Karaksa Hotel Tokyo Station (Tokyo, JAPAN)

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Karaksa Hotel Tokyo Station (Tokyo, JAPAN)

Mom decided to join us in Tokyo at the very last minute so I had to really improvise and tried to alter our plans for her in a hurry. Not surprisingly, the hotel that we were staying at was almost sold out for the duration of our stay. It’s time to get creative in our accommodation plans.

While all of us started the trip at Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo Marunouchi, it was me who will be switching to a different hotel midway through (since mom doesn’t know her way in Tokyo). There wasn’t much option out there near Tokyo Station so I was thrilled to find my comfort at Karaksa Hotel Tokyo Station, a relatively new hotel just 5 minutes’ walk from Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo Marunouchi.

Tucked away in a side street just across the street from Daimaru Tokyo and Tokyo Station (North Exit), Karaksa Hotel Tokyo Station is a small family hotel in the mold of Holiday Inn (even the interior colors match the tone of a typical Holiday Inn). After checking in early in the morning (without getting my keys), I showed up again at night to pick up my room keys. I was delighted to see that my luggage was already (and rightfully) placed inside my room.

I spent some time checking out the facilities before taking my shower. There was a small dining area in the hotel lobby (mainly for breakfast) where guests could get a complimentary drink throughout the day.

Also available were coffee machine, microwave etc. They even have some refreshments such as donuts available at night so hotel guests won’t have to venture out to the nearest convenience store for their late night snacks.

My hotel room was a long and narrow one though its size wasn’t bad for Japanese standard.

There’s a small window at the far end of the room but no view. In fact, there’s a residential building right next to hotel itself and it was so close that I could virtually shake hands with my neighbor.

The bathroom also a small one, came with its separate shower room.

I had to really get creative to find enough space to put my shampoo, hair spray, dental floss among other things.

Like most Japanese hotels, toilet was behind totally separate walls, right next to the shower room.

One of the nicest things about this room was the abundance of power sockets and USB outlets. For someone like me who carry a fair amount of electrical appliances around all the time, it’s nice to be able to plug everything in at the same time, and crash~

I don’t know why many business hotels (and this doesn’t look like one) still offer complimentary cell phones to their hotel guests. Don't we all have wifi connections with our pocket wifi these days?

During my 3-day stay at Karaksa Hotel Tokyo Station, I have no real complaints about my accommodation. While the bed (and mattress) could be a little more comfy, the room itself was well appointed and there was enough space for me to wiggle around with (since I’m staying in a double-bed room as a solo traveler). My only complaint actually came from the ground-floor lobby. There’s only a small sofa near the customer service counter and it’s constantly occupied by people who have checked out and just waiting for the airport limo. But the stop was at least 200m away so perhaps they should be sitting somewhere else and let others in need to have a seat?