BnA Hotel - Koenji — Hotel in Tokyo

On our last night in Tokyo my boyfriend and I wanted to stay in a different, less central neighborhood of Tokyo to get a different feel. We discovered BnA Hotel Koenji when searching for boutique hotels and loved that the rooms were decorated by artists and that part of the proceeds of the room revenue is donated to artists. ||We arrived around 2:45 on a Monday and were greeted by someone who may have been a cleaning person who was friendly but wouldn’t let us go to our room because “check-in wasn’t until 3pm.” Didn’t matter that we were 15 minutes from 3pm and no one was in the room, we had to leave and come back. It was pouring with rain and given that there isn’t a typical lobby where we could sit and wait we left feeling a bit weird. When we arrived back later that afternoon we were greeted by a woman who I assume works at the hotel and were shown our room. The art was awesome and we were impressed by the spaciousness and design of the room, and loved the wolf murals. The bathroom is pretty modern and there are tons of usb outlets for all your devices. ||We were a bit worried about the bar/dj situation in terms of noise but as it was a Monday night it was luckily quiet. It’s a little weird checking out of a hotel with an empty bar but it was pretty seamless. If you have an issue there’s a bell you can ring outside that I think is connected to a cell phone and someone can assist within a few minutes. ||The Koenji neighborhood is pretty cool, filled with tons of vintage shops and bars. The Koenji JR station is literally a two minute walk from the hotel and you can access Shinjuku and Tokyo station directly from the line at Koenji station. So easy! ||Overall this is a cool hotel for someone who is looking for more of a local experience in Tokyo while still being able to access more central areas easily and quickly with the...

Unbeatable trendy Koenji location right next to the station (6 mins to Shinjuku! Right next to Nakano!), fun interconnected artsy nightlife, a downstairs bar (it doesn't run all nights, but there are pop-up events if you're lucky!) and an artistic hotel room of inspiration. I stayed in the beautiful room 'Ten'. When I wasn't meeting Japanese and international artist visitors at the bar, I read and drew at the desk upstairs (they provided some pencils and notepaper which was fun) and as such felt more connected to the art beat of Japan. Even if you simply want to chill in your room, it's a relaxing atmosphere. Koenji also has a great music scene to check out in the night-time, so check out the art/music/record shop/fashion/mural spot recommendations mentioned by local bar goers or in the hotel manual.

The bar staff at bar FRONTDESK were kind, professional and welcoming. Here, you can meet many artists organically at pop-up bar events and never feel like you are intruding on a private party. Very inclusive, funky atmosphere, little treasures of wall-art to be found on the walls. I think some new artwork popped up in the hall during my stay too, which shows that the place is frequented and always artistically evolving. I love the zine-scene in Australia and this place mirrored that DIY feel. loved this hotel and it became a place I'd recommend to all my art/zine/sketch loving buddies who stay in Japan. Felt...

I loved the BnA hotel and really loved the Koenji neighborhood. The hotel is located right outside the subway stop, which was so nice - and the hotel was surprisingly quiet! ||||We had the room on the second floor - it was so cool to wake up to the brightly-colored mural every morning. The room was the perfect size for 2 people - it was small and there was no TV, but who cares about that?? We did not come to Koenji to sit in the room!||||The staff is very friendly and helpful and enthusiastic. Definitely hang out at the bar one night!!||||As far as Koenji goes, it is the best neighborhood in Tokyo! There are endless amounts of boutiques, vintage shops, restaurants and coffee shops - it was honestly hard to decide where to eat! Great yakatori spots and great craft beer bars! Japub was cool - they let people come in and DJ, which gave it a cool neighborhood vibe. My favorite boutique in Koenji was Kiki - definitely go check it out! ||||Overall, I LOVED BnA and loved Koenji - just a fun, young, hip,...