on. Other items included congee, pickles, fried fish cakes, Japanese-style omelettes, and rice among other things.
Besides the above, there was also a section with “Nagoya Meshi” – local food – which included chicken wings (“tebasaki”) at the time of my visit. And, there were corn and miso soups.
Finally, there was bread pudding with a variety of toppings.
Four Points by Sheraton Nagoya Centrair Summary
Overall, I really enjoyed my stay at the Four Points Nagoya Chubu International Airport hotel. The lobby and other public facilities as well as the room itself were comfortable and cozy. And, the breakfast was fairly good as well.
The only parts of the hotel that didn’t impress me were the uninspiring hallways and the very limited tea selection during breakfast. But then again, these are very very minor things almost not worth mentioning.
If you have to stay a night at Nagoya airport, I highly recommend this hotel. Especially so, if you can get it for about 100 dollars including breakfast like I did.
If you have to pay more and are on a budget, then I recommend also considering the Toyoko Inn or even TUBE Sq. They are nowhere near the quality and comfort of the Four Points, but they are often cheaper. And, they are still decent places to stay at.
Also, while the breakfast is good, if it’s not included in your rate, I would consider having something in the terminal instead.
