Hotel Villa Fontaine Tokyo - Ueno Okachimachi

After we missed a bus, we booked a room for that same night on Trip.com. Some of the other options looked worse, with poor ratings or dirty rooms, and this hotel was among the better choices. It was quite close to Ueno station, which made it convenient for taking the Shinkansen the next day.

The room was nice and a decent size, and the town was quiet and pleasant. The hotel is about 15 minutes from the train station. There isn't a convenience store very close, so buy what you need before arriving. We stayed three nights. The staff were really kind and let us check in an hour early without charging us, thank you! The laundry room is small, with only two machines for an 11-floor hotel. I managed to do one load, but you have to be quick, lol.

I'm extremely disappointed by how this hotel handled our booking. I reserved two nights through Agoda, due to check in yesterday, using my English nickname, which differs slightly from my passport name. This has never caused a problem at other hotels, but the front desk refused to let me check in over that small discrepancy. I offered to pay extra to change the booking name to match my passport, and they still said no. I contacted Agoda, who confirmed the hotel could make the amendment. They even offered amendment vouchers to fix it, but the hotel declined those too. I then asked whether they could refund even part of the MYR 1,016 booking so I could cancel and rebook with the correct name. Again, they refused. They said my only option was to make a new booking, which would have doubled the cost of my stay. I tried to sort this out politely and reasonably, and found their rigid, unhelpful response unacceptable. It felt like they cared more about charging me twice than providing customer service. I would never recommend this place. Extremely poor handling, no flexibility, and no sense of customer care.

The room was a decent size, but the location wasn't that great and the service was way below par. Breakfast was limited, very crowded, and not enjoyable. The coffee machine sounded like an old engine, and there was only one working, so you had to wait a long time. Staff even asked guests to go outside and wait when they couldn't manage the crowd in the lobby. The manager doesn't work on weekends, so don't expect a call or email from them then. That makes no sense. I wouldn't recommend this hotel to large groups or families. I'd suggest looking at another hotel.