Richmond Hotel Premier Tokyo Schole — Attraction in Tokyo

We stayed at the Richmond Premier Oshiage twice, for 4 days at the end of February and for a week at the end of March.||Location: excellent for travelling from Haneda Airport, there is a direct train. You need to go to Exit 3 when you arrive at Oshiage, as there is a lift which takes you to pavement level and the hotel is just across the road at the traffic lights. There is also a bus to the airport which is a bit more expensive (¥1,000 per person) but saves struggling through the crowded station with suitcases. You head towards the side of the mall (Solamachi) and walk along the side of the railway line - takes less than 5 minutes to walk with cases and it is all on the level so it is an easy option. This is also where you get the bus to Disney. You could also purchase 1, 2 and 3 day passes for the metro system at reception ($1,500 each for 3 days), which were excellent value. You got a print out with a QR code which you took to a specific machine in the station and your tickets were printed there and then. Ticket office staff were mostly very helpful and would take you to the right machine (apart from one grumpy guy who was obviously sick of foreigners who didn't know what they were doing!).||There are plenty of places to eat at the mall and round about, plus there is a very nice supermarket (Central Square, right underneath the hotel) where you can stock up on drinks and buy takeaway food which you can heat in the microwave at the hotel. The airport bus made one stop at Kinshicho which was one metro station away from Oshiage and looked like a good spot for eating and shopping.||We had 2 different rooms at the hotel and both had good points. One was smaller but was at the end of the corridor and was much quieter. The larger room was by the lifts and was therefore a bit noisy with children screeching and people having loud conversations at the lift (wish someone would design a soundproofing hotel door).||The rooms were clean and had basic amenities (including pyjamas, no dressing gown). However, there is an amenities "bar" at reception where you can get all sorts of toiletries (bath salts, moisturiser, shaving gel etc) plus razors, combs, toothbrushes. It tends to be a smaller selection at the weekend when the hotel is busiest - some guests would go a bit wild and hoover up loads of items! There is a shortage of storage in rooms so I ended up living out of my suitcase while my husband used the hanging space and a basket for t-shirts etc. The shower is over the bath which is quite high (could be a problem for the less mobile) and the water pressure is excellent. Beds were comfy and had lovely feather pillows and good quality bed linen. The smaller room was definitely bijou but it wasn't a problem as we were out and about a lot.||Buffet breakfast was at Sizzlers and was good but, when busy, could be chaotic as the food & drinks area was too small for the amount of people using it, several of them wandering around aimlessly and getting in the way! There was a good selection of oriental and western food and we particularly enjoyed making waffles. When it was busy, you had to get a numbered ticket from a machine just inside the restaurant and wait for your number to be called. Breakfast normally finished at 10am but I noticed one morning that they had extended opening till 11am, presumably because it was so busy.||The hotel also has 12 washing / drying machines which were very reasonable and a godsend for cutting down on luggage (should be mandatory in all hotels, imho!). You could also check the progress of your washing/drying on your room's tv and your machine was kept locked with a PIN which you input. As mentioned, there is a microwave plus an ice machine and bins so that you don't have to keep empty (smelly) food containers in your room.||We enjoyed our stays at the Richmond. I would have given it 4.5 stars if possible as it has a lot to offer and I wish more "western" hotels would take note of facilities such as washing machines, microwave etc. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars was the crowded buffet area at breakfast (surprised there weren't accidents) and poor soundproofing in the room near the lift (if you can't get a good sleep because of noise, this somewhat defeats the purpose of a hotel room). Also, check-in was unnecessary complicated: you checked in with a member of staff and then had to go to a machine where you paid with card or cash and received your room keys and breakfast vouchers (slow when you were staying for a week and had 14 vouchers!). It is also worth noting that, if check-in is at 2pm, you will not get in any earlier. All the hotels we stayed at were strict on this but they are happy to store your luggage so that you can look round the area till check-in time. It is worth factoring this in if you have travelled a long distance and are arriving early in...

