When it comes to hotels in Japan, prices and services can vary greatly, but it’s important to note right off the bat that the price of a hotel is not necessary a reliable indicator of a hotel’s quality and services.
I recently had occasion to stay at the Hotel Okura in Tokyo. I have also stayed at the Hotel Okura in Kobe, although that was a very different experience, as I was the guest at a wedding and the room was a part of a block of rooms reserved for certain wedding guests.
This time, I was able to get a room for two at the Hotel Okura for 10,000 yen each, or a total of 20,000. The staff was very nice and everyone tried to speak English to me. The lobby is big and seemed like a good place to meet up with people. The amenities in the room were great. Nice soaps, shampoo, conditioner, razor, cotton balls, cotton swabs, hair dryer… I didn’t need to ask the front for anything.
Now for the negative… two small things bothered me about the room, and one big complaint shaped my stay.
- Little thing 1: There was no shower curtain for the shower, only a glass door that extended one third of the tub. Needless to say, I soaked the bathroom floor with the shower water bouncing off my body.
- Little thing 2: The wiring in the room was horribly done. The power cord for the small refrigerator in the closet was plugged into an extension cord that was wedged between the refrigerator itself and the wall. There were no accessible electric outlets near the bed. The few outlets that must have existed (for the alarm clock and bedside lamps) were made inaccessible by the headboard and wooden frame of the bed.
Now for the big complaint I have that guarantees I will never in another Hotel Okura in Tokyo or anywhere else.
The room was wired for internet as expected. A LAN cable was provided, and upon arriving in my room, I set up my computer on the desk near the tv, plugged in and powered on. When I started up firefox I was greeted with a message in Japanese that said I could have 24 hours of internet access for the low low price of 1575 yen. I would however be able to access the hotel’s homepage for free.
It’s one thing for a hotel to provide shampoos and cotton swabs, but in this day and age, it is not at all hard to find a hotel that provides free wifi or LAN with the cost of the room. Hotels that cost a third of what I paid to stay at Hotel Okura provide high speed access free of charge and hassle. There are national services (like Freespot) that are working on providing as much wifi in Japan as they can.
If I were a business traveler who chose this particular hotel for its proximity to Roppongi and Shinbashi, and expected to be able to use the internet to check a location on Google Street View, or check something out on the internet, I would have had to pay another 1575 yen to the hotel.
Although I don’t think it’s wrong for a hotel to charge for internet access if they must, I think a hotel that aspires to be considered a luxury hotel might want to reconsider charging for a service that most of their clients may want to use. It’s bad enough that they nickel and dime customers with an overpriced room service refrigerator that leaves very little room for people’s personal goods.
Another problem with the Hotel Okura is that once you are there you’ll either have to walk a long way or take a cab to get to Roppongi, Ginza, or some other exciting area of Tokyo.
When you are deciding to stay in a hotel in Japan, some factors to consider are the location, size of the rooms, and the services provided. You can get great deals on rooms in Japan if you don’t care about the hotel “brand” or the size of the room. It’s not hard to find a hotel like Superhotel or another that will provide internet or a good location all for a third the price of a “quality” hotel.