Hotel Listel Shinjuku

The good part was the location and a bit more spacious than places closer to Shinjuku station. About a 10 minute walk to 2 different Metro stations. The room was very quiet and friendly staff. The bad part was the hot water stopped in the shower. The next day they said it was fixed, but all water was stopped. So they didn't fix it. Their "solution" was to have me spend 4 hours changing rooms. They claimed they gave me an upgrade but the new room was the identical size, so instead of putting my suitcase on the floor I put it on the unused 2nd bed. No real benefit to me. The manager kept pretending he didn't speak English. I would not stay here again as they had no understanding of taking cold showers in January, and they lied about fixing the problem.

Check-in is possible from 14:00 and it is easy to check-in by machine. There's also a wide variety of breakfast buffets, which are delicious. Conveniently located across the road is a 7-Eleven. The building is also clean and quiet.

The pictures of this property are not gonna fool anyone - this hotel has been around for some time. However, everything is well taken care of and kept clean and tidy. I enjoyed my stay very much and found that it provided excellent value for money. Location-wise, it is quite far to walk to from the nearest train station. May be advisable to take a taxi from Shinjuku Station (approx. USD10) if you have a lot of luggage. However, if you ever decide to brave the not-so-flat pavements of Tokyo and risk your luggage wheels popping out, the walk from Shinjuku Station to the hotel is approximately 25 minutes. Much faster if you are travelling light with just a small overnight carry-on. We arrived in the early evening to check-in, and was disappointed that a non-smoking room we had originally requested for was no longer available. The room I was allocated was in their annex building. Although the floor corridor reeked of cigarette smell, thankfully the room smelled totally fine. The room was really small, but expected for hotels in Japan. I had a jumbo luggage with me on the trip, and found that the only way to access my luggage was to plop the entire thing on the bed, and stow the luggage away against the wall when I was done with it. The table was not very useful as it was already cluttered with all sorts of amenities, such as the TV, kettle etc. The bed was amazing! I usually have problems with getting used to unfamiliar mattresses, but sunk right at home with this one. Slept so well every night. I did have to request for an additional pillow from the concierge, of which they very kindly obliged and sent one right up to my doorstep. The one thing left to be desired is the huge step up to the bathroom. It can be a terrible nightmare to step out of the bathroom after a shower, or after a quick visit to the loo middle of the night when one is not exactly very alert. The space inside was a bit tight but still manageable despite having a largish build. The only issue I had was the petiteness of the WC seat. It was the automatic kind, as with almost all WCs found in Tokyo, but the seat rim was a tad too small for me. Overall, I really enjoyed staying at this hotel, and will look forward to returning on my next trip to Tokyo.