Shinjuku Washington Hotel (Main Building)

Finally getting around to posting this – super delayed because every time I drafted this I felt so emotionally drained 😅 So here it is – we (2 pax) spent four nights in this 4-star hotel that seemed more comparable with the other 3-star hotels I’ve stayed in before in Japan.

My TL;DR upfront advice? 2 pax with 4 pieces of luggage (tail-end of our trip with lotsa shopping done) in a 13m² room is a nightmare, even if you think “nah we just need a place to sleep for the night and we’ll be out 80% of the time” 😂. BUT! If you’re doing this solo, you’ll probably be fine if you have one or two small luggage 😅 This was my first time not-solo staying in such a room, so I had thoroughly underestimated the space constraints 😆

But to be fair, it does meet the basic requirements (not space hahaha) as a business hotel in Japan.

Getting there / Location

Located 10~15mins away on foot from Shinjuku Station, the hotel is directly linked to Shinjuku Station via a long underpass that also leads to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (just look out for the signs that say TMG No. 2).

The easiest way for a first-timer (imo) is to walk on the street level from Shinjuku Station and follow Google Maps xD You’ll get to see a lot of eateries along the way and in autumn, you can enjoy the view of the streets lined with yellow ginkgo trees!!

But if you want the fully-sheltered (great for hiding from the cold wind) underpass method, but are unsure how to get to the correct Exit 7 and are as lost as we were, then exit whichever train line you’re alighting from and look for signs towards the West Concourse. Once you’re around the West Concourse, you can look for signs towards either Keio Line, Keio New Line, or Keio Mall. Afterwards, you can then look for the correct Exit 7 or signs towards One Day Street and TMG No.2. The walk through the underpass is about 10 minutes long? And it does close at 11pm, so from 10.30pm onwards there will be some announcements in the underpass in both Japanese and English to notify the users of the upcoming closure.

My thoughts on the location: it’s convenient (and is a stop for the Airport Limousine to HND and NRT!), but if you’ll be going around a lot of places throughout the day and are coming back to Shinjuku drained out from the day, the 10-minute walk back might feel like an utter pain xD. So just a heads up, especially for those with kids or with walking difficulties – remember to add this walk back into your expectations of the day!

Lobby / Check-in

Check-in is from 2pm onwards. Check-out is at 11am, but may be extendable up to 2pm at a fee 1000yen/hour per person, depending on room availability. We did manage to get a later check-out by 1 hour for free as part of the Member Bonus we received!

There are self-service kiosks available, which makes check-in and check-out very convenient. Note that the kiosks are all cashless – so if you need to transact with cash, you’d need to go to the manned counter.

The View

There was a small window in the room, and the curtains had Velcro at the sides so that they could minimise as much sunlight coming in as possible (for a black-out effect). The view from our room was of the street opposite, facing the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings (kinda like a side-view). But honestly, since we were out most of the time, it wasn’t a view we’d specially open up the curtains to.

The Room

We got the Semi-Double Non-Smoking room (was kinda depressing, especially after such a nice stay in Kyoto and Hakone where all our luggage could fit with room still available for movement 😅😂). I think staying solo in this room would be relatively acceptable to a degree, but anything beyond that may pose an extreme challenge.

Other than that, the room was clean and tidy, and meets the basic needs as a business hotel in Japan.

(I couldn’t even take a glam photo of the TV-side as you can see 😅)

My boyfriend and I are alright with small rooms, but wow this was… a struggle 😆 Also because we had a total of 4 pieces of luggage at this point since this was the last leg of our trip – so 1 large, 2 medium and 1 small piece of luggage. So 4 luggage + 2 humans, there was quite a bit of squeezing to do xD

Here’s a top-down perspective while my boyfriend tried to Tetris everything around 🤣 chaotic

FYI that luggage on the floor in front of the bed is a large-sized one (about 28inches?)

Otherwise, the room is just like a typical 3-star hotel in Japan. There are coffee and tea-making amenities, a small TV with paid VOD available, a minibar, a small side table, and a chair. There was also a humidifier/air freshener machine that we didn’t use as we chucked it into the small corner between the TV and the bed so that we could use the space for shifting the table and chair around to squeeze in one of our luggage 😛

In terms of the air-conditioning, the thermostat is a simple knob with 4 options: Off, Low, Medium, and High.

There isn’t (space for) a closet, but there are clothes hangers outside the bathroom (see the photo of the walkway above). The tricky part is once we hung our puffy jackets up… basically that took up about half the walkway HAHAHAHAHA. And no, there aren’t any clothes-hanging spaces next to the door ><

Bathroom

A standard Japanese unit bath; there’s a washlet with basic functionality (including the seat warmer!), a small bathtub with a handheld shower and a tap – both of which have good water pressure, and a sink. Soap, shampoo and conditioner are provided, and other bathroom amenities can be taken from the hotel lobby (more on that in the Amenities section of this post, but wow this hotel had one of the most comprehensive selections!).

Oh, and do note that there is a step up to enter the bathroom. Hooks are available at the back of the door as well!

Amenities

Amenities that can be found in the room include a hair dryer, foldable table mirror (!), charging cables (and in a nice pouch), a room spray, shoe horn, and shoe shine items. 2 bottles of water are provided daily as well.

Other bathroom amenities can be retrieved from the hotel lobby, including hairbrushes, shavers, lotion, cotton swabs, and skincare like cleansing oil, face wash, and face lotion.

No iron is provided in the room, but can be requested from the front desk (subject to availability). There is a pants press in the room, though! It’s right next to the front door, where the bath slippers are (where I said there isn’t any space for hanging our jackets 😛).

Coin Laundry

The coin laundry located on Level 1 and open 24 hours. You will need your hotel room card to tap in to access. It’s 400yen for the regular washer (5kg) and 500yen for the large washer (7kg), and 100yen per 20mins for the dryer (no heat level selection). There are 5 washers and 5 dryers in total!

Breakfast

Multiple restaurants in the hotel provide breakfast – probably to cater to guests from both the Main building and Annexe building. We didn’t give this a try since we enjoy grabbing onigiris from the konbini downstairs for breakfast hehe.

That being said, you can look out for the signage around (they’re everywhere!!)

Airport Limousine bus stop

If you’re going to the airport (be it Haneda or Narita) straight from the hotel, you’re in luck as Shinjuku Washington Hotel is one of the stops! You can find the stop along the main road outside the Main Building (there’s an Annexe Building, so make sure not to mix up). More info can also be found in the directory accessible through your hotel room’s TV!

Other random recallable stuff

There is also an ice cube machine *somewhere in the hotel*, two konbini (convenience stores) – FamilyMart (open from 7am to 11pm during our stay) and Lawson – and quite a few restaurants located at the first level of the hotel!