UNPLAN Shinjuku — Hotel in Tokyo

i don’t recommend this place. this place gave me bedbugs.

checked in april 19th. woke up the middle of the night because i was super itchy. i was half asleep so i thought it was just mosquito bites because it’s been hot during those days.

april 20 i got back to the hostel and took a shower, not only are my arms extremely itchy, i also look at my legs and on my right leg alone i probably had 10 bites. in total on my entire body i had 20-30 bites. i told myself theres no way it’s mosquitos because it’s late april in japan.

so i had to come to the conclusion that it was bed bugs, it only happened when i slept there.

so, it’s 11:30 pm and i told the staff that i need a bed change because there i have bedbugs. he said he was very sorry and i will be getting a full refund but there was no other beds open that night so he told me he can change the sheets. change the sheets? is this a joke? i wanted to tell him to sleep there tonight. he didn’t offer to help me in any other ways, didn’t check in on me, didn’t offer to help me find a place to stay for the night, he just kept running around and it seems like he was dodging me. anyways, theres no beds open so he tells me my only option is so wait in the lobby until someone checks out the next day, which was 11 hours later (it’s probably midnight at this point).

i walked around the area and there are no other vacant hostels. i had a taxi to the airport and the scheduled pickup was at unplan shinjuku, so i didn’t want to stay far away from there.

i stayed up until 9am that day because i was forced to stay in the common area. i stayed up long enough until they turned on the lights in the common area and many people were also hanging out in the common area so it was even harder to sleep.

manager comes in at 11am, i’m exhausted, itchy, and very pissed at this point. i tell him i need a new bed. he says of course but theyre cleaning it right now so it wont be ready for a bit, no problem. and then i bring up the full refund. he says no i’m only refunding you one night. are you serious? you give me bed bugs, all of my luggage possibly has bedbugs, make me sleep in the lobby, don’t help me at least try to get some sleep, and youre going to refund me one night? really? thankfully it didn’t take much convincing to get him to give me a full refund. however afterwards the manager starts to go on about “oh when we checked the beds it didn’t have bedbugs” ok so what? thats not my problem. i pay you guys so i can sleep in a CLEAN BED. and then he goes about “oh maybe you had them from a previous place” no i was in a private ryokan in kusatsu, and i was perfectly fine before that, nice try buddy

overall i think they handled the situation extremely poorly. the only saving grace is they gave me my money back (after some convincing).

i have some photos of the bites, but i am heavily tattooed so alot of them wouldnt show up in photos.

dont stay here unless you want to have bedbugs. just go to imano hostel down the street.

maybe if the staff slept in their own beds they provide for their guests they will handle it...

The staff were incredible! When they weren't too busy with checking people in/out they would make it their priority to get to know you and your reason for visiting so that you might have a more satisfying visit. They knew the area well and made many great recommendations!

I came here to experience Japanese food, culture and their newly adopted venture into craft beer. My main goal was getting that amazing sushi and craft beer into me along with seeing a few sites. I must confess that not only were my expectations fulfilled, but I also fell in love with this area of Japan!

This hostel's accommodations were light years ahead of other nice Tokyo hostels as well as highly rated hostels in other parts of the world, namely Asia and Europe.

Other travelers I met at this hostel were from world areas like Asia, Middle East, Africa & Europe. Countries like Tanzania, France, Holland, Australian, the U.K., Germany, Dubia and Canadian. Most were likewise very impressed with the extent of thought, foresight, planning and effort that the owners used when designing this brand new establishment. As a matter of fact as of this entry I'm writing today this place has only been open for 16 days!

I am American and most of the other travelers I met while staying there were very experienced in world travel between everyone I met staying there, maybe 3/4 of all the world's countries were visited between them all. So hearing that this is one of the best hostels around Japan carries a lot of meaning coming from them.

What were some of the things they did besides feed us free breakfast that made the stay nice?

1.Modern Bathroom and Shower fixtures. (the advanced toilets that would warm the seat, wash your undercarriage then blow dry after. I know, crazy right?!)

Modern Clothes Washers (300Yen)/ Dryers (100Yen)(Free soap!)

3.Every bed came with a complimentary phone with internet connection and navigation and preinstalled apps such as Facebook, Skype and Google maps apps preloaded on the phone along with other useful apps.

They served free breakfast everyday.

a 24 hour Seven-Eleven convenience store was directly next to the Hostel

There were many, many other things that made the list but were too numerous to write!

Since today's my last day (it was way too short a visit) I'd rather not spend anymore time telling you about how awesome it's been to stay here but rather get back to having an amazing time in this incredible city and staying at the best hostel that represents it.

I'm off to enjoy my last day of Ramen, Sushi and whatever other deliciousness I can find! Don't make the mistake of not booking here!

Cheers!

Ben BeerOtaku (dotcom & on FBook!)

Thanks...

I'm gonna be fair and admit that I'm just not a hostel person. Recognizing that, 90% of my criticisms of this place are personal rather than qualitative, so I'll exclude them when writing this review.||Checking in was a breeze and the entire place was so secure. There are keypad locks for the dorm rooms, and a locked luggage room, so I never had any safety concerns about the dorms or my luggage. I even chose to keep my things in the dorm room since my bed was luckily at the corner of the room! Plus it was next to a window, so there was some fresh air that I could control. The individual pod/space itself is great because the bed is comfortable and there are spaces to hang clothes, plug in your phone, lock away items, and also a light.||I was a little taken aback by the fact that there are no provided towels and that you have to rent one, especially since the front desk closes at night. After my first night I had thrown my rented towel in the dirty laundry but forgot to rent another, and since the desk was closed I had to stand and air dry in the shower stall, which was uncomfortable. Also the bathrooms themselves were decent, but definitely overused. The men's toilet and bidet itself had stains that were not cleaned for a day, and the shower room on my floor could've used a bit more ventilation. Since I'm not a hostel person I also did not pack flip flops or shower shoes, so I wish those would've been able to buy at the desk as well, but I won't blame them too much for that. They did however provide free umbrellas to borrow, which came in handy.||In terms of the overall environment I felt like I was in a large college dorm, in both good and bad ways. There were events and plenty of people chatting, plus the workers were friendly (good). There were also people having sex in the middle of the night, and loudly playing music in the room during the day (bad). But that's the hostel life! As a college student myself, I was open to a hostel for the first leg of my Japan trip, but after two nights I decided to check out early and stay in a normal hotel. This was mostly because I ended up not feeling like being too social, and wanting privacy and an orderly/cleaner bathroom situation. But if you're a hostel person this is a solid place given its social atmosphere, safety/security, and...