Sotetsu Fresa Inn Tokyo Toyocho — Hotel in Tokyo

The Fresa Inn is your basic 2-3 star “business-clientele” Japanese hotel; although, they will accommodate guest with families and couples as well. Keep in mind the size of the rooms by US American standards are smaller, and the rooms do not have much storage space for large items (such as large suitcases or baby-strollers).

The hotel is directly next-door to several convenience stores (i.e “combini’s”) and restaurants, a post office, the Tozai-line subway (exits 5 and 1). The location is good as it’s within subway travel to nearly most of the major points of interest in Tokyo (most places within Tokyo can be traveled to within 30 – 40 minutes), without spending a fortune on hotel rents. The staff here are very accommodating, but you may be very wise to know a few words of Japanese, or at least utilize your phone for quick literal translation in case you encounter a receptionist who isn’t fluent in English.

For families, I would strongly recommend that you rent their largest room, the “premium-triple” nonsmoking room if you need space (which is also their most expensive – roughly US $160 a night). The family room (i.e. room advertised with two twin-beds and a bunk-bed) is too small for a family of four, and lacks sufficient floor space to place any more than two small overhead compartment suitcases. The bathroom in the room has a large tub with a toilet with a bidet. The hotel equips several toiletries in the bathroom (razor, toothpaste and toothbrush, hair brush, and liquid soap and shampoo). The only issue I had with the bathroom is there isn’t a fan to help vent away any odors or steam generated during lavatory usage.

The hotel does not offer a gym or a free breakfast to its guests, but you can get a 10% discount from the adjacent bakery called Pronto. There is an Italian restaurant called Saizeriya in the basement of this hotel, and the food was surprisingly good – also, it’s very crowded on weeknights. Also, there's a McDonalds right outside of the hotel that's open 24/7. On the second floor is the laundry room – costs 500 Yen (100 Yen coins) – you don’t need laundry detergent or fabric-softener, the washer / dryer machine automatically does that for you. There’s a beer vending machine on the fourth floor if you don’t want to walk next door to the convenience stores. Wi-Fi was fairly good in this hotel – no problems streaming games or watching Netflix. I was unable to find a microwave to heat food in this hotel, but there might be one in the lobby. The mini-fridge in the room is very small - don't expect to store more any than a couple of cans of beverages, and a few onigri's (Japanese triangle rice snack wrapped with seaweed, usually filled with seafood or pickled plums). The main lobby does have a public computer; however, it is a Japanese PC so you may have to ask permission to modify the language settings.

Overall, a very good hotel that’s in a good location, and keep your expectations leveled that this isn’t a five-star...

The room was typical of a Japanese business hotel. I have no pictures this time as it really is “you see one, you’ve seen them all” for these type of hotels. There’s a cafe in front and some toiletries provided but outside of that there are pretty much no amenities at this hotel. You pay a low price for a private room, place to sleep, and a small bathroom and that’s it. ||The real winner here is the price and location. Toyocho station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai line is pretty much right outside and this hotel is regularly the cheapest Sotetsu Fresa that is still technically in Tokyo. There’s a Saizeriya in the basement below the lobby for super cheap food. Next door there’s a McDonald’s that opens early and closes extremely late on most days. There’s also a Lawson, Family Mart, Matsuya, and Yoshinoya all in the area so there’s plenty of very affordable food close by.||With the affordable nightly rate and the subway station right in front, this hotel is an ideal location for commuting to central Tokyo for the price sensitive. I think this will be my go-to hotel for when price is important, if Kanagawa is too far, and if I don’t want to share a room/capsule hotel. ||I recommend signing up online for the free membership and booking directly as you’ll get a good rate and nice benefits such as 1 hour early...

The room was typical of a Japanese business hotel. I have no pictures this time as it really is “you see one, you’ve seen them all” for these type of hotels. There’s a cafe in front and some toiletries provided but outside of that there are pretty much no amenities at this hotel. You pay a low price for a private room, place to sleep, and a small bathroom and that’s it. ||The real winner here is the price and location. Toyocho station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai line is pretty much right outside and this hotel is regularly the cheapest Sotetsu Fresa that is still technically in Tokyo. There’s a Saizeriya in the basement below the lobby for super cheap food. Next door there’s a McDonald’s that opens early and closes extremely late on most days. There’s also a Lawson, Family Mart, Matsuya, and Yoshinoya all in the area so there’s plenty of very affordable food close by.||With the affordable nightly rate and the subway station right in front, this hotel is an ideal location for commuting to central Tokyo for the price sensitive. I think this will be my go-to hotel for when price is important, if Kanagawa is too far, and if I don’t want to share a room/capsule hotel. ||I recommend signing up online for the free membership and booking directly as you’ll get a good rate and nice benefits such as 1 hour early...