Ochanomizu St. HILLS HOTEL

Front desk personnel was an old gentleman. It seemed like he had a bit of trouble communicating in English but he was well-mannered and tried his best to offer assistance. Room was small just as you can expect from most of the identical class of hotels around Tokyo. So there's nothing to complain about it. Breakfast is too plain. It made me feel as if I am in a lousy high school cafeteria. It was fine with me but some people might find it too humble.

I was on a trip for which my hotel needs were modest - just needed a place to store my stuff and get some sleep, because I'd be out and about from morning til night. The St Hills Hotel was perfectly fine for that purpose. Americans who think European hotel rooms are small will find Japanese business hotel rooms to be roughly the size of a small cruise ship cabin. There was juuuuust enough space to open the luggage rack to hold my suitcase. The bed was comfortable but Japanese hotel pillows are akin to sleeping on a sack of wet cement -- I used my airplane travel pillow and a wadded-up sweatshirt instead. And there was a significant, weird step-up into the bathroom (probably 12 inches from the bedroom floor) in addition to the higher-than-usual edge of the tub. It's a lot to navigate when you're soaking wet or tired, so be careful! The room had a functional desk, a small refrigerator, a hairdryer, free wired and wireless wifi, and good air conditioning. You had to insert your room key in a special slot in the wall to turn on the lights/power in the room, so bear this in mind when you go out -- your A/C will be turned off while you're out, and you can't leave behind your camera batteries hoping they'll charge while you're away. [None of this was a big deal; I'm just letting you know.] As others have noted, the hotel is conveniently located to the Ochanomizu JR and subway stations, there's a Family Mart and 7-11 within one block, and there are a number of lovely temples/shrines hidden in the surrounding neighborhood. If your needs are modest and you just want a place to lay your head at night, this is a more than reasonable option in a good neighborhood.

Whilst there's not much for the tourist in the immediate vicinity, the JR station is minutes away. Tokyo Central or Akihabara are just 1 or 2 stations from here. The bed is very comfortable, air conditioning & wifi work well. The shower is typically over the bath, however the bath walls are high and some might be physically challenged. Breakfast was included, and strangely, comprised a croissant, bread roll, pastry & orange juice or coffee. For an additional fee you can have an egg & salad. As seems typical for all the hotels I've stayed in, reception staff speak limited English and there didn't appear to be a tour booking service.