Hakata Excel Hotel Tokyu

The hotel is very centrally located to shopping, restaurants and bars as well as the subway line and buses. The staff were friendly enough and the breakfast is good. I arrived with an early morning flight after flying all night and arrived at the hotel by 10am. I was advised that official check in wasn't until 2pm and I would have to wait until this time. I found this somewhat strange considering most North American hotels will allow you to check in if they have a room ready. Even if they didn't immediately have a room ready, they usually make an effort to get you into a room as soon as one is cleaned and ready. I sat patiently in the lobby for the next two hours and then made another attempt at noon to see if any rooms had been cleaned and were ready to be moved into. The front desk's English was very poor so it was difficult to communicate but they again told me that check in wasn't until 2pm. I tried to reason with them that surely some of the rooms must have been cleaned by this point and but was told again that check in would only take place at 2pm. I was told that if I wanted to check in earlier, I would need to pay 3500 Yen for the "overtime". I couldn't quite understand what overtime would be involved since they had to clean my room regardless -- it was just a case of what order they were going to clean it compared to other rooms. I refused to pay this fee and returned to sit on the sofa in the lobby for another two hours. Finally at 2pm I was permitted to check in. I got up to my room only to discover that it was a smoking room (yes, there is still such a thing!). I called down to the desk and explained that I had been assigned a smoking room but wasn't a smoker (interestingly, the kayak site that I booked the hotel on didn't ask for a smoking preference). I was told that there were no non-smoking rooms available (despite me presumably being the first person to check in today!) and that they would send someone up to get rid of the smoke smell. Unfortunately we know how that goes... they attempted to get the smoke smell out but it didn't make much difference. Even thought I was only there for one night, my clothes and luggage still came away smelling like smoke. Hardly an enjoyable experience for the price paid!