JJapan Trips

APA Hotel – anyone else have weird bodily reactions?

  • March 30, 2026

Disclaimer: my friend booked the hotel and we didn't know about the owner's politics before. I have been reading his weird little essays in the room for the novelty and won't book at APA in the future.

I'm staying at an APA Hotel and I'm having a weird reaction. When I come back to the room from a day out, I start coughing and get a wheeze in my chest. It gets worse overnight and I wake up with a sore throat. I also woke up with one of my eyes totally bloodshot, the one that was resting on the pillow I've been sleeping on. The pillows here are on par with other hotel pillows we've had (bad), but my symptoms do seem to get worse when I rest my head on them, especially the denser lumpy one (not the buckwheat one). I tried sleeping without a pillow and it was uncomfortable but did seem to help, I wasn't coughing through the night.

The room doesn't smell like cigarette smoke (and I've never had a reaction like this to smoke anyway). I checked the seams of the mattress and didn't see anything that indicated bedbugs or any other kind of critter.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? In APA or any other hotels? Any idea what it might be or how to mitigate it?

by Lemon-Difficult-

10 comments

  2. Any possibility those pillows have feathers and you have an allergy? I’m unsure what APA has going on for filling myself, but that’s a pretty common issue with down pillows

  3. We didn’t experience all the symptoms you described but we certainly wouldn’t return to any of the APA hotels. The one we stayed in Tokyo Shinjuku was incredibly dusty, both in the corridors and inside the room. Upon checking in, we found a puddle of urine on the bathroom floor. The receptionist cleaned it but the pungent urine smell lingered. My husband had to scrub the entire bathroom before it dissipated.

  5. Honestly this sounds like a normal issue with allergy season and the room not getting enough humidity at night. Wear a mask outside, use eye drops, get an antiallergic at a drugstore for emergencies and use the humidifier in your room.

    Edit: I read that your normal allergies don’t hit you the same as this. You can’t compare Japan. They get literal sand from the Gobi desert in the air. It’s nuts.

  6. Do the rooms have air conditioning? Could be a dusty or moldy air conditioning unit that needs to be cleaned.

  7. Wow. I won’t be staying in APA group hotels now. Really far right mindset.

  8. Yeh I’ve woken up with a rash at a random Hilton before. The only thing I can think of is that something happening prior to me Chen ing info the hotel. Sometimes shit happens . Sounds like you have an allergy though

  9. Sounds like mold to me. Check the bathroom, especially under plastic covers if it is a unit bath.

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