Richmond Hotel Yokohama Ekimae

Richmond Hotel Yokohama Ekimae is the one our team recommends most for anyone chasing top quality on a 3-star budget. Its overall 8.9/10 on both Agoda and Booking.com is the highest score of any hotel on this list — 5-star or 3-star. It opened in 2018, so everything still feels fairly new and bright. Two notes kept coming up in the reviews we read: rooms that were cleaner than expected, and a bathtub bigger than you'd think for a 3-star. It's the best fit for travelers who want value and a great location at the big Yokohama Station.

Rooms and decor

The 194 rooms are done in clean, modern Japanese business-hotel style — cream and white tones, easy on the eye. Room types run Superior Double, Superior Twin and Family Twin for families. Reviewers single out the size, calling the rooms clearly bigger than the typical 3-star in Tokyo or Yokohama. The bathtub runs larger than usual, the hot water comes fast and strong, the bed is firm and the headboard padding is soft in just the right way. You get free drinking water in the room daily, fast free Wi-Fi, a fridge, a kettle and a full set of bathroom amenities, plus an electronic bidet toilet in every room. Cleanliness was strong enough that no review complained about it in the past six months.

Food and amenities

The front desk runs 24 hours, and reviewers describe the staff as warm and helpful — their English isn't fluent, but they make the effort and get the point across. The coin laundry on site suits longer stays of three nights or more. The in-building restaurant opens for breakfast, which is charged separately from the room rate. They'll hold your bags from early in the morning before check-in and after check-out until evening. The basics are all here and all working; there's no pool or onsen, but everything that exists runs well and stays consistently clean.

Location and getting there

This is the strongest card Richmond Ekimae holds — a 3-minute walk to JR Yokohama Station, which bundles several JR lines, the Minatomirai Line and the Yokohama Municipal Subway into one spot. Take the JR Tokaido Line and you're in Tokyo or Shibuya in 30 minutes, or Kamakura in about an hour; hop the Minatomirai Line and Chinatown, Yamashita Park and Motomachi-Chukagai are easy too. Around the station you've got Sogo, JOINUS and CIAL plus hundreds of restaurants, and it's only 3 minutes back to the hotel.

Things to know before booking

There's no pool and no onsen — this is a straight business hotel, so come for the room and the location, not the facilities. Breakfast costs extra on top of the room rate. And rates jump sharply during Golden Week, Obon and long weekends, when rooms here fill fast, so book well ahead if your trip lands on a peak.

Our take

Richmond Hotel Yokohama Ekimae is for travelers who want quality and cleanliness on a 3-star budget — the 8.9/10 score proves most guests come away very happy. The 3-minute walk to a major station saves you both time and transit fare. With rates starting around $111 a night, it's the most worthwhile sweet spot in Yokohama. Book ahead, because rooms sell out often at peak.