Speaking Japanese.

Another example of a lack of common sense was when I told a staff at the desk I needed some 3D diagrams of Roppongi and Toranomon Stations from the Tokyo Metro website; I wanted the locations of the elevators and the barrier-free routing. The girl could not immediately understand the Japanese for 3D diagram and I had to spell out the characters for her. To her credit, she was very computer savvy and found them right away. I confirmed it on the screen and said I needed a printout. Voila! She hands me a draft-quality B&W half-page printout. I had to point out that 1) the low quality and small size made it impossible to read, and 2) in B&W it is impossible to see the barrier-free route marked in red and the elevators marked in blue! She finally gets the message, goes to the back office, and comes back with some very nice full-page ultra-fine diagrams.

My wife (who is native Japanese) was more offended by some of the male staff than I, primarily at breakfast. If not obsequious I would call their smiles smarmy, reminded me of some of the hosts that hang around Gion or the guys on the street trying to entice girls for whatever reason. I'm sure they were just trying to appear friendly, but I thought it was way overdone.

I know how much you and others like this hotel, and I had great expectations for it, especially after meeting Ms. Lobo. But as far as the many of the other staff I interacted with, it felt like they were eager college kids lacking the common sense that comes with experience either in work or in life.

In an effort to be fair, we had just come from the PHT, and maybe the difference in style tended to make some of the staff's shortcomings appear worse than they would otherwise.