IN 2018, this place has only been open for a couple of years so it's a pretty new building. Probably equivalent to a nice Holiday Inn or a Sheraton except like every hotel in Japan, the rooms are very small but unless you want to spend hundred's of dollars a day, it will be hard to find large rooms. Everyone here speaks just enough English to where you can get by with little to no issues. Before I talk about the pro's. I will also say a bid downside is if the hotel is full, everyone will be connected to the wifi and you will likely not be able to use the web. But during mid-day when everyone is out, I was averaging 15 mbps which was more than enough to get work done. Why do I like this place? Well first, it's right next Skytree and it's shopping center which means you have a very high selection of different restaurants to choose from as well as a nice shopping area (basically a mini American Mall). Anyone who has been in Japan knows that most stores won't open till about 9AM and will close around 8 or 9PM with a handfull that will open earlier or close later but while you're staying at Richmond of Oshiage, you also have Family Mart or 7-11 which is about 1-2 min walk from the entrance of the hotel as well as a Matsuya which is all open 24/7 which was great, especially if you have jetlag. during the day, in the same building as the hotel on the first/second and ground level, you have the Life grocery store which is unlike any other grocery store of Japan so it's kinda nice. One of my favorite things to get there was their Sushi after 8PM when they mark many of the foods down to sell through so I was able to get a $25 equivalent plate of sushi for around $6 @ LIFE which was fantastic. Also from the entrance, you walk across the street and boom, you're at the entrance of the Asakusa, Hanzomon Subway line. Walk into the mall (part of Skytree) and you'll have access to the Tobu line. Also, right in front of the subway entrance is a bus stop and taxi stop so it is extremely convenient. The only downside is if you have a JR pass, No JR lines in the area. The closest would be 20 min away with one transfer in-between which will cost you around $2.50-$3.00 (280 yen) - which will get you to Ueno Station where you can ride on the Yamanote Line (JR). The hotel also provides a cellphone during your stay so if your phone provider doesn't support or you didn't want to pay for international roaming, you can use their phone free of charge which is great. you can even make free calls to certain countries. I haven't been to very many hotels but this was the first that provided a phone as well. Their coffee was also very nice too. Pour over method (image attached) and you can boil water in the room and tastes sooo much better than instant coffee. Channels and movies are limited but you have free access to those as well but never utilized it since there was so much to do in the...

A Disappointing Stay at Richmond Hotel Premier Schole – A Lesson in Poor Hospitality

Our recent stay at the Richmond Hotel Premier Schole left much to be desired—particularly during what can only be described as a chaotic and frustrating check-in process. For a hotel that claims to offer premium service, the experience was shockingly subpar.

Our journey began with what should have been a seamless arrival. Having booked through a third-party site that categorized children under 17 as, well, children (as most reputable booking platforms do), we expected no issues with our reservation for our family, including our 15-year-old son. To our dismay, the hotel front desk abruptly deemed him an “adult,” rendering our reservation unacceptable unless we booked an additional room.

This rigidity was particularly galling given that other Japanese hotels on our trip had no issue accommodating us under the same booking conditions. The lack of consistency, coupled with an utter disregard for context, was infuriating. What made matters worse? Payment was already taken from us before the hotel decided to “change their mind.” This bait-and-switch behavior is not what one expects from a property that purports to offer top-tier service.

The ordeal did not stop there. We wasted two hours trying to resolve this mess, only to be left with no choice but to request a refund. Richmond’s unwillingness to honor our reservation forced us to scramble for last-minute accommodations, resulting in an overpriced Airbnb motel nearby due to the same-day booking. What should have been a smooth check-in turned into a nightmare of unnecessary stress and financial strain.

Instead of providing solutions or showing any level of flexibility, the staff dug their heels in, offering little more than a shrug to our predicament. Richmond Hotel Premier Schole set us up for failure, and for that, I harbor nothing but disdain for this establishment.

The hotel’s inflexibility and lack of customer-centric thinking cast a long shadow over what should have been an enjoyable stay. This isn’t just about a policy—it’s about a lack of hospitality and understanding. For those planning family trips to Japan, consider booking elsewhere. The Richmond Hotel Premier Schole has proven that its priority is rules over guests, bureaucracy over service, and inconvenience over hospitality.

One star for a lesson learned—and a vow never to return. Richmond, I hope your poor service comes back...