Dormy Inn Ueno Okachimachi Hot Spring

“Great location and a lot of freebies”

PROS: 1. Location -350 meters away from Keisei Ueno station where you can ride the Keisei Skyliner to Narita airport -100 meters away from Ameyoko market -650 meters away from Ueno park where you can find the Tokyo National Museum, National Museum of Nature and Sciences and Ueno Zoo, please be re… more

PROS: 1. Location -350 meters away from Keisei Ueno station where you can ride the Keisei Skyliner to Narita airport -100 meters away from Ameyoko market -650 meters away from Ueno park where you can find the Tokyo National Museum, National Museum of Nature and Sciences and Ueno Zoo, please be reminded that these are closed on Mondays 2. Clean and comfortable rooms 3. Lots of freebies such as yogurt drinks, popsicles, snacks, and ramen (from 21:30 to 23:00) 4. Nice breakfast selection with mostly traditional Japanese fare CON: 1. Room was a bit small

less

“(Relatively) cheap and comfortable in Tokyo”

Room: small, as you may expect, but sufficient for one person. There's a small desk and closet area with a chair. Mini fridge was very helpful in managing food. Despite being by an elevated highway and railway I didn't have problems with noise, though I was on the 10th floor. I'd stay here again. L… more

Room: small, as you may expect, but sufficient for one person. There's a small desk and closet area with a chair. Mini fridge was very helpful in managing food. Despite being by an elevated highway and railway I didn't have problems with noise, though I was on the 10th floor. I'd stay here again. Location: very close to Ameyoko Market (endless food options and stores selling various items from kit kats to shoes) in addition to the department stores and kombini that are ubiquitous in Tokyo. Also close to the skyliner to Narita from Ueno station. Other: I enjoyed the morning yogurt drinks, evening ice cream, and ramen noodles. Also nice of them to supply cutlery on the 12 floor. The free laundry (Y100 for dryer) in the bath area was especially helpful, I just hung my laundry in my room to dry after turning on the dehumidifier. All the staff also seemed to speak functional English. Drawbacks: As others have noted, there's only one elevator for 108 rooms, so it can get busy at peak times. As a tourist I didn't have normal hours, but I wouldn't be surprised if you had to wait during the peaks.

less

“Pros and cons of staying here:”

Checked in at 7pm for a 4 nights stay between 5/22/2024 - 5/26/2024 and was given room 404, a corner room with a twin sized bed - no issues or a wait checking in, since I was the only one there at that time of day. Previously while in Ueno 5 yrs ago, I stayed at the Hotel Sardonyx that’s down the … more

Checked in at 7pm for a 4 nights stay between 5/22/2024 - 5/26/2024 and was given room 404, a corner room with a twin sized bed - no issues or a wait checking in, since I was the only one there at that time of day. Previously while in Ueno 5 yrs ago, I stayed at the Hotel Sardonyx that’s down the street from this hotel and at a hotel near Shinobazu pond, that’s now called Hotel Pasha Grand. I picked this hotel due to its mostly positive reviews from travelers, the reasonable price for a room and most importantly, the proximity to Keisei Ueno Station and JR Ueno Station. From my experience going to Japan, it helps to be as close to the train station as much as possible, especially if you’re going to be hauling stuff from shopping and/or luggage around, and you’re not utilizing the luggage delivery service from the airport to hotel and vice versa. I knew in advance the room was going to be tiny and when I stepped in, sure enough it was. Barely enough space to place your suitcase, if you’re planning to have it flat and/or open. I placed mine, flat with the top propped up, right by the bed, in front of the open closet (as it was too much trouble to zip and unzip the suitcase all the time), but to maximize space, it’s best to have it closed and upright next to the closet, or in the hallway at all times. The open closet has about 6 or so hangers. In terms of total sq ft of floor space, I think the APA hotel might be worse in that it’s even less floor space, though. Upon arrival in your room there’s a bottle of water and a jelly dessert for you in the fridge. Body soap, shampoo and conditioner are POLA brand. There is no electrical outlet in the bathroom, so the hair dryer can only be used in the main room at the desk, which has no mirror. Although I communicated with hotel staff in Japanese, the front desk staff speaks English, so that’s a plus for anyone who doesn’t speak Japanese. Hotel staff were nice and when I didn’t know what happened to my room key card and asked for a replacement - they didn’t charge me for it (after returning to my room, I discovered that I never lost it and had simply forgotten to take the original room card with me, as I was in a rush most of my few days in Japan). Note that there is only one elevator in this hotel, so with 12 floors, if you’re in one of the lower floors like I was - it’s likely at times that by the time the elevator makes it to your floor, it’ll be packed with guests from the upper floors. After this had happened to me once, I learned my lesson and took the stairs during my rest of my time there when going down from the 4th fl to the 1st, with the exception of when I had to haul my luggage down to check out. Going up was no problem, as the elevator was never full. I used their microwave oven that’s on the 12th fl, once, but this was definitely the most disgusting and unpleasant part of my time at this hotel. When I got to the room housing the microwave, another guest was using it at the time, so I waited a few minutes before he was done. When I attempted to use it, I immediately felt that the microwave oven’s handle was covered in grease from the previous person(s) who used it, which was hella gross - that and the entire microwave plate was covered in grease. Since there’s no sink and no paper towels, napkins or tissue in the room that has the microwave, nor is it manned by staff, I could see how easily this could happen. . . I’m glad that I had gel hand sanitizer on me at the time - it helped a little, but I’m pointing this out as it’s possible you may experience something similar. I did not use their onsen, nor did I try out their breakfast. In retrospect, I should’ve had their breakfast at least once, just to see what it was like (it’s ¥1,800 if you didn’t choose to the option to have breakfast added to your room rate when you’d booked), but I mainly had food from the conbini, which has items that are tastier than a meal one could get at some American restaurants. Would I stay here, again? I have mixed feelings about this place. There are clear pros and cons. The location is excellent, in that it’s so close to both Keisei Ueno Station and JR Ueno station, it’s about a 6-7 min walk. They allow you to have them to hold your bags, even after the check out time of 11am, for the purpose of coming back a bit later to pick them up, which is nice if your flight departs in the early evening hours and you don’t want to get to the airport way too early. If I was traveling on a budget and money was a factor, then yes, I’d stay at this hotel again, but I’d book a larger room, if available. Note that the largest room on each floor is right near the elevator, so choosing that means it might be a bit noisy at times, due to guests congregating while waiting for the lone elevator to arrive, which sometimes takes minutes. If I could afford someplace else that had a bigger room and more than one elevator in Ueno, then I’d stay somewhere else, but with the understanding that I’d sacrifice the location being further away from the train stations.

less

“Hotel with a nice onsen”

Google Maps says the hotel is 6 minutes walk from JR Ueno Station, but with all the people on the street (super crowded in the evening when we arrived), it took us around 15 minutes. The hotel is small and the lobby is on the second floor. The hotel only has one tiny elevator which is very inconven… more

Google Maps says the hotel is 6 minutes walk from JR Ueno Station, but with all the people on the street (super crowded in the evening when we arrived), it took us around 15 minutes. The hotel is small and the lobby is on the second floor. The hotel only has one tiny elevator which is very inconvenient because often it’s full and have to wait for the next one. The onsen is small but clean and nice. The room is small and we can’t fully open our suitcase. Breakfast buffet was not as good as other Dormy Inns we stayed at before, in terms of food options and quality. However, staff are helpful and efficient. I chose this hotel because of the Dormy Inn brand, but seems like this location is not as good as other ones.

less