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Checking in: JAL City hotel, Haneda

Posted by on in , , | 169 Views | 7 Responses

As part of my quick run to Japan for a flight on ANA‘s 787 Dreamliner I found myself in need of a hotel quite close to Haneda airport. Normally I’d stay in a small room or pod hotel when in Tokyo (I’ve done a plywood box, too!) but with the subway not running 24×7 there I was concerned about getting out to the airport in time for a 6:45am departure and not spending a fortune on a taxi. There is a hotel at the terminal but the rates there for the nights I needed were rather steep; instead I found myself at the JAL City hotel, just a few minutes from the terminal.

Not being at the airport offered a few benefits over and above the lower rate. The hotel is located just a couple blocks from a subway station with a solid collection of restaurants and shops lining the path between the two. That made it quite easy for me to get a beer on arrival between the train and the hotel as well as dinner the one night I needed it.

It also meant that getting to and from the hotel was incredibly easy. The hotel offers a free shuttle but service from the international terminal wasn’t running when I arrived and I didn’t really want to wait around the second night after I returned from Hiroshima so I took the train both times coming in. With the subway running every 10 minutes or so and the fare at ¥300 (~$3.50) or less it was easy and cheap to just hop on the train.

As for the room, it was pretty much exactly what I expected from a "single" in Tokyo: SMALL. Enough room for me to dump my bag and sleep and even get into the bathroom but not much additional space for hanging out or relaxing. When I wanted to sit at the desk I found that the bed was quite close. Still, it was pretty much exactly what I needed for the nights I was there and only ~$120/night which was pretty good given the convenience of the location (the on-airport hotel was ~$250/night).

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The other particularly interesting part of this hotel stay was that I needed to have some laundry done. I was on the road for 10 days with only a small backpack so the laundry day wasn’t really a surprise. In fact it was a planned part of the itinerary. And I think my clothes may have had a better time at the hotel than I did. They were certainly more pampered. The five shirts and pair of jeans I had cleaned came back individually wrapped in plastic. Then wrapped in a bow. Then stacked and wrapped again. Oh, and the shirts had wax paper or something like that folded inside to keep them wrinkle free. And it definitely worked. The clothes traveled quite well for the second half of the trip despite being jammed in the same backpack as the first half.

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Overall I have no regrets about the stay. And if I find myself in a similar situation – late arrival or early departure from HND – I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again. Lacking that time sensitivity I’d head into town, but that’s not always an option.

Read more from this Trip Report under the Dream2011 tag here.

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7 Responses

  1. Brian
    Brian at |

    How quick was the laundry turn around and cost? (planning on staying there in March)

    1. Seth
      Seth at |

      The turnaround on the laundry was same-day. Drop off by 9am and you would have it back by 5pm. If you needed it by 2pm you could pay 50% extra.

      As for the price, it wasn’t cheap but also wasn’t horribly unreasonable considering it is hotel laundry. I think it was like JPY600 for each shirt or something like that. Definitely more than I pay at home (by a HUGE margin) but it was the option I had available to me and I went in knowing that I’d be going that route when I was there so I was OK with it.

  2. andrew
    andrew at |

    A good tool for getting train schedules and routing information here in Japan is Hyperdia. It can search train stations in roman characters if you can not read Japanese. They have iphone and android apps, as well as a website:
    http://www.hyperdia.com/

  3. Mike
    Mike at |

    Did You see this UA offer? Register and book qualifying round-trips on United, United Express, Continental or Continental Express from the U.S. to London Heathrow. 1st Roundtrip Earn 25,000 – 2nd 35,000 miles – 3rd 45,000 miles – 4th 45,000 miles. Fly by 12/31.

    1. Seth
      Seth at |

      I did see that offer, Mike. I wrote about it here: http://blog.wandr.me/2011/10/big-bonuses-for-flights-to-london-so-long-as-youre-a-big-spender/. Basically, unless you’re spending big bucks (likely by having someone else buying the tickets) it isn’t at all appealing. You must be in paid business class to get the bonus.

  4. MTS
    MTS at |

    Do you know what the schedule is for the airport shuttle at the JAL Haneda?

    1. Seth
      Seth at |

      The shuttle schedule was a bit confusing to me, MTS. I think it was every half hour most of the day for the domestic terminal but only once per hour between 10pm and 1am (or something similarly limited) from the international terminal. I arrived around 7pm and they told me to take the airport shuttle bus to the domestic terminal and then to catch their shuttle from there. For a couple bucks on my Suica card I just took the train. Way easier for me to navigate (ride towards the front to be closest to the exit) and the restaurants and convenience stores on the walk from the train to the hotel were very convenient. I did take the shuttle to the airport the next morning when the schedule was a bit easier to figure out by asking at the front desk.