Tokyu Stay Nishi-Shinjuku — Attraction in Tokyo

First the positives and then a negative. Great location, about 15 min walk to bustling central Shinjuku. Family Marts etc., eateries all around and metro 2 min walk away. The area is perfect as it's quieter, even close to a lovely park and all amenities at your door. Besides needing a good dust and coffee marks wiped off the wall, the hotel is clean and comfortable. There is free coffee and toiletries in the reception area the included washing machine/dryer in the room was a huge plus.||YOU WILL NOT GET EARLY ROOM ACCESS EVEN IF YOUR BAGS ARE WAITING IN YOUR ROOM. We arrived early morning knowing we would not be able to check in until the afternoon so staff stored our luggage as expected. When we arrived back at the hotel at about 1:30pm and our bags were nowhere to be found the receptionist informed us they had already been taken to our room as the room was ready. Excited about finally getting access to a shower and some rest after a long flight we anticipated this meant we would be able to enter the room. The receptionist then left to speak to who I imagine is a manager only to come back and tell us check in is at 3pm so we have to wait until then and if we wanted to access the room early it would cost 1,000 yen per person. I know check in stated 3pm but I found this to be exceptionally poor customer service. Seeing as our bags were already in the room it would have made absolutely no difference to the hotel for us to enter the room 1 1/2 hours early but instead the rigid rule left quite a very negative impression. We did end up getting access at 2:30pm only because an elderly Japanese gentleman wanted to check in at this time and they didn’t want to make him wait in the lobby. ||The negative experience is such a shame because had this not have occurred I would return on...

I actually never got to stay at this hotel due to a problem that was not their fault. My review is about how awful they are at responding to customers.I had ordered a £50 SIM card to be delivered to the hotel so I could pick it up when I checked in. As mentioned I was unable to do so. I actually had my travel agent call the hotel to request that they keep my mail there once it had arrived. The hotel receptionist refused to speak about it. On the day I flew to Japan I emailed the front desk around 3 hours prior to my flight asking if they could confirm whether or not a SIM card had been received the previous day. The flight took seven hours and when I landed there had been no response from the front desk. I was in quite a hurry as I had several things to pick up at the Narita airport and a train to Shinjuku to catch. Given I could not navigate to the hotel without any data, it being late and also unsure when another train would be available i ended up having to spend another £50 for a SIM card as the airport WiFi was briefly down. Four days later the hotel responded to my question saying they had received the original SIM card and asked when I was going to pick it up. The lack of communication is dreadful and even worse is their lack of responsibility after I asked if they would refund me the money I had to spend because they didn't reply to my email... Of course they took their time replying to that...

The hotel room is clean and comfortable, and the in-room laundry machine is definitely a plus. However, I would strongly advise against spending 1,500 yen on the breakfast. If you choose the Japanese-style breakfast, be prepared to cook the rice yourself (which takes about 20 minutes), heat the soup (5 minutes and 10 seconds), and warm up the fish (1 minute). Everything is self-service, and you even have to wash the dishes afterward like in a hostel. Compared to other hotels in the same price range, such as APA Hotel, where breakfast also costs 1,500 yen, the quality of both food and service is significantly better—and you don't have to clean up after yourself. There are also convenient and affordable options nearby, like Matsuya and Sukiya, making it unnecessary to spend 1,500 yen on the Stay Morning+ breakfast, which ended up being underwhelming—if not downright disappointing. Asking guests to wash their own dishes with limited appliances and no dishwashing liquid, and offering housekeeping only once a week, is quite unexpected for a Japanese hotel. Additionally, if the hotel expects guests to use the self-check-in machine, please ensure it’s working properly. When scanning my passport, the screen displayed an [X] on the passport verification page, along with a vague caption telling guests to make sure everything is scanned correctly. This was confusing and left me unsure...