Hotel New Star Ikebukuro — Hotel in Tokyo

This is a great hotel for the budget minded traveler. Rooms are very convenient for a solo traveler, about 8' x 15' (120 sq ft). Not comfortable for couples but it fits the bill for a solo traveler. Price was excellent, since I booked 3 months earlier I got a good price for my 6 night stay (under $47 a night, including all taxes and fees), one of the better rates for the area and better than staying at a hostel IMHO (you get your own private room and bathroom). ||||The hotel is close to the Ikebukuro Train station, a comfortable 10 minute walk. There is a bus stop for the Haneda airport limousine bus right across the street from the Train station so easy to roll your luggage to and from the hotel. There is a Lawson's downstairs, a Family Mart, liquor store and a pet store right across the street. A number of eateries in the area including a KFC and McD's near the train station, a Don Quiote close to the Train station (another bigger one on the eastern side of the train station). Area lighting isn't that bright at night so can seem a little dark near the hotel but I always felt safe walking from the train station at night.||||There aren't many amenities in the hotel and room but I don't expect much from a budget hotel, basically just a safe, secure place to stay for the night. The room contains a fridge, tv, hair dryer, standard bathroom with toilet/bidet. 24 hour front desk, you have to drop off your room key at the front desk whenever you leave the hotel. The TV had the usual Japanese channels. Wifi wasn't that great, off hours/late night it was strong but during the day and evening it wasn't strong and sometimes dropped you. Check in was at 3 pm but you can leave your bags and they will put a net around the bags to hold it until you check in. Same thing after check out. ||||They offer a simple breakfast for around $5 but I found it easier to just pick up something from Lawsons downstairs. ||||Use the back door to get to the train station. That street takes you directly to the area near the Ikebukuro Train station. From the train station, look for the KFC and go up that street to get to the back door of the hotel. The back door hotel sign isn't very visible so make sure you know how the back side looks like before using it or else you may get confused or lost. ||||I would stay here again and would recommend this hotel to solo travelers...

The hotel staff were not welcoming and reckless on their duties. First of all, they didn’t receive the luggage I sent by the delivery which I had already emailed them. When we arrived, there were no luggages of ours and the staff said they didn’t accept it. They don’t have the delivery name in the reservation system. However, I had already told them via email. The staff wasn’t say sorry until they saw the email. They said they don’t know who responded to our email, but the luggage were not under the reservation name. However, it was the same family name and the other luggage also have a reservation name in this hotel under a different booking. If they willing to take a minute to check, we wouldn’t have to faced this difficulty on our first night. The staff didn’t even show us the way to register the rescheduled of delivery, I have to ask my Japanese friend to help. He also blamed that it is our fault to not provide the information, which I already did. He shows zero empathy towards our situation. Not even try to comfort us or offer us any laundry or clothes to wear. During the stay, they rotated the staff all the time which make it very difficult for us to talk about the situation that had happened and still no one is considered to come and apologize. Moreover, it is not very professional for them to given out room keys without asking the guest’s names. One time, they were switching my key with other guests, luckily it’s was my friend’s room. It could be very unsafe if it was somebody else. In bad, there’s good which are the room size and location. You can open 2 big luggages in the room with spaces available. We booked 4 rooms here with one non-smoking but still had a smoking smell. So, if you are concerned about the smell, it would be hard for you to adjustable. The air-conditioning is a central system, which is very uncomfortable during the time we stayed. It is not adjustable and very hot. The hotel is quite old. Lastly, I would like to thank Trip for helping me communicate with the hotel during my time in Japan. It was very difficult due to the language barrier and inactive hotel’s staff. I wish no one would have to experience the same...

Stayed here twice on one trip. First time was ok. And just okay. Service was friendly. First room was okay for a smoking room, we don't smoke but was available and other hotels I've stayed in with smoking rooms haven't been bad. Having a physical key to the room and it being required to stay at the hotel all day is very annoying. Second time was the worst experience I've ever had. Smoking room again but it was like it hadn't had a clean in a long time. There were stains on everything, the chairs, the bed sheet, the lamp shade, above the window. The bathroom vent was constantly letting smoke from another room into our bathroom. There was a vent on the ceiling of the actual room and it was almost black. The bathroom smelt mouldy. The sinks were either off, on only while you hold the tap slightly or 100% and would splash everywhere. There was spider webs on the ceiling with dust hanging from them. I was sneezing so much it was horrible. Wall paper coming off the walls everywhere. To make matters worse, when we got there they told us that the air conditioning has been turned off and was now only heating. And it was a 25 degree day and the room was so stuffy and opening the window barely helped. Was so bad I gave up after a few nights and found another hotel...