FOCUS KURAMAE — Hotel in Tokyo

If it weren't for the fact that the lowest rating can only be one star, I would want to give a negative score. It was a very terrifying and nightmarish accommodation experience. For this price, it's better to stay in a chain hotel, at least it's clean and has a complete set of personal bathroom facilities.

As the pictures, this is a "elegant room" of about 5 square meters in size in a youth capsule hotel, where even the suitcase can't be opened. Thin wooden partitions, very simple like a slum, thick layers of clumped dust on the walls sway with the wind. It shares a bathroom with a few capsule rooms next door with more than 20 people, and the bathroom facilities are all the cheapest crude products, and the toilet is full of a strong sour smell. The room environment is dim, there is only a weak LED light and a weak desk lamp on the ceiling in the room, there are no basic accessories such as refrigerators, TVs, etc., the air conditioning vent is full of dust and seems to be broken, the disgusting dirty trash can is dented, there are disgusting unknown bugs on the bed, the curtains full of stains are not even installed completely, half hanging. Lift the bed sheet and there is a puddle of brown stains on the bed. Open the window, a dangerous metal bracket directly inserted above the pillow on the bed. Free earplugs full of strong toxic plastic smell. Of course, there is no room cleaning service for many days of stay.And there are still people blowing their hair at 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, some guests make noise after drinking, and all kinds of snoring, walking, and door opening and closing sounds from the next door can be heard clearly. When the door is opened, passersby can directly see me lying on the bed in my underwear, and the door diagonally across is just a bathroom specifically for women, there is no privacy at all... It's rotten! Don't say it's Tokyo, the gate of Japan, it's simply the worst and messy hotel I've ever stayed in so many countries!

The air conditioning has been tested for a long time and it is still not cold, I reflected to the service staff. The waiter only doubt me that if I didn't turn it on? I said I set the lowest temperature air conditioning but it still only has wind, the waiter only said if someone comes to repair, he will enter the room during the day, are you sure? Generally, hotels will immediately send someone to the room for investigation or change rooms, but I feel that the other party just wants to quickly dismiss the problem and perfunctory at will.

Indoor air is too bad, we were difficult to breathe, whole body was allergic and itchy, and we woke up hot late at night had to sleep with the windows open. Just right, the window is right above the pillow, and the protruding window door bracket accidentally raised my head and hit 2 times. I was poured by rain late at night and woke up.

I can't help but ask, 'Where did these 4.5 star ratings/8.2 points come from?

Carefully scan the comments, the comments are extremely polarized, and I saw someone leaving a message saying that many suspicious 5 stars are came out by activities, and mostly from the perspective of backpackers, telling the fashionable coffee shop on the 1st floor, cute English-speaking waiters, exotic sauna experience courses (charged). Those who give 1 point are real comments. Many people complain about being deceived into the website by overly beautified photos, or complain about bed bugs, complain about dirty and messy, complain about remote locations, complain about everything that needs to be charged even towels and luggage storage; or complain about service staff. Various surface smiles but in fact there is no perfunctory attitude. When the guests complained about on the Internet , they will got the formulaic answers from the hotel, and there was no intention to improve it at all.

I only knew that I used the price higher than the ordinary suite to live in the elegant room equipment, shared the public facilities of the capsule hotel, and the sleep quality was only better than lying...

Pros Cheaper than business hotels. Smaller dorms, only had 14 capsules in the fifth floor dorm other dorms seem to have less people. I found 20 per dorm to be not uncommon. Good area. Close to Ameyoko, Kuramae station, Kappabashi, Sensoji temple, Akihabara, etc.

Cons Top bunks have open ceilings which means people can look over the walls and light/sound leaks. Very disappointing as dorms are mixed. They had maintenance twice during my stay. Everyone had to pack their stuff and unpack once they'd finished. No warning prior to booking. Staff were not trained for the maintenance. The restaurant(where our stuff was) opened before everyone got their stuff back. There is no soundproofing between the dorms and the washing machine/washrooms. This means if someone decides to do laundry or use the hair dryer at 1am, you will hear it. I might have been unlucky or it might be a consequence of having smaller rooms, but the people in my room were very noisy during the night. Safe is metal, but comes at the cost of size. I couldn't fit my valuables in there. Very little shelf space in the capsule. I liked UNPLAN Shinjuku's capsules which had significantly more shelf space. FOCUS Kuramae has similar sized capsules, but they don't use the space effectively. There is some dead space, but, it's hard to utilize because the mattress moves while you sleep. They don't have usb charging port and they don't like lending out wall to usb adapters. They dont provide detergent for washing clothes. Staff ignore you.

Other They have a sauna, but it's 4000 yen(extremely expensive).

Summary. I would advise against this place if You're uncomfortable with neighbors looking into your pod. You're not ok with noise at night. I would recommend it if the price is extremely cheap(there will be quite a few "hidden" costs). you only have to unpack the bare essentials(phone, wallet, toothbrush, toothpaste, and passport). you're happy with the location. I wouldn't stay here again. It's definitely the worst capsule hostel I've stayed at in Japan. It wouldn't be difficult finding something better at the same or lower price. The reason why the place's review score is good is because they pay...

Bed bugs! Suspect this may not be news given half the place is unused with beds left unmade everywhere.

I had to waste my only full day in Tokyo cleaning up after this mess. It seemed most of the hostel was checking out, yet I was last to leave by far longer than I was up before everyone. It was not possible to sleep being progressively bitten all night long. I missed out on almost everything I had planned to do. Blatant interfering, with trivally redundant prioritisation of others over my revolving around their problems all day didn't help in this.

I also missed out on the remaining of my prepaid reservation. The hostel claimed no availability for changing rooms. I was literally forced to waste more time double booking & moving elsewhere. They offered a refund for a dictated cancellation, which is the least I deserve for my troubles, but although I clearly see the cancellation, at least in the sense of not physically not able ro stay there anymore, I am yet to see any refund.

I suspect I now need a photo of every bed bug in existence for a refund. They witnessed the bites on my body - evidently visible all over my head, neck, legs and arms - upon interrogation, and I saw what I suspect to be pest control at the property. But never have I seen a refund for bed bugs, or a cancellation following check-in (bar civil emergency, but in such cases, hotels are arranged).

The shower water is cold, but the weather is far too hot & I am too busy & tired to care. It is a slippery hazard zone. There's also no power (& thus no catching and snatching photos of bed bugs) - this is where I really start to feel treated as a victim. It's a shared bathroom, but they don't allow this to be used until after an unreasonably late check-in time. This leaves travellers drenched with sweat in what could be days-old attire, stinking out a small "common" area feeling more of a pest than a guest as it's all shared with a cafe/bar/who-knows-what of somewhat...