Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo Ikebukuro — Hotel in Tokyo

Okay so I stayed here because I wanted a nice fancy hotel experience

Honestly it was the only hotel on the trip that actually made me pay the city tax which is okay

But they obviously asked to keep my card on record just in case we did any damages like I said if I was going to do any damages, I've been in Japan three times and never had a problem

The hotel itself is very nice, but there's some downsides

Like I wouldn't recommend to eat at any of the restaurants because it dedicates to Rich boomers

The hotel if you just stay in the room and go out and do things is perfectly fine but it definitely wants to siphon as much money from you as possible

A lot of the accommodations are very dated but they're very nice and the hotel itself feels like a character

I would say the location if you're a night owl kind of sucks for food, I always thought staying in like ikebukuro would be a lot of fun because usually I have to go around midnight and it seems like it's still going to be fun outside but honestly

After the trains stop it's just random groups of people that are friends all around and they don't talk to you and they're just waiting until the train start back up

This is on the west side which is the least best side of ikebukuro

Everything fun is on the other side which is a pain in the ass to get through cutting through ikebukuro station, I know a lot of people complain about shinjuku station but this station is worse I think

I think that there's a lot of cool anime stuff in the area but a lot of that shit closes at 8:00 p.m. and then by like 9 or 10:00 it's all dead

Honestly I think it's worth it just to come in the afternoon and early evening and then stay literally anywhere else

It's probably better than staying in Shibuya or Shinjuku

But east side of Tokyo near Akihabara is more of my style

I think the view at the hotel window it was amazing, honestly one of my favorite parts of the hotel was the view and looking at all the people moving on with their daily lives

They gave an above average size window which was great

I would say like the room itself was very big and spacious and I got one of the newer renovated rooms so I was lucky and the TV was nice and let me play anime on it through HDMI cable unlike some other hotels

I would say that they also closed off the front lobby after I think midnight or 1:00 so you have to come through the back (which is technically the front but is it really)

They offered a really good shuttle service to the airport which is great, it was only 1,400 yen but I had to choose between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. which kind of sucked for my 10:20 flight so I had to wake up and go earlier than I wanted because they're honestly should be at 7:30 but it's probably not their fault

I think that its proximity to lumine and the food court there was pretty great, I think that while it's opened and most of the stuff while it's opened is great

It also has access to family mart which is super and has Hokkaido cream icecream that I love and I can't find anywhere else in Tokyo.

The 7-Eleven around the corner kind of sucks but the Lawson's is pretty good and there's a new days in the lobby but it closes at 10:00

So technically you have access to all four convenience stores

I would say this is definitely more of a boomer hotel but it's pretty cool

I wanted some Durarara!! Vibes and I got those but I'm definitely much happier staying on the other side of Tokyo so it was a fun experience to do once and I would probably stay here again if I had to but I would rather stay on the other side of Tokyo honestly and just...

Booked the small double room as i recall there wasn't many room choices left when I booked. Bed was unfortunately too small even for us even as Asians. Room was also very compact at 17sqm so we barely had enough space to manoeuvre and put our luggage. but that's quite a normal Japan standard. So take note to try to book a bigger room size if you can.

Hotel is abit dated was still well maintained and clean. AC is adjustable and powerful enough. Water pressure was also good. it's very close to the ikebukuro station where there are a couple of train lines. There is also family mart/7 Eleven close by for you to get some snacks/ supper/breakfast. There are also quite a lot of eateries within walking distance. It's also just across from shopping malls lumine/tobu and also Harbs, which seems very popular, for some cakes and tea/coffee.

Another awesome point is that they have the airport bus to Haneda/Narita right at their door step which is super convenient especially after you have many bags of shopping. Additionally, if you plan to go to gotemba premium outlets, highway bus has a pickup/dropoff at the hotel (same location as the airport bus). Only thing is that there aren't any visible signs about this.

There is self service coin laundry avail- 5 machines in total and you get to see the status via the TV in your room. But don't get your hopes high as 5 machines is insufficient for the number of guests. I had to stand in line in front of the machine at abt 11pm for 45min for the machine to finish the cycle. And several other machines also had people queuing and many people were coming in with their laundry and realising that they were probably not able to have it washed that night and left. Another annoying thing is when selfish people do not come to collect their laundry on time. the machine is password locked no one else can use it until the person comes back to collect it. So in all I had to physically wait for 1hr before I could use the machine. And only collected my laundry at 2am. Anyway if there are people waiting to use the machine most don't add on time on the dryer and have to leave with wet clothes. So unless u have time to wait in the middle of the night to wash your clothes and also to hang them to dry in your room, don't get your hopes high.

The hotel provides 2 bottles of water per day and they have the full amenities like shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, toothbrush, razor, comb and even skincare! All in all still alright to stay here mainly for the convenience to the train station and...

In general we had a great experience, the hotel is located in a fantastic spot with great food and the train station nearby. I would definitely recommend this hotel and stay again.

For context to my review, we are a couple that had three large luggage and two carry-ons for a month stay in a regular queen room.

Pros: The front desk staff is very friendly and fluent in english. The station is so very close it made transportation with our JR pass a breeze. The hotel also has a 7/11 and Family mart nearby so planning cheap breakfast for late night snacks was never a issue. The hotel is very pretty and clean. The elevators require your key card to use so the hotel felt extremely safe. Laundry was 600 yen for a regular 2 hour wash and and dry load. The TV in the room is quite large and has a easy to access HDMI so connecting your Nentendo switch is easy. Bathrooms by the entrance were really nice.

Cons: The room we got was nice and everyone says the rooms are small in Tokyo but I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. With three large luggages and two carry-ons we were always moving around the luggage just to walk around. They say they have a gym but that doesn't mean you can use it. It has a fee of 2200yen (14.70 USD ) to use it for one day! The shower head in our bathroom was designed in a way that it goes into a handle that is attached to a pole in the shower. The part it slides into was loose and you have to delicately put it at the angle you want to use it at and it would flip down when you turned the water off. One night it flipped down and actually fell onto my foot so that was upsetting. We couldn't figure out a way to tighten it. The TV power outlet is hidden so if you want to hook up your Nintendo switch I suggest bringing a surge / extension cord. The room only had one nightstand with two outlets so plugin in two phones are possible but you should bring a extension cord if you have other things to charge at night (like a pocket wifi, power bank, etc). Tried mailing post cards and they didn't have stamps, they told me the closest post office. All of the hotels I have stayed...