Sakura Hotel Hatagaya — Restaurant in Tokyo

If you're looking for that final push to book this place. This is it!

As a solo female traveller, I'm not the biggest fan of sharing rooms because I don't like the pressure of always being mindful of my stuff spread out in the room--for that, I always opt for getting my own room. This hotel has the best rates for solo traveling that I saw for Tokyo. So let's talk about things I love about this place.

Cost This place is affordable, of the many locations I checked, this is one of the most affordable ones.

Location The location is quiet and not on the main road which is great because it's perfect for your shut-eye. But it still remains very accessible to train stations, it's 3 minutes away from Hatagaya Station which is just two stations away from Shinjuku which means cheap train fares despite not being covered by the subway pass. It is also just 15 minutes away from the train station that is covered by the subway pass.

Access to Food and Stores Nearby The vicinity is also with a lot of convenience stores, hole-in-the-walls, drugstores, and restaurants. But, you need not worry about that because the hotel itself has a 24-hour cafe that is reasonably-priced.

Rooms The rooms are great. They're not the most spacious but I think that's the norm in Tokyo. The entrance might seem underwhelming if you're tall, but the ceilings are higher inside, I promise. :)

The room is equipped with all the basic necessities you'll need, but the hotel offers more free rental equipment for other things you might need. I find that smart and considerate! Plus, I got my own room which is all that I really look for. That's a plus, yes, given most accommodations I found in the same price range has shared bathrooms.

I wanna address a review I read that the toilet stinks, it's not true for me. If you smell something, just close the toilet lid and you should be good. They also offer deodorizers and humidifiers for free, if you ever encounter it.

I went in the summer and their air-conditioning is perfect!

Breakfast The free breakfast is bread, juice, coffee, tea, and soup. Though it's the same everyday variation comes in the jams, juice flavor, and soup. But the highlight of this is the duration, they start early and end really late which is perfect if you need to leave early or just want to sleep longer and wake up late.

WiFi and Other Amenities WiFi is great! It's reliable in all locations. Our Muslim friends are also considered as there is a prayer room available. :)

Staff This, I think is the gem of the place. For Non-Japanese, they speak and understand English! Great customer service in Japan is common, but Sakura Hotel Hatagay takes it to the next level. First off, thank you to the staff for the little things: a. Letting me get cold water in my water bottle from the bar every morning and every night b. Helping me with my questions about getting around and how to use my subway passes together with the IC Cards c. Giving me band-aids; this seems like a little think but I bruised myself and just needed one band-aid, buying a whole box in the drugstore seemed wasteful as I only needed one but the staff (maybe Hako, the one in your Instagram account photos) gave me two. I appreciate that very much! d. Assistance in all that I needed when I missed my bus

To Sakura Hotel Hatagaya, thank you to the Assistant Manager who helped me and his staff on the night of September 7, 2019. I got your business cards but have not had the chance to unpack to look for them (I apologize), but I wanted to express my utmost gratitude towards your team in Hatagaya! You made my Japan experience memorable and I cannot wait...

We find out about this hotel through a review from one of the famous travel website. So based on that, we took a gamble to go for this hotel. Furthermore it mentions that this hotel have a halal cafe, which is convenient for us as Muslims. So this added another reason for us to book the hotel.

Here is the thing, a good review was written for this hotel, but it turns out that we don’t have much luck for our trip. There was a few points that make us to never stay in this hotel again.

1st, we stayed in japan for 2 weeks in 4 hotels, all at about a relatively similar price range, including this hotel and by far this is the smallest room we stayed in. So if you plan to travel with large bags, consider the small nature of the room in the hotel. The walkway from the door to the bed was narrow, it was hard for me and my husband to maneuver.

2nd, we used the train subway metro ticket (72 hours and 48 hours - an advantage in this hotel because you can purchase at lobby) but to go to this hotel, you must purchase a separate ticket because KO line is under a different railway operator. So from Shinjuku, to get to Hatagaya, you must purchase a new ticket each time. From Hatagaya station to the hotel, it is very close and will take a short walk less than 5 minutes. If you want to use the train subway ticket, there is another option but you have to walk around 15 minutes to another station. The cost for one way ticket on KO line is 130yen per person (please take note of this fare during our stay in Japan).

