Toyoko Inn Tokyo Shinjuku Kabukicho

“Not bad if you're on a budget ”

Situated in a very good location in Kabuchiko. Right near all the bars and restaurants. Rooms are very small you can hardly move let alone find somewhere to put your cases to unpack. But apparently this is the norm in Japan unless you're willing to pay more. It's quite a walk with cases from sh… more

Situated in a very good location in Kabuchiko. Right near all the bars and restaurants. Rooms are very small you can hardly move let alone find somewhere to put your cases to unpack. But apparently this is the norm in Japan unless you're willing to pay more. It's quite a walk with cases from shinjuku station especially on the busy streets so you might want to arrange transport or get the subway to one of the closer stations (Higashi shinjuku is very close) Overall not a bad choice if you're on a budget and just want a base to see the city. I wouldn't be hanging around the rooms too long but would definitely stay again.

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“A hard bed, but good breakfast and facilities”

This was one chain of Tokyo hotels and across Japan, I swear we were calling “Tokyo Inn” for, like, the whole time. We stayed in two of them: the second being our last night. This particular night was the 3rd July. The Room On the positive side, the room was quiet and cosy. There were a few small … more

This was one chain of Tokyo hotels and across Japan, I swear we were calling “Tokyo Inn” for, like, the whole time. We stayed in two of them: the second being our last night. This particular night was the 3rd July. The Room On the positive side, the room was quiet and cosy. There were a few small comforts, a picture frame and a book shelf of religious texts. We are not religious but it adds a bit of character to an otherwise white washed basic hotel room (standard in Japan). My boyfriend asked for extra pillows, which was a great idea. On the negative side, the TV media was chargeable, as usual. The pillows were heavy sacks of rice (worryingly literally) and the bed was very hard. Not very comfortable at all. Laundry Facilities Being the first time we had done laundry in Japan, it took a wee moment to figure it out. After having set one machine going without anything in it… we figured it out enough to wash and dry a load. It was 200 yen a wash, and 100 yen for ten minutes drying in the large, industrial-sized tumble dryers. Our clothes took three lots of ten minutes = 30 minutes drying in total. The laundry room was located just next to the breakfast hall (it was large), and the rooms were all wood-panelled and on the ground floor. Not only was this part accessible for mobility-impaired individuals, but also multiple lifts for the upper floors were in operation. The Breakfast The scrambled eggs and sausages were alright, but we had the memories of the epic very first morning’s breakfast in our minds, and this one did not overwrite that. Furthermore, the salmon was dry. What was amazing though, was the mushroom soup with cheesy bread. I could have that every day, no problem. Environmental Considerations This Toyoko Tokyo hotel specifically outlined their environmental policies on the TV screen, accompanied with an optional question regarding breakfast. In order to counter food wastage, you are able to select whether you will or will not be sampling their sausages and slurping their soup. They can then plan and order accordingly based on statistics etc. Pretty cool. If you don’t select anything, you will still be able to eat, but you wouldn’t be contributing to the collaboration to reduce wastage. They also advise that, in brief, they operate an “Eco-Stay” policy with reduced room cleaning and linen washing for more than 1-night stays. In this case, it didn’t affect us directly on our one night per hotel kind of trip, but it was nice to see the notice. Overall, the hotel was perfectly adequate, despite the hard and beany bed.

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“No-frills budget hotel”

No-frills budget business hotel. Contrasting to other places, front desk staff did not regularly greet on entering or leaving the hotel. The three at check in did not speak English. The location is walkable to Shinjuku station and a shorter walk to the nearest subway station. The rooms are compact… more

No-frills budget business hotel. Contrasting to other places, front desk staff did not regularly greet on entering or leaving the hotel. The three at check in did not speak English. The location is walkable to Shinjuku station and a shorter walk to the nearest subway station. The rooms are compact but there is space to open a full size case on the floor. The mattress was possibly the hardest I have ever slept on. A plus is rooms have individual air conditioners that genuinely heat or cool. Daily housekeeping was not included but fresh towels were left outside the door. A limited but consistent buffet breakfast offering was free, although finished at 9am. There was a plentiful supply of rice balls although bread products often ran out early, and weren't replenished. The biggest downside was noise. There is noise in the hallways quite early and given the location in Kabukicho there is noise from outdoors (even with the window closed) into the early hours and from the baseball batting cages which the hotel faces.

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