APA Hotel Shinjuku Kabukicho Chuo

There’s only one elevator, so it can get busy at peak times. If you have to be somewhere at a particular time, allow for a wait. The rooms and bathroom are small, though the bathroom is perfectly usable and even has a bathtub. In the room, the bed goes almost wall to wall, the TV is mounted, and you can pull the desk chair back only about half a meter. Still, it’s reasonably priced, the rooms are clean, and the staff are friendly and helpful, as you often find in Japan. If you’re staying around Shinjuku, not far from Kabukicho, it’s worth considering.

The staff were nice, and the lobby has a fancy design, though it’s small. That’s about where the good parts end for me. The rooms are tiny, and there wasn’t breakfast unless you booked a rate that included it. The restaurant said weekend breakfast stopped at 9:30, despite the advertised 10:00 cutoff. That felt like a way to avoid serving breakfast. The attached restaurant was okay, but prices were typical for Kabukicho, around 800 yen for beer and 1,000 yen for a starter. Finding the hotel was a pain too: there are about four APA hotels with the same “Apa Shinjuku-Kabukicho” name, and even the staff weren’t sure which way to send me for the right branch. Google Maps often picks the wrong one unless you search by address. For the price, I wouldn’t say it’s worth it.

We left our bags with the hotel before check-in, and that part went fine. When we returned at 8:00 p.m., though, the desk said there was no reservation under our name, even though both Booking.com and the hotel had confirmed it. They’d given our room to someone else, and we waited until 9:45 p.m. without one. Five different people came to reception during that time, and none seemed to know what they were doing. The hotel is in the rougher part of Shinjuku, surrounded by dodgy nightclubs. That wasn’t even the worst of it. There was also an overpowering curry smell because a restaurant is built into the lobby. This was the worst hotel stay I’ve had in Japan, probably anywhere in my life. It’s a shame our last day in Japan ended like that.

Our room was surprisingly quiet despite being in a very busy part of Shinjuku, with lots of shops and restaurants nearby. The staff were helpful when we checked in, and the rooms were clean and had what we needed. They’re small, though. We booked two rooms while traveling with two teenagers, and the rooms wouldn’t work for four people.