GRANBELL HOTEL SHIBUYA — Hotel in Tokyo

Overall, this is a very average room. I completely understand that this hotel is in the middle of a major busy area in Tokyo but it is tiny with room to barely walk around. For some reason they chose the worst seats and table which took up 1/4 of the walking space around the bed.

We visited in Jan and the room was cranked to a sweltering 71F. Imagine walking into that after walking and having a ton of clothes on. We had to immediately turn off the thermostat and call front desk to have them unlock the window to get some fresh air.

The room itself was dated with dirty carpet and moldy curtain in the bathroom. You have to draw a curtain shut in order for some privacy in the bathroom.

Amenities: Comb Bath Sponge (literally a sponge) Shower Cap Facial Cleansing Oil Shaving Cream Razor Toothbrush/Toothpaste

These were a highlight and scented with green tea: Shower Gel Shampoo Conditioner

I thought service was severely lacking. Most of the staff spoke little to no English. We had shipped out luggage to Granbell Shibuya and instead of putting it in our room, we had to do that ourselves. There is no bellhop here. Same thing happened with a sake shipment we received. They could have brought it up but it was left downstairs for pick up.

I was having trouble with the service to get our luggage to the airport the day before we left. I was told to use the QR code for instructions and to bring the luggage down before 9am the day before our departure. The guy at the front desk kept pointing at me to put the tag on our luggage when all I wanted was help with the website. It turns out you need to fill out the form on the QR code 2 days before departure. We woke up early to drop out luggage off for no reason and I also found the guy at front desk to be very rude.

I also tried having front desk mail a postcard for me which was already stamped and ready to go. All they had to do was send it with their outgoing mail. I was told by 2 separate staff members that they couldn't do it. Then a manager walked in and said they could.

This hotel is located on a street with an incline and while it's not that far up the hill, it is a little difficult to walk to from Shibuya Scramble. You have to go up an escalator just to cross a busy intersection of cars, pass Tokyo Plaza, find your way into JR station without going downstairs, and find another walkway to get into Shibuya Scramble Square. Also expect people to be lining up at the 2 restaurants closest to the hotel. It bugged me to have to dodge people to get back into the hotel.

Additionally the huge pivoting door was heavy to push through to get in and out. The elevator doors will also cut you off if you're not in and out...

The room wasn't very big, but for Tokyo it really wasn't that bad! It had everything I needed in all the right places. Good range of amenities, which I loved. The bathroom wasn't amazing as it was clear and had curtains to make up for it (it was a bit of a problem because we were 2 in that room). The staff was very nice and available, I unfortunately can't say anything about breakfast as I didn't eat in the hotel restaurant, so here is everything I liked and disliked about this hotel: 1 Literally THE BEST POSITION EVER!! Had Uohide oyster (I can't recall precisely the name, so excuse any misspelling) which had the most amazing atmosphere and lunch menu. It was in front of the Shibuya station, like, literally in front of it, which made transport very very comfortable. It had a lot of cafes, restaurants and Japanese fast food chains (Sukiya) all around and all of the food was so good my heart aches every time I remember that I can't go back right now. Though, I will admit, the hotel sign is very hidden and it took us a while of going around the area to find it, so maybe a bigger sign would be best for first timers. For those who haven't been to the hotel yet, if you see an oyster restaurant with a fish logo and look to the left, there's a sort of big "hall" with a massive door that doesn't really look like a door but if you walk up to it close enough to see the material of what it's made you'll see, on your left, a "push" sign. In summer watch out for the temperature shock.

About the staff, when I say that they were awfully nice I genuinely mean they were awfully nice. I had an earache and I couldn't hear so we asked for help in finding a clinic and they immediately found the nearest one and called them, assisting us. Also, as we came early for our check in, they held our luggage, even after checking out waiting for us to finish eating breakfast in a nearby bar. So kind and careful!

The view from our room (411) wasn't stunning, quite boring actually as we were looking at a few stores that were so white that looking directly at the sun would have hurt our eyes less, but that's not really a problem.

There were a lot of services available but we didn't take any of them, so I can't speak up...

I stayed here for 13 nights and was incredibly happy! I got a premier double room with a King bed and it was perfect. I was traveling solo but it would work just fine for 2 people. Just know, there's not much floor space so you have to use your suitcase as a wardrobe and close it when you're done to get it out of the way. Not a problem at all for me. A local friend of mine checked out my room and said as far as Japanese hotels go, it was basically a nice business style hotel room.

There were little things like a tiny bit of wallpaper peeling off or some chipped paint but it's purely cosmetic. Everything worked perfectly and was clean! They also will give you fresh towels every day even if you don't need your room cleaned. Because of my extended stay, I requested housekeeping every other day at the most because I really didn't need more than that but every day when I returned to the hotel there was a bag with fresh towels hanging on my door.

The front desk staff was incredible! Extremely friendly and so, so helpful. They all spoke English extremely well! Many to the point of not even having an accent which is extremely impressive! I was prepared to use the little Japanese I know and it wasn't necessary at all.

When you arrive at the hotel, Trust Google maps! The front door doesn't look like a door at first and there's no obvious sign but there's a large rug in front of the door with the Hotel name on it.

The location is absolutely perfect! I could walk to the New South Exit for the JY line in 3 minutes if it wasn't crowded. It made it super easy to navigate the entire city. There are also tons and tons of restaurants near the hotel and 2 different food courts within 5 minutes walk. The Scramble Crossing is maybe 5 minutes away if you take the pedestrian bridge (which you should any time you need to walk somewhere)

So overall, I loved my time here and I would...