Hotel New Ueno — Hotel in Tokyo

The good:||-Location of this accommodation is great as it's walking distance to shops, restaurants and JR/Metro stations. We trained from Narita airport and got off at Ueno station and made a 10min walk to the hotel. ||||-Staff are friendly and helpful. Good command in English. (except for restaurant and cleaning staff you may need to do some sign language or learn a few Japanese words)||||-We got the Japanese styled room for 2 nights and the futon beds were already made for us when we checked into our room as we arrived around 9pm local time. The futon beds are comfortable, we all slept really well and it was really warm too. We didn't need to turn the heater on during the night.||They will put the bedding away during the day and make the bedding up at night time, but we declined as we weren't going to be in the hotel all day there wasn't much point putting it away then having it out again.||||-These days most hotels save by bringing in refillable bottles of amenities, which is the case here. But the brand is Shisedo which is a Japanese cosmetic brand- which is really good. ||The toilet seat is heated and has the washer function.||||-Complimentary tea/coffee each day. However the reception gives you a bunch of vouchers for the duration of your stay. Then when you would like your cuppa, you hand over a voucher and they give you a token and you put that into the vending machine that's located in the lobby and choose your drink. ||||The not so great:||-The hotel it self is located in an ally way so we did have a little trouble finding it, I just happened to spot the sign at the back door as I was walking past the ally way.|| ||-The room itself is very tiny, we had to store all our suitcases in the closet (where they place the bedding in the morning) as there was literally no space. The bathroom is tiny but it is expected for accommodation in Japan. || ||-We had Japanese style breakfast during our stay. It is very traditional. If you're not into having rice & salmon in the morning I wouldn't recommend it. It comes out like a set menu, you can't choose what you want. There isn't much choice as day 1 is set A and days 2 is set B and day 3 goes back to set A. ||We didn't think the child's breakfast was great as we got a protein in the adults meal but the child's meal didn't have any protein- soup/juice/ rice and packet of seaweed. ||||Other facts:||||-If you're a smoker there is a very tiny room in the lobby that is a smoking room. As you cannot be smoking in the streets of Tokyo||||-you'll need to return your room key to reception each time you go out. ||||-the lifts are tiny so you may need to make a few trips if you have a lot of people or luggage with you.||||-Now on the website I had gotten the impression the accommodation was going to be very traditional Japanese styled. However it is not the case. It is just a standard hotel with "rooms" that are Japanese traditional styled.||||- As you're in a city with apartment buildings, don't expect any views from your room. We got a wall view||||Overall I'd recommend this hotel for short stay or if you are going to be out all day and only using the place to sleep. As there isn't any other facilities...

The good:||-Location of this accommodation is great as it's walking distance to shops, restaurants and JR/Metro stations. We trained from Narita airport and got off at Ueno station and made a 10min walk to the hotel. ||||-Staff are friendly and helpful. Good command in English. (except for restaurant and cleaning staff you may need to do some sign language or learn a few Japanese words)||||-We got the Japanese styled room for 2 nights and the futon beds were already made for us when we checked into our room as we arrived around 9pm local time. The futon beds are comfortable, we all slept really well and it was really warm too. We didn't need to turn the heater on during the night.||They will put the bedding away during the day and make the bedding up at night time, but we declined as we weren't going to be in the hotel all day there wasn't much point putting it away then having it out again.||||-These days most hotels save by bringing in refillable bottles of amenities, which is the case here. But the brand is Shisedo which is a Japanese cosmetic brand- which is really good. ||The toilet seat is heated and has the washer function.||||-Complimentary tea/coffee each day. However the reception gives you a bunch of vouchers for the duration of your stay. Then when you would like your cuppa, you hand over a voucher and they give you a token and you put that into the vending machine that's located in the lobby and choose your drink. ||||The not so great:||-The hotel it self is located in an ally way so we did have a little trouble finding it, I just happened to spot the sign at the back door as I was walking past the ally way.|| ||-The room itself is very tiny, we had to store all our suitcases in the closet (where they place the bedding in the morning) as there was literally no space. The bathroom is tiny but it is expected for accommodation in Japan. || ||-We had Japanese style breakfast during our stay. It is very traditional. If you're not into having rice & salmon in the morning I wouldn't recommend it. It comes out like a set menu, you can't choose what you want. There isn't much choice as day 1 is set A and days 2 is set B and day 3 goes back to set A. ||We didn't think the child's breakfast was great as we got a protein in the adults meal but the child's meal didn't have any protein- soup/juice/ rice and packet of seaweed. ||||Other facts:||||-If you're a smoker there is a very tiny room in the lobby that is a smoking room. As you cannot be smoking in the streets of Tokyo||||-you'll need to return your room key to reception each time you go out. ||||-the lifts are tiny so you may need to make a few trips if you have a lot of people or luggage with you.||||-Now on the website I had gotten the impression the accommodation was going to be very traditional Japanese styled. However it is not the case. It is just a standard hotel with "rooms" that are Japanese traditional styled.||||- As you're in a city with apartment buildings, don't expect any views from your room. We got a wall view||||Overall I'd recommend this hotel for short stay or if you are going to be out all day and only using the place to sleep. As there isn't any other facilities...

(Review has been edited due to a second visit)

I'm a solo traveler, got a single room both times. Stayed for 3 nights in early March 2023, and 2 nights in July 2023.

Room: Both rooms were small, I think it's a bit smaller than an APA Hotel room. This was alright with me.

On my first visit, I accidentally booked a smoking room (I'm a non-smoker). The smell was not too bad, but YMMV. I booked correctly the second visit, and there's only smoke smell in the elevators/corridors.

Soap/shampoo are provided, and the toilet is the usual small TOTO prefabs.

On my first visit, the bed had a broken spring near the corner of the mattress which wasn't great. But it was at the corner so not too bad. I realised that I did not report this to the front desk, but hopefully they've resolved it by now. The bed was fine on my second visit (different room, of course).

Room keys have to be returned to the front desk when leaving, and AFAIK the front desk operates 24/7.

Service: My only service is with check-in/out so no comments there. You can leave your bags with the concierge on check-in/out day as per normal.

Location: Location is excellent. The hotel is immediately in front of the leftmost exit, of the Central Gate of the JR Ueno Station. You can reach the platform of a JR track within 5min of leaving your hotel room, that's pretty good. There's a FamilyMart and some food around the...