Tokyu Stay Shinjuku
by the TopOfHotel team
Tokyu Stay Shinjuku is the rare hotel built for the long trip — an in-room washer and microwave in central Shinjuku turn a week-plus stay into something that feels like home.
Tokyu Stay Shinjuku is the rare hotel built for the long trip — an in-room washer and microwave in central Shinjuku turn a week-plus stay into something that feels like home.
In-Depth Review
Rooms and decor
The Double Standard is 17 square metres with a 140cm bed and plain Scandinavian styling — clean lines, pale wood, nothing flashy. What you are paying for is the cleanliness, and the 9.3 score is honest: housekeeping comes every day, swaps the towels and tops up the Pola toiletries, which smell good without being heavy. Drip coffee and genmaicha tea sit in the cabinet as welcome drinks. Nobody books this place for the interiors, and that is fine — it is built to be lived in for a week, not photographed.
Food and amenities
The headline feature is the in-room washing machine — a Panasonic 7kg unit tucked into a corner cabinet, with detergent for two loads thrown in. One guest review tells it well: a matcha-ice-cream-stained kids' T-shirt went in on the 40-minute Quick cycle, finished in the bathroom dryer over 90 minutes, and was dry by morning. The payoff is real — packing three outfits instead of eight, shedding about 4kg of luggage and dodging the ¥3,000 bag fee on the budget flight home. A microwave heats milk and a 60-litre fridge holds the kids' snacks. Free luggage hold runs before 3pm and after checkout until 9pm.
Location and getting there
Shinjuku-sanchome station is a 4-minute walk and feeds three subway lines (Marunouchi, Fukutoshin and Shinjuku) — which gets you to Shibuya in 8 minutes, Harajuku in 5 and Ginza in 16, all without pushing through the crowds at Shinjuku's main station. Isetan is five minutes on foot, and its basement food hall marks prepared food down by about 30 percent after 7:30pm. Shinjuku Gyoen garden is seven minutes away — a calm spot for an early walk, and a strong cherry-blossom location come spring.
Things to know before booking
It is not the cheap option: rates run around US$90 a night, roughly double the bare-bones business hotels elsewhere on this list. The laundry earns that back on long stays, but on two or three nights you are paying for extras you barely touch. The 17 sqm rooms are plain — function over flash — so manage your expectations on the design. And in high season the rooms sell out fast: through cherry-blossom weeks and the autumn-colour run, book well ahead instead of trying to walk in.
Our take
This is the hotel we would point a family staying five nights or more toward, along with honeymooners on a longer run and anyone continuing to Kyoto or Osaka. The ability to do laundry in your own room genuinely changes how a long trip feels — lighter bags, fewer logistics, a real second home in the middle of Shinjuku. At a 9.2 guest score with cleanliness and location both at 9.3, it does exactly what it sets out to do.
Score Breakdown
Assessed by our editorial team from data and real guest reviews
The Honest Verdict — pros & what to know
- Most rooms have a Panasonic 7kg washing machine plus enough detergent for two loads, a microwave and a 60-litre fridge. On a week-plus trip that means packing three outfits instead of eight and skipping the ¥3,000 luggage fee on the budget flight home.
- Cleanliness scores 9.3 and you feel it — housekeeping comes every day, swaps the towels, and tops up the Pola toiletries that smell good without being heavy.
- The location quietly beats Shinjuku's main station. Shinjuku-sanchome is 300 metres away and feeds three subway lines, putting Shibuya 8 minutes out and Harajuku 5, with none of the main-station crowds.
- It is part of the Tokyu Stay chain, so the standard is predictable: drip coffee and genmaicha welcome drinks in the cabinet, free luggage hold before 3pm and after checkout until 9pm.
- Guests rate it 9.2/10 overall across Agoda, Booking and Trip, with location and amenities both at 9.3 — consistent, not one outlier review carrying the score.
- It runs around US$90 a night, roughly double the bare-bones business hotels elsewhere on this list. The in-room laundry justifies it on long stays, but solo travellers on two or three nights will not get full value.
- Design is function over flash. The 17-square-metre Double Standard with its 140cm bed is clean and well-planned, but plain Scandinavian — nobody is booking this for the interiors.
- Rooms sell out fast in high season. During cherry-blossom weeks and the autumn-colour run the Shinjuku-sanchome branch fills early, so book well ahead rather than walking in.
Who It’s For
Match Score by travel style
Amenities
Location & Nearby Spots
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Insider Tips
- Run the in-room washer on your first night so you only ever carry a few days of clothes — the Quick cycle takes 40 minutes, then the bathroom dryer finishes in about 90.
- Hit the Isetan basement food hall after 7:30pm, when the bento and deli counters mark prepared food down by roughly 30 percent — five minutes from your door.
- Walk seven minutes to Shinjuku Gyoen early in the morning; it is one of the best cherry-blossom gardens in the city and far calmer before the day crowds arrive.