Comfort Hotel Tokyo Kiyosumi Shirakawa — Hotel in Tokyo

As soon as I got my keycard and went to my room, the Nene Leakes “ghetto” meme started playing in my head.||There are newer things added to the hotel & rooms, but that can’t mask the old, tired, “you get what you pay for” vibes in the elevator, laundry room, hallway, walls, bathroom… if I hadn’t already been in one of their beautiful Kyoto hotels, I wouldn’t have bothered, but this is such a downgrade I felt a little ripped off for paying more. Yes, I know it’s Tokyo, and any western hotel chain will come at a premium, but this is pushing it. ||There are just so many little things that make staying here feel like you’re being nickel-and-dimed versus other Choice properties you could pick: the hand soap being your body wash, the sink jutting out into the shower/tub (and the faucet working for both the sink and tub AND also controlling the shower head), only one thin pillow in the double room despite having two at my other double, your “closet” space consisting of three hangers because they cheaped out on making the hanging rod longer…||With that being said, there are two benefits to this hotel:|(1) its location - there’s a Family Mart right next door, and I was able to get from my Shinkansen in Kyoto to my room without moving my luggage up or down stairs, which is a feat compared to a lot of the hotels I’ve stayed at in Japan. The station even has the exit marked with this hotel specifically, which was very handy.|(2) the breakfast - better than the Kyoto location I stayed in! The yogurt was (I think) Greek which is as someone who is protein-pilled was highly appreciated. The eggs weren’t super loose cafeteria style and actually kinda firm. They also had potatoes and custard rolls during my stay which added to it. ||But these don’t save the hotel from feeling underwhelming. As a base to enjoy Tokyo from and place to sleep, this works. As a place to enjoy in and of itself, I’d look elsewhere.||Also, Choice Privleges do nothing here. If you have status from outside of Japan, it is useless. I don’t think even Choice themselves know that. That isn’t the staff’s fault, but wanted to point that out if you...

We're really satisfied with the facility provided, the cleaniness, especially the location is awesome. The service is nice and polite, the staff is gentle and kind, the breakfast is acceptable.Meanwhile, in our last night, we came back quite late after 10:30 P.M., I took the elevator and my friend went for water on the second floor, where also the reception is. I thought to myself, it's quite a crowded elevator tonight, and felt amused. It emptied soon after the 5th floor.Then, it opened on the 7th floor, a middle-aged couple anxiously told me the 11th floor is on fire, the fire alarm rang several times, and the emergency phone is not answered, the lady kept on calling at the same time.Back up to our floor, I waited for my friend to meet, and we were not sure about to stay or go out immediately. Then we smelled smoke slightly, decided to leave luggages and get out. On our way we met a couple with baby opened their door, told them to run right now. We all heard siren on the street afar. Down by the safety stairs outside, we found nobody there just two of us. The feeling was really strange. The street is silent as before. Could it be possible we just misunderstood something? As we pushed the emergency door open, we bumped into several policemen. The elder one is glad to see the emergency door,and they disappeared there.We joined groups in the reception, found many people came to the hall already, but nobody knew what to do. The staff was occupied.We don't know what to do, to stay on the reception floor, or just ran out immediately. So we just stand there and wait. People were all quiet and restrained.Fire men came soon after. We cannot be sure about what happen. Around midnight, foreign tourists were told that the fireman checked it's safe, we can be back in our room except the 11th floor, because the smell is not decending yet.The same staff ended and went to Japanese guests gathering on another side, then said something to them. We left to the elevator.We exchanged ideas in the elevator with each other, still don't know exactly what happened. We wondered if Japenese guests had more information...

No where on the Choice Hotel website does it warn about construction ongoing in the hotel. Fortunately we were out during the notified times but still had to compete with construction workers early in the morning for use of the lift. There is a supposed reverse cycle air-conditioner in the room which is really just a tease as the temperature is remotely controlled to stifling. The coin laundry was excellent, the staff were helpful, friendly and polite with google translate essential. The included breakfast had a reasonable choice of options but would never pass health standards in Japan. Why? The hot plates were only warm and the 'hot' food was served in Melamine containers which are of themselves an excellent insulator contributing to the food being luke-warm to almost cold. Each day, the variety of luke-warm food was changed to another oily concoction. The only choice that didn't change was the oily 'watery' consistency of the scrambled eggs. Fresh apple juice - made in the hotel from fuji apples with a hint of cinnamon or spinach blend was excellent. The hotel location is wonderful right next to the rail subway station Kiyosumi Shirakawa. The suburb is really an undiscovered gem with the beautiful and traditional Kiyosumi Shirakawa gardens, local streets contain a variety of temples and shopping. Right around the corner from the hotel is a supermarket plus all the usual convenience stores and a pharmacy. The location is perfect to explore Tokyo with all locations within a 30...