APA Hotel Higashi-Shinjuku Kabukicho East — Hotel in Tokyo

You get what you pay for. ||We stayed here due to an issue with our flights. Since it was last minute, we were looking for a cheap hotel in an area that was close to the subway and ended up choosing this hotel for a two night stay. ||Compared to what I paid for other, much more spacious Japanese hotels; this place is on the cheaper side. I think it ran me about $200ish a night? I get that that still can be expensive and I bet there’s other hotels around Tokyo that might be cheaper but I don’t know if they’re as centrally located as this one. I at least couldn’t find any cheaper hotels super last minute located in Shinjuku. ||I didn’t read many of the reviews before booking and the ones I did read I’m pretty sure were about the other Shinjuku APA hotel with an onsen. This hotel doesn’t have an onsen. On that note, be careful to make sure you’re booking the right hotel and going to the right one since there are literally about 4-5 APA hotels with similar names all in the same area. ||We arrived early and were told that our room wasn’t ready. I know there are other reviews saying the staff was unhelpful but they were very helpful when I arrived and walked me through the check in process. Not sure if maybe they took the negative reviews to heart and improved their customer service?||I booked a double room since it was for myself and my partner. We got a room on the 8th floor. I was already keeping my expectations low but was pleasantly surprised with the room. It was tiny (two people cannot walk around the room at the same time) but it was tidy and spacious enough considering my partner and I are not small. If you’ve ever been to the POD hotels in New York City, the rooms are similar in size and include a private bathroom which is big enough for my partner who is 5’8”. That being said, I, personally, wouldn’t stay here more than two nights if it’s more than just a solo traveler. It gets a little cramped especially if you need to spend any amount of time in the room. I also would not recommend that anymore than 2 people stay in one room. Three people would be packed into the room like sardines. I am unsure if they have bigger rooms available.||The biggest issue I had was not understanding that the A/C is centrally controlled. That was my fault for not doing my research. I woke up boiling at 4am and couldn’t figure out how to cool off the room. I thankfully ran across a review that mentioned windows that open and was able to crack open the window in my room. It helped a bunch but I will say that made the noise outside 1000 times louder (they have free earplugs at the front desk that I didn’t grab initially and regretted that first night). If you are like me and can’t sleep in a hot room at the very least in the cooler months you can crack open a window. I will say that there is a panel to at least turn off the A/C or heater for the unit which also helps. As for the noise, the hotel is centered right in Kabukicho and near the red light district so I was expecting some noise. However, it’s a little insane that even though I was on the 8th floor I could still hear legitimate drunk screaming from the street below at 3-5AM so that’s something to keep in mind. ||Last few things, check out is at 10am which is early at least in my experience with other Japanese hotels that allow free check out until noon. If you do have the funds, you can pay for later check out (It’s 1000 yen per hour after 10am). ||Overall, the hotel is a three star hotel and pretty much on par with other three star hotels I’ve been to in other places. I gave it a four star review because it did exceed my admittedly very low expectations for this hotel (based on other reviews). I hope this review helps some other travelers to plan their hotel reservations...

We booked this hotel to celebrate our engagement and chose it because it looked beautiful and well-presented compared to others nearby. Unfortunately, our experience didn’t quite match how it was advertised.

The rooms are quite small (which we didn’t mind), but when we arrived just over an hour before check-in, we were told our room was already ready — yet they offered for us to check in early for an extra ¥4,000. The fee itself wasn’t the issue, but it felt unreasonable to be told the room was ready and then be asked to pay extra to access it. We chose not to pay and simply waited until the normal check-in time.

When we checked in, we could deal with the size of the hotel. I am a very heavy sleeper and don’t wake up to much however , the room was so loud from the street near by that I could not sleep. Lots of yelling from the street , loud music etc that other hotels seemed to block out during our stay in Japan however this one in particular did not.

We also booked this because of the convenience of having a restaurant down stairs however the restaurant most days was shut due to short staffing which was disappointing…

Another disappointment was the misleading information about housekeeping. The website suggested daily room cleaning, but in reality, they only leave replacement amenities at your door without actually tidying the room. This would have been fine if it had been clearly stated beforehand, but it felt misleading.

While the male staff were polite, the female staff came across as quite rude and unaccommodating. After reading other reviews, it seems many people have had similar experiences, with the same automated replies to negative feedback.

Overall, the hotel itself is nice, but it doesn’t live up to its advertising. The value doesn’t match the cost, and there are many nearby hotels offering similar prices with better service and inclusions. I’d recommend considering other options before...

This hotel is just too big for its own good I stayed there for four nights, there's very little customer service to be had it's obvious the management aren't bothered because they know they'll always have customers due to the central location and because of the volume of customers there's obviously corners cut at the housekeeping end and a big rush on check out.

The check in process was meant to be a self service but was so convoluted meanwhile there were four receptionists who couldn't be bothered to help or do things manually.

Small room which is to be expected in shinjuku, but a terrible use of what little space there was it was very cramped for 2 people. The toilet was installed too close to the wall so you had to sit on it at an angle. Oh and under the bed was filthy I looked down the side of the bed one night to see a pile of fingernails looking back up at me. Stains on the bed linen also.

My biggest issue by far though is the air-conditioning it was terrible in the room. No open windows or natural air circulation. I checked out 2 days ago and have been coughing since.

Loses points also for the laundry room. The clothes dryer was terrible didn't dry our clothes at all after 2 cycles.

Also the rush to get people out for a 10 am checkout or face extra charges is a complete mess, I've never seen rush hour traffic for an elevator before it was ridiculous. It took us 15 minutes to get on one with luggage. It doesn't take a genius to see they should stagger check out times to a few floors at a time.

Great location apart from that it's an utter biohazard of a hotel. They should change the name from Kabukicho tower to...