APA Hotel & Resort Yokohama Bay Tower — Hotel in Yokohama

"Two temples, Shlomo?! When you were stranded on this island, why did you need to build yourself TWO temples?"

"Well that's the one I go to," Shlomo says, smiling at one of the wooden huts. Then he grimaces and casts a sideways thumb at the other hut: "And that other one, that's the one I'd NEVER set foot in."

APA has two hotels in Yokohama. I always stayed at the other one, the Kannai. The Yokohama Bay / Minato Mirai hotel was always the one I'd never set foot in. But when I found it for 5,000 yen a night (!!!), I couldn't resist trying it. And I regret to say: it's actually a really good hotel.

The onsen is huge, and on par with standalone paid onsens. Lots of tubs (although all at the same temperature), jets, and even an area with outside air (though not truly open air). Seems crowded only near closing time, and a few guys are a little too intent on making eye contact, but I can't help being a dimepiece!

Amazingly, there are two convenience stores inside the hotel. I basically never have to leave.

Some of the reviews said in-room temperature is not adjustable? They're tripping. There's an HVAC control panel right next to the bed. Air conditioning works fine. It's true that the window doesn't open, but that also means that the interior ledge by the window becomes a very useful storage space.

Cleaners are wonderful and rid my room daily of the remnants of my debaucheries.

Ms. Sakamoto at the front desk is this hotel's superstar employee. The other employees stand around and wait for guests or issues to come to them, but Ms. Sakamoto is always proactively seeking out problems to solve. She was wonderful in helping me check in (those machines are kind of ridiculous, because they just create more work for everyone), and again wonderful in helping me ship luggage. Both times, she proactively jumped out and offered to help. Ms. Sakamoto will one day be CEO of a large hotel chain if there is any justice in the world.

There is sometimes a "factory" feel to the hotel, and long lines. Be like the Madagascarian Aye-Aye, one of the world's rare nocturnal lemurs, and perform your business only late at night -- hotel crowding problem solved.

The location is convenient to Minato Mirai / Hammerhead (well, a ten-minute walk), and there's a chocolate cafe next door, but not really convenient to much else. Transit access is not great.

One star deducted for how the hotel handled the tsunami alert: it locked down the hotel, with elevators turned off, for two hours. Everyone was stuck in their rooms for two hours, while life went on as normal in Yokohama outside our windows. Want to sleep or read or watch a movie or Zoom to pass the time? Nope! Two hours of loud, blasting tsunami announcements on repeat loop from the North Korean style announcement speakers inside every room. I put in earplugs and hid in the bathroom for two hours, and still emerged with a headache. Even worse, they kept the lockdown and the yelling in-room announcements going for half an hour after the tsunami warning was lifted, supposedly because they were "checking the hotel for damage" -- yes, APA is owned by the WW2 generation, but that's a different story.

Stay here, just not during any kind of tsunami warning. And don't make eye contact in the onsen, unless that sort of thing...

I realise ALL hotels have a check in and check out time but in every hotel I have ever been to in the world it is the managers decretion on whether they can let a guest check in early or not, dependant on room availability. This morning this did not happen. We had 12 staff members welcome us at the door to tell us we could not check in until 3pm but could leave our luggage and come back. It was 1pm. We had arrived from Australia after a 15 hour overnight flight and were very tired. The staff were not interested. Said we could pay A$20 and hour or part thereof to check in early. We refused. We did not let them take our bags. We stood annoyingly in the foyer in front of their crowd control barriers and signs. Apparently 300 or more guests descend on the hotel at 3pm to check in. They queue like at an airline airport check in. Causing a huge workload for staff, chaos and overcrowded lifts. No reason was given to us why they do it this way. The manager spoke to us as he didnt like us standing in the foyer, he told us to go have lunch when all we wanted to do was have a rest. He didnt offer us a water or any kind of apology. We waited 2 hours at the head of the queue when finally they opened the flood gates. We were then ushered to these self check in computers/scanners and key producers. Staff stood behind the counters but did nothing. I asked for help but no one would help us. We were so, so tired at this point we really didnt even know what our name was. We struggled through and managed in the end. No one apologised or helped us from when we arrived. ABSOLUTELY not one ounce of customer service or care. We use to run hotels and my husband was an airline pilot for his whole career and never once have either of us experienced such terrible service. Not even terrible...non existent. We are now in our room. So small, but it is what it is. But NO aircon. The hotel regulates the temperature and today they have it set on hot as stated on your TV. So if you are too hot, they suggest you turn it off and cool down. Early days yet, so lets see what else they get or do or dont...

2 of us stayed a total of 6 nights in late Sep/early Oct 2024.

4* nice staff - friendly and helpful.4* hotel location ($5 taxi ride to the Osanbashi/Yokohama international cruise terminal, 25mins walk to Chinatown, 3mins walk to the nearest subway station, 3mins walk to pick up area for private bus to Haneda airport, $5 taxi ride to Royal Park Hotel to pick up private bus to Narita airport - see pic of bid schedule that was displayed in the lobby of the Royal Park hotel, 5mins walk to the World Potters shopping mall).

4* for the hotel common areas look/feel.

2* - my standard twin room with 2 beds is SO TIGHT cos they use 2 full size beds, lil space, barely can slide a large suitcase in between bed and desk etc.  Also ,a small bathroom with a TINY sink that's very difficult to wash your face (it's even smaller than the sink you get in a cruise cabin's bathroom)! Fast in room wifi. I booked a 'no view' room - there's a window but it looks out to a wall not far away (barely any natural light from the window).

1* pool - look great in pics, but can't swim in the pool, very shallow, only sitting allowed.

4* Men's public bath is large and clean, just wish there were more pools with jets (most of the pool/area is just hot water, no jets).

2* gym - VERY small gym given the size of the hotel, even with 4 people in the gym, it feels stuffy/crowded.

2* ck-out time:  10AM ck out time strictly enforced, pay per hour to stay longer (2000yen per hour starting Nov. 1st, was 1000yen before).

Laundry machine/dryer in the common area are small but nice to have in the hotel, along with a Family Mart store.

If I stay here again, I would def take more care in booking the type/size of room if I'm not staying by myself - too bad I don't think it's possible to book a twin size room with two twin size beds (so that there would be space to move...