3rd, every where you go in Japan, you will see or use advanced toilet technology. Don’t expect it in here. There is no bidet, or warm seat or other function in the normal Japanese toilet you see generally (i know some public toilet is like this but here in a hotel i didn’t expect this). All the other hotels we stayed at, all had a mirror with warm heater behind it so even after a nice steaming hot shower, it will not get fogged, but again, not in this hotel. The toilet was also very smelly once i used the bathtub and the smell lingered until our last stay in this room, which started on 2nd day (we stayed for 5 days). Another thing, the fire alarm, as mention in the toilet door, you need to make sure that the steam does not come out from the toilet or else the alarm with be triggered. There is a high step between the bathroom floor and the room floor, this is quite dangerous and easy to trip yourself coming in or out from the bathroom. This bathroom was also the smallest amongst the other hotels we stayed in.

4th, I’m not sure why but on our stay on Friday, our bed was not been made despite us putting the sign (please clean room) at the door early in the morning before we headed out. I am okay if they mention that Friday is an off day for cleaning but there was no notice about it. They did place new towel, new bed gown and clean the toilet, which meant they did come in the room but didn’t make the bed which is unprofessional on their end.

Overall our stay here was not pleasant as we had hoped. Do consider this when you want to book this hotel. We miscalculated on the train fares, so it did take a bit of our budget. A plus point i can give them is 1, they speak fluent in english and the workers are very helpful and friendly, 2, the halal food and the cafe is open 24 hours and 3, it is very near with family mart (10-15 steps...

Well, what can I say. Been to Tokyo 3 times , and this time it was the most enjoyable, and the Sakura Hotel had a BIG say in this.

Location : Hatagaya is a very well served station, with the station being 30seconds walk to Sakura Hotel, and then get on either the Shinjuku line or the Keio New line, which will take you to Shinjuku station in 3 mins, and then the whole world is yours! You can also walk to Yoyoggi-Uehara station, which is on the Chiyoda line, and it is a very nice 15 min stroll (highly recommend this walk). Lots of restaurants around, as always in Tokyo, with local cuisine as well as some Western style cafeterias, serving sandwiches etc. Also a Family Mart around the corner, as well as a Lawsons, (turn right, walk 30 metres) , for all your light shopping needs.

Hotel Staff: Very nice bunch of people, very helpful and speak english. They are good at giving advice and also helped us change a Ryokan reservation over the phone. Didn't get any of their names , but they were all superb, and as people have commented upon, they are a very valuable asset to this hotel .

Rooms: Ok, there's no two ways of going about it, but the rooms are literally a bed-room. A room consisting of a double bed, and not much space around it. BUT, it has everything you may need: good shower room, refillable shampoo and shower gel (very good quality actually), towels (changed every day should you want to), a mini fridge for water, beers or small snacks, air con. My partner and myself were getting ready one at a time, as It's impossible to do at the same time. I would strongly suggest you do not carry large suitcase(s) to this hotel, as you will struggle for space. it's a compact room, but we loved it. The bed is very comfortable and since we stayed there for 10 days, we got used to our routine of getting up one at a time.

Breakfast: for the price we paid, in the middle of the Rugby world cup, I wasn't expecting breakfast to be honest. Breakfast meaning, coffee, tea, soup and toast with jam and butter, but myself and partner say: "better than a kick up the a**e". I didn't try anything from the cafe, so cannot comment, but it looked ok !

General: This hotel feels more like a hostel, but with private rooms and private bathrooms. It has a lot of character and it's more like a community than a business hotel. Don't hesitate into booking, and the price and location will compensate for the lack of space. I will definitely stay here agin in my next visit in Spring , but I may ask for a 3ple room, just to have that little space extra.

thanks...