In the few times I’ve traveled to Japan, my “main base” has always been Tokyo. Usually when I go on holiday, I do it with the thought “I’m not spending this amount of money to sleep in a hotel, so luxury isn’t needed. I just shower and sleep here.” So with that in mind, I usually pick a cheapish hotel (APA) that’s relatively close to a train or subway station, because you can basically reach the entirety of Tokyo from there.
However, a friend of mine went to Tokyo in October before the lockdown, and **did** spend more money on a quality (luxury?) hotel. (I’ve sadly forgotten the name, but it was significantly more expensive than my picks). He swears up and down that it’s worth the money.
So basically, a penny for your thoughts?
And yeah; I get that this is very subjective, but this question has been in the back of my mind for a while, and with Japan finally opening up in two days it’s suddenly a lot more relevant.
12 comments
It is quite subjective, but having a nice room is way more important if you’re the sort of traveler that doesn’t go out and tour eight hours a day like it’s a job.
It’s sort of a function of how much time you might spend there. If I were arriving late and leaving early, I’d go for a cheaper one.
Good location and a laundramat are all I need. Expensive hotels are hardly worth it if you’re just gonna spent most of your time outside.
As you already said, it’s very subjective. My trips to Japan focus on mainly more “budget” (within reason) accommodations and then I find 1 or 2 nights at some place more luxurious and relaxing – usually in the latter half of my trip.
It works for me and my husband, but that’s because of how we travel. We **don’t** spend a lot of time in our room. For me, I just make sure the room is big enough for both of us and our bags (or that there is decent storage for the bags – I don’t want a room so small that I can touch both the walls at the same time), there’s a private bathroom, and that the location is good for 99% of the trip. I also really prefer a room with a window and have ruled out places that didn’t have them as it can feel a bit too claustrophic for my liking without. I avoid places that I don’t want to give money to – like I will avoid APA because of what I know about the owner – and I don’t bother to pay extra for things like the pool when available (it’s rare) knowing A. it’s unlikely that I’ll even have time to use it and B. I may not even be able to use it because of our tattoos. I *will* splurge for a night or two to treat ourselves (like when we stayed at Hakone Airu in Hakone or at the Hilton suite in Odaiba – both of which gave us a particular experience vs. just getting a more expensive room for the sake of it), but I choose the second half of the trip for this when we’re usually ready to slow down and rejuvenate ourselves.
I think what is most important is to do what makes the most amount of sense for you as a traveller and your budget. Why spend more money than you need to (even if you cann aford to) just because? If you’re not going to be in your room for more than a shit, shower, and snooze, do you need to spend double the price? Likewise, if you’re a person that likes to use hotel amenities and need time for yourself to recharge each day as well as can afford it, why not?
Would be curious to know what your friend swears by. What does he feel he’s getting that you/others are missing out on? Does he just think the rooms/service are better full stop or is he using amenities he thinks are worth the money?
Depends on the type of traveller you are. If you are going to be out all day and you just need a room to sleep then going cheap is fine. If you’re going to spend extended time in your hotel room relaxing then spending a bit more might be worth it for you. I’m the former but I can see the appeal of doing the latter for a couple days especially if it’s at a ryokan.
Edit: That being said, I usually want to get a decent place at minimum which would be at least business hotel quality. One of my friends went with a hostel-airbnb thing and it was a stuffy room with a rock hard bed which led to lots of sleepless night and low energy during the day which sucked.
Honestly, I prefer staying in budget Business Hotels in Japan. My first trip I stayed in nothing but luxury hotels. And while the trip was good I could have saved a lot of money by staying in a business hotel. I stayed in a luxury hotel because I wanted the familiarity and simplicity of “Americanness”. And I was so ignorant. Next trips I’ve stayed in Japanese business hotels and have enjoyed them more. Location were always near a central station like Kyoto, Osaka, Hakata, and Shinjuku stations. The included breakfasts were always filling. Beds and rooms were clean and comfortable. Outside of that what more does one need? Save yourself the money and stay at a business hotel and splurge at a nice ryokan or mountain resort. If you have the points or mileage, use that instead to get a fancy room in Tokyo or elsewhere.
I always like to be somewhere in the middle. Having a good nights sleep and feeling clean are super important to me, especially if Ive had a busy day. If I go too cheap, then I won’t feel very comfortable and will probably wake up cranky. But I don’t need a ton of fancy amenities since I’ll just be leaving in the morning. The exception to this is if I’m staying in one place for 3+ nights, then I’ll choose a nicer hotel just for comfort reasons and I’ll end up using the amenities sometime
As I’ve gotten older my standards have risen, once all I really wanted was a bed and my own bathroom, now if it’s less than 4 stars I wouldn’t even consider it
I like to go for happy medium hotels/lodging. I don’t feel that luxury hotels are really worth it to me in Japan since I spend so much time out and about exploring. But APA hotels are much too shall and the owner has done pretty extreme views (Google her if you’re interested) so I don’t like to patronize that chain.
During our time living in Japan, we discovered the Daiwa Roynet and Mitsui Garden Hotel Chains. Their rates are usually not that much more than an APA and much more spacious with nice bathrooms/tubs.
I strongly recommend looking into these hotel chains for the cities you plan to stay in Japan. It’ll be a great step up from your APA experiences without a huge hit to your budget. Both chains gave properties in cities throughout Japan.
For me location is high priority. However, the location that I prefer tend to have mainly higher end hotels so the two sort of go hand in in hand. I’ve stayed at cheaper business hotels, higher end business hotels and top tier luxury hotels. So here are few observations. Table stakes level of cleanliness is generally good across the board. Never felt like a place was unclean. As you go up the ladder to hotel quality things will start getting better in a couple of key areas.
* First service quality becomes higher as higher end hotels usually have better trained staff who are also multilingual which can be a big help if your Japanese is not good.
* Concierge services also improve they will have way more connection and make things happen like getting reservations exclusive places or arrange activities.
* Hotel amenities get better, general quality of restaurants, bars and gym/spa facilities see significant steps up.
* As for the rooms themselves size of rooms generally becomes larger, bathroom fixtures are better, linens and toiletries are better.
There are of course outliers like a cheap business hotel have feel closer to a luxury hotel in certain respects like staff and concierge. On the other side you maybe have luxury hotels that don’t feel like they meeting your expectations. Dated rooms, poor services etc.
For a lot of people, myself included having a good hotel sets the tone for a trip. While I may not be at a hotel for much of the day, starting and ending a day in a place that that you look forward to going to and being at helps immensely in making a trip enjoyable.
Cheapish business hotels for me. I’d rather spend the money on food or shopping. Going out to a nice izakaya or yakiniku spot is more important to me than having a fancy hotel room. I just want a good location and a laundry room.
If I’m going to splurge on lodging then it needs to be something unusual like staying at a ryokan.
You can get really modern and nice hotels in Japan at a really low cost, so I don’t see the point of paying a lot (excluding onsens and ryokans). I often stay near train stations for ease of transportation, and they’re usually surrounded by hotels.
Honestly, in most cases with more expensive rooms you’re just paying for an extra chair or sofa and some floor space. I’m not going to pay extra for empty space, considering I’m in hotel rooms mostly just to sleep, keep my stuff safe and wind down when I get there. I’m going to chill in a bed anyway after a long day.
I tend to choose hotels that are close to a major transit station and have some kind of coin laundry available. On our first trip to Japan, we stayed near Shin-Osaka Station instead of other popular train stations due to the day trips we were taking.
I would splurge for experience hotels. Usually a ryokan at a meaningful location etc.