OHWA HOSTEL MINOWA STATION — Hotel in Tokyo

Today I want to warn anyone planning to book this place — Ohwa Hostel Minowa. Please be careful.||I booked to stay from the 1st to the 4th of April 2025. Everything seemed normal. On the 4th of April, I checked out and went to Mt. Fuji. |Then suddenly in the evening of 5th of April , they emailed me saying I had broken the refrigerator. Are you serious? I’ve stayed in so many countries and never experienced anything like this. They said they were going to charge me 20,000 yen.||Then, from the 7th to 9th of April , I had another booking at the same hostel as part of the same trip. When I checked in on 7th , I happened to meet the same staff member who emailed me. He told me I couldn’t stay unless I paid for the broken .refrigerator. I insisted that I hadn’t even really used it — how would I know when it broke? He claimed the cleaning staff found it broken. So I asked, “Then why didn’t you say anything when you rushed me to check out at 10 AM? Why wait until 5 PM the next day?”||This just felt like a scam waiting to happen to the next guest.||I refused to pay, of course. I contacted Agoda, where I made the booking. Big praise to their customer service — they took my case seriously and called the hostel right away. Agoda told me the hostel had never had this kind of issue before but now suddenly decided to blame me, saying, “We don’t know when it broke, so we’ll just charge this guest.”||Agoda advised me not to stay there again and offered to help find a new place. I asked them to find one nearby, as we had seniors, kids, and a wheelchair user in the group — but unfortunately, they couldn’t find anything available. So instead, they offered a full refund plus 50% in Agoda Cash. I told them not to worry — I’d try finding something myself.||I spent over an hour walking around the area, but everywhere was fully booked. Eventually, I stumbled upon another alley nearby and found a place. I explained my situation to the staff, and they said they’ve heard similar cases — guests being charged or denied check-in due to mysterious booking or damage issues.||Later, I read more Google Reviews, especially the older ones, and saw many people had experienced the same thing.||So be careful if you’re considering...

I had a very disappointing experience due to the lack of responsibility and communication from the management.

I had confirmed in advance that I would be arriving in the middle of the night, and the hostel assured me that although there would be no receptionist, a cleaner would be present to assist with check-in. Based on this confirmation, I took an Uber from Haneda Airport at 3:00 AM, which cost approximately CAD $120.

Upon arrival, there was no one at the property to assist. Despite ringing the doorbell multiple times, there was no response. Fortunately, my partner had checked in earlier and was able to provide me with the main entrance code. I had booked two rooms—one for my parents and one for myself and my partner—but the hotel staff had only allowed one room to be accessed during my partner’s check-in.

We waited in the lobby for an additional 30 minutes and attempted to call the provided contact number, but no one answered. Eventually, I had no choice but to wake my partner. Given that my parents are elderly, we gave them the room while my partner and I waited in the lobby for three hours until the cleaner arrived at 6:55 AM.

As a result, we were unable to rest properly, and our time and money—particularly the cost of transportation—were wasted. I reported the issue to the manager, but she spoke very limited English and required an employee to translate. She denied any fault on their part and instead blamed me for not informing them, despite the fact that I have written confirmation via email.

The manager’s handling of the situation was unprofessional and irresponsible.

This is unacceptable and be mindful if you book the...

Be careful — they falsely charged AUD $200 + $40 (processing fee) for “traces of vomit” in my own room.

After I checked out, the hotel sent me a surprise invoice for ¥20,000 (about $200 AUD) claiming there were “traces of vomit” in my room. This is 100% false.

I barely drink, I never get drunk (let-alone alone in a foreign country), I did not vomit, i was not sick. I’m a solo female traveller and spent 3/7 of the nights here (Osaka trip in between). I actually left the room very clean — even took off the bed sheets before leaving, which is common courtesy where I’m from (Australia).

What makes this worse is that I had a terrible night’s sleep because another room down the hall had a couple shouting, stomping, and vomiting excessively and loudly all night (up until 4:30 am). I only got 2 hours of sleep and even advised to the hotel about it.

I believe they are using vague “traces” as an excuse to charge me unfairly. No photos, no warning — just an invoice and a baseless accusation. I saw the other reviews about false accusations and took photos of my room before and after thankfully that proves i’ve left it clean.

I’ve never been charged like this before ever.

I’m extremely disappointed. Especially because this place seemed nice, and there was a friendly receptionist. There are better places to stay in Japan that don’t treat respectful guests like this. Please look at the other reviews that are similar. Avoid unless you want to be blamed for things...