This is my 3rd time in APA Karuizawa and l feel like the level has degraded. We were placed in the newly built ward. When booking, it was stated that it was the new ward so I didn't pay much attention to it, but when entering the room I was disappointed with the size of it. The room design and setup was identical to the rooms I got in previous years, but it was smaller and more cramped. The planning of the rooms isn't great - The two twin beds were too big, making walking inside the room barely possible because of the massive other furniture (desk and chair) let alone room for a suitcase.
But that I can live with. The main problem for me was the service in the hotel which only seems to cater to the Japanese businessman coming to stay, and not caring much for the rest of the guests from abroad:
On the early morning of our first day of stay, the fire alarm went on. It woke me off so I quickly got up to put some clothes on me.
The fire alarm went for a few minutes, following by an announcement on the speakers by the staff. It lasted for about a minute and stopped. My wife and I opened the door in panick, ready do go downstairs when we stumbled on our neighbour to the room who happened to be Japanese. I asked her what the announcement said and she said that it said that it is a mistake.
That felt to me extremely unprofessional.
You have guests from abroad staying in your hotel, and the least you can do is say "sorry, mistake" in English when your fire alarm goes on.