Pearl Hotel Shinjuku Akebono-bashi — Hotel in Tokyo

Cleanliness: At first glance, the room and hotel looked clean, but after looking around a bit longer and closer, it made me feel filthy. The shower curtains were stained with what I think was black mould, the vents were visibly caked with dust, the faucet was heavily water stained as if they never wiped it down ever, the walls were also kind of stained. My light switches were dusty, my headboard had dust and crumbs in the crevices. The sheets and towels seemed clean though. The came to change our shower curtain but it was still dirty after... Do they only have dirty shower curtains? I have lived in my house for 10 years and haven't developed ANY black mould on my shower curtains. If it was black mould, it can be very dangerous to your health and yet they still have it on every shower curtain. Black mould found on surfaces that are porous (I think the shower curtain is made of some type of rubbery material, therefore is porous) need to be thrown away. This is because when black mould starts to grow, the spores can stay deep within the pores of the surface it's growing on even after it's "cleaned". Even my parents' room and siblings' room had black mould on their shower curtains (all 4 rooms had black mould!). My hair drier was also dusty, which 1. could be a fire hazard and 2. is gross. I kept hearing one of the housekeepers coughing as I left my room, he wasn't even wearing a mask. I can only imagine that he was coughing all over my room and my stuff.

Room itself: The room was very small and difficult to open luggages in because of the orientation of the bed, other rooms of the same size felt a bit bigger because of where the bed was placed. They didn't have a luggage rack so I had to open my luggages on the carpet floor. The bed was uncomfortable. The slippers are a reusable type and you put in disposable slipper insoles. But considering how gross the room was, I'm not sure they clean them, so just bring your own slippers. The room smelled funky and the bathroom smelled musty because of the shower curtain. The bathroom is also weirdly dark, there were times where I kept accidentally turning off the light switch because I thought it was off already and was trying to turn it on. There was no garbage can in the bathroom. You have to choose between water bottles or house keeping every day and I think that is a weird choice.

I know it's a 3 star hotel but the other two 3-star hotels I have been to in Osaka and Nara were FAR better and cleaner. This hotel could be super unhealthy for those who have lung conditions/asthma, because of how dusty it is and the black mould on every shower curtain. The staff don't greet you when you come back to the hotel or when they see you in the morning, unlike the other hotels I went to where they greeted me. A lot good ratings were from when this hotel first opened, I guess they never have changed their shower curtains or dusted the rooms since then. I still don't know how their ratings are so high though, it's very misleading. The shower curtains and the dust are really just the biggest problem of this hotel. The location is really good and the shampoo/soap smell really good though. Once they fix the cleanliness, it is...

I had to extend my stay in Tokyo due to Typhoon Hagabis, it was a struggle to find somewhere to stay, which is why I ended up here paying the same price for one night (21,000 yen) as for the following three nights combined! ||||I arrived at 10am and staff stored my luggage. I could not go out, it was too dangerous in the storm, so I sat in the somewhat cheerless lounge, which has only a few places to sit, to wait for check in at 3pm. They let me have the room by 1pm, which was very welcome. ||||It's a fairly basic hotel conveniently located less than a 5 minute walk from Akebonobashi subway station, 2 stops from Shinjuku main station. It's in a quiet small street with many shops and restaurants. Rooms are quite small, 2 single beds just about fills the room and there is nowhere to store luggage. It would be a big squeeze for two people with two suitcases. You get a kettle and a tiny fridge, but no spoon to stir your free tea with! Good sized TV, but only gets the 7 basic channels, nothing in English. Bathroom is also small but very adequate. Room is serviced daily. Beds are a little hard. Aircon is whisper quiet, and, unusually for a hotel room, main ceiling light is very bright. As usual in Japan, this is a very clean hotel.||||Free wifi was actually quite fast although it did drop out periodically. ||||Not impressed with the buffet breakfast. Twice a week you get mild curry & rice, otherwise it's Miso soup, always hot. This is the best part of breakfast because the Western cooked food, sausage, powdered scrambled egg, breaded fish cakes and gooey cheese, is always tepid at best, and can be almost cold. Get to breakfast at opening time of 7am if you want it warm. There is also salad. They have a toaster! No fresh fruit or orange juice. Great coffee, and you can take an extra cup back to your room! ||||Staff very helpful...

Stayed here 9 days and I loved it.

FYI: when you come with luggage, with the Shinjuku line take exit A3 instead of A2 what Google suggests. You can find an elevator there and you won't have to climb stairs with your luggage. This puts you about 150 meters farther from the hotel though.

Great base location to get to anywhere with the subway system. The hotel is in a busy shopping street with many restaurants, convenient stores and others. You don't even have to leave the area and everything within walking distance. The nearest subway station is about 600m.

There is a coin laundry on site, and breakfast available in the restaurant attached to the hotel.

The room was quiet, pretty well insulated, as soon as I closed the small opening on the window it was silence. Exactly how i like it.

My room was really tiny, max for two who really like each other, but be ready to step on each other's stuff all the time. There is hardly enough room for one,

The room was clean, even though they don't clean your room each day, (they claim eco friendly reasons) you get new towels and water each day. I don't really understand how eco friendly that is. I personally don't need a new clean towel each day. They should have a magnetic sign for towels too, just like the don't disturb sign for the door. I had six packs of clean towels piled up by my door in the very small room on the last day.

What i didn't really like was that my room was on the side of the building and the windows are not see through. It gets light in but there is absolutely no view.

The staff was nice although they could hardly speak English, I had a hard time explaining that i wanted to expand my stay.

Wifi is pretty good, no issues.

Overall i highly recommend this hotel for...