Review of Ikebukuro Hayashi Annex Hotel

Editor's Pick Award

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For about $60 per night for one-person room, that’s an exemplary value for Tokyo. The hotel is located in the Ikebukuro neighborhood, which is considered to be one of quieter, family-friendly ones.

The hotel is in about 10 minutes of walk from the North exit of the Ikebukuro train station. Yet it is not easy to find as it is located on a quiet secondary street angled away from the directions of main streets – that also makes it a very quiet place. I took cab from the Ikebukuro West exit and gave the driver my hotel reservation sheet with map and address in Japanese. Cost $5 but saved quite a bit of time.

Hotel staff is very helpful and speaks some English. This is a business-class hotel with usual amenities. There is an unsecured wireless Internet connection available – I’m not entirely sure it is provided by the hotel – the signal is very weak - yet it works fine.

Two things to be aware of:

- The room and especially the bathroom are very small with low ceilings. This could be not the best accommodation for full-size folks. I’m 6 feet tall, relatively slim, and find the room barely passable size-wise.

- The included hotel breakfast rivals London Imperial College student canteen fare on unhealthiness. White rice with pieces of very fatty meat in a hot sauce of some sort for breakfast?! I’m going to stay away from it tomorrow.