Richmond Hotel — Hotel in Tokyo

Only stay at this hotel if you really care about the location. We wish that we had paid more to stay elsewhere. This was by far our worst hotel experience in Japan and it definitely wasn't the cheapest.

This hotel is old and it feels it's age. The rooms feel like something you would find in a 20 year old motel on the side of the highway in rural America with a $59.99 nightly special advertised on a big sign out front.

The rooms smell a little bit, there are numerous stains on the carpet, marks on the wall, all the plastic is yellowed, the linoleum looks permanently discolored, and the bathroom smells kind of like a sewer. For the right price, I'm okay with all that, but this is not cheap, about 3x the price it feels like they should be charging which they can get away with due to the prime location. The near 5 star rating led me to have much higher expectations, but it would have been fine if it wasn't for the almost non-functional AC.

The real deal breaker for us was the AC. It was completely broken in our first room and the temperature was 82.5F (28C). We tried to troubleshoot it with help from the front desk for 2 hours, but it never got cooler, so they moved us. The AC worked in our next room, but it was temperamental and seemed to stop working at night like other reviewers have mentioned. At night, your requested temperature has no effect and the room will rise to 77F (25C), even when it is much cooler outside. We complained to the front desk that the AC had stopped working and they told us that we had to be careful about requesting temperatures below 75F (24C) because the system might not be able to handle it and might just stop working entirely. There seems to be some kind of master override that controls all of the room temperatures at night because other guests have specifically mentioned the mysterious 25C override at night. The front desk offered us a portable fan to blow on us during the night to help keep us cool. Our room reached a high of 79F (26C) on multiple nights. This detracted from our experience and wasted our time during our trip and we wish that we had stayed elsewhere.

Noise was also a concern for any rooms that face the main street because there is distracting street noise the entire day. The worst for us was a constant metronome-like "tok tok tok" sound like someone hitting two wooden blocks together that happened every second for hours on end. We had to wear noise-cancelling headphones in our room to get respite...

As the name suggests the hotel is in Asaksa, with many shops and transport options within easy walking distance. Similarly the Sensō-ji temple is around the corner. It can get a little busy, but not to the same levels as places such as Shinjuku and Shibuya. A nice place to ease yourself in to Japan if this is your first trip, as it was for me.||I was in room 702 which had a view of the Tokyo Skytree. The room (a Precious Single) was quite small from a Western point of view but in line with other Japanese hotel rooms I was in on this trip. The bed was comfortable, there was a small amount of storage space (via some drawers and hangars), a handy fridge, dehumidifier, a fairly well fitted out bathroom (I liked the non-fogging mirror) and aircon.||The TV was in a bit of a strange position, but given the room layout it was the only option. But as it’s a smart TV then you can use the apps on there or Chomecast from your device. The hotel WiFi worked fine. My only real problem with the room was that it didn’t have a safe.||As a nice touch there was a free bottle of water in the room each day. In line with Japanese hotels there was soap/shampoo/conditioner in the bathroom and various free other toiletries and bits and bobs in the lobby.||The staff were pleasant and friendly, it was a bit hit or miss as to if they spoke much English or not, but I managed to get by with a little Japanese and Google Translate and no problems with leaving my suitcase before check in for example. My booking had breakfast included, which was in the restaurant on the ground floor. It was buffet style with typical Western options (cereal, cooked, pastries, etc) and more Japanese fare. I was always suitably fuelled for my days of exploring Tokyo.||Overall I greatly enjoyed staying here and would happily...

As the name suggests the hotel is in Asaksa, with many shops and transport options within easy walking distance. Similarly the Sensō-ji temple is around the corner. It can get a little busy, but not to the same levels as places such as Shinjuku and Shibuya. A nice place to ease yourself in to Japan if this is your first trip, as it was for me.

I was in room 702 which had a view of the Tokyo Skytree. The room (a Precious Single) was quite small from a Western point of view but in line with other Japanese hotel rooms I was in on this trip. The bed was comfortable, there was a small amount of storage space (via some drawers and hangars), a handy fridge, dehumidifier, a fairly well fitted out bathroom (I liked the non-fogging mirror) and aircon.

The TV was in a bit of a strange position, but given the room layout it was the only option. But as it’s a smart TV then you can use the apps on there or Chomecast from your device. The hotel WiFi worked fine. My only real problem with the room was that it didn’t have a safe.

As a nice touch there was a free bottle of water in the room each day. In line with Japanese hotels there was soap/shampoo/conditioner in the bathroom and various free other toiletries and bits and bobs in the lobby.

The staff were pleasant and friendly, it was a bit hit or miss as to if they spoke much English or not, but I managed to get by with a little Japanese and Google Translate and no problems with leaving my suitcase before check in for example. My booking had breakfast included, which was in the restaurant on the ground floor. It was buffet style with typical Western options (cereal, cooked, pastries, etc) and more Japanese fare. I was always suitably fuelled for my days of exploring Tokyo.

Overall I greatly enjoyed staying here and would happily...