Centurion Hotel Residential Akasaka Station

Cleanliness

No breakfast.

I like to read a hotel’s negative reviews before staying to get an idea of the issues. I was a little worried after reading some of them for this hotel… but my experience was completely different! I suppose there are always going to be people who cannot be satisfied. To dispel some of those reviews: Beautiful, clean room. Some said the hotel is dated and feels old…. Not at all! At least not in the annex building where we stayed. We loved the look and feel of the room and everything, including the ac, worked well. Some complained about unfriendly staff. What???? They were wonderful! The staff were super friendly and went out of their way to help. I think the people complaining are the kind of people who are demanding or unpleasant and hard to satisfy (entitled?) themselves… you get what give. Be friendly and people will be friendly in return. And we had no problem at all with communicating in English. I read complaints about the balcony… The balcony was just wonderful to have, and the view was really cool. We had a table and two chairs, and relaxed outside in the mornings and after our long days of exploring. Contrary to some reviews, the noise level was not bad at all (except for some daytime construction work which was no fault of the hotel. Yes there are restaurants and a karaoke bar on the street, but at most we would hear a group of younger people enjoying themselves as they walked by. It was not loud or frequent enough to disturb us. I was not once woken up at night. The location was perfect, central to the best places in Tokyo and a lovely, lively but not overcrowded neighborhood. We are big walkers, and walked to Shibuya, Shinjuku, Roppongi, Ginza, and even Asakusa (ok that was a long one I’ll admit. But we did it, and never once took a train in Tokyo.) You have to be in decent shape and LOVE to walk a lot, but if you do, it is possible to see many of the best parts of Tokyo this way from this location. We had a comfy king sized bed.

The room was small, but you have to expect this in Japan unless you want to spend a fortune. Having a charming balcony with a table and chairs gave us the space we needed to relax and eat takeaway food.

The room was a lot larger than usual in Tokyo. Washing machine was also a plus

As the hotel is on the side of a busy street full of night life, you can hear people’s conversations and partying quite clearly

Location

Room had a strong unpleasant smell, carpet was dirty, and the toilet smelled like sewage. The TV was also not a smart TV