What a great find this hotel is. I've stayed there twice now. 2009 and 2010. Very modern, quiet, clean rooms. The rooms I've stayed in were small but that's Japan. The location can't be beat. Just a few minutes from Ueno JR station. This is the station I used to travel to and from the airport - the Ueno train is much cheaper than the one to Tokyo Central. When I return to Tokyo this will be the first place I look for accommodation.

The rooms are quite smaller than expected but overall cleanliness and service is very good. Breakfast is simple - bread, jam and a drink. Staff can speak English which is very useful for our trip. The station is just a short 1 minute walk and there are supermarkets and restaurants on the street. If you'd like to do some shopping, Ameyoko market is just 5 minutes away. Very convenient location and the room rate is ok. Tokyo Station is less than 15 minutes away (by JR). The post office is near if you'd like to get some stamps, but you can also get them from the hotel.

I had a single room but this turned out to be a (very comfy) double bed. The bed took up most of the room but that was ok on my own. I particularly liked the bathroom, they had excellent quality shampoo, conditioner and bath gel in big containers (not to take with you!) and the other amenities were refreshed every day including a body scrub cloth. You could buy bath soak packets at reception for 100Y and this was fabulous - after a long day walking all over Tokyo, a long bath was really welcomed. A further selection of amenities like hairbands and hairbrushes was available at reception for no charge.

Nothing was too hard for the reception staff, they were happy to make bookings for us and were helpful whenever we needed anything.

Internet was via LAN cable - incidentally a very short one so you couldn't put the laptop on the bed. Breakfast, as advertised, was simple - croissants, rolls and toast with jams, and tea & coffee.

The walk from the train station wasn't far but after a long day of walking it felt like forever, and I did find the hotel's directions a little hard to follow since the Japanese don't name their streets. There are tons of restaurants at Ueno, some are nice and close to the hotel and some are about 5-10 mins walk away but there's certainly no shortage of food. There's a convenience store on the corner too.

One thing I found difficult was the traffic noise - it appears to be insufficient to have a siren on an emergency vehicle in Japan, they also need to get out the loudspeaker and tell people they're coming. At midnight. This is not the hotel's fault, just a symptom of staying so close to the traffic so if you're not used to it, it's hard to sleep.

This hotel is close to Ueno station, and thus is good for people who want to be close to the Keisei Skyliner to Narita Airport, or northbound Shinkansen departures. Ueno is also the home to a number of museums and shrines that could be of interest to tourists, as well as a small zoo. The station also has connections to the Yamanote Line and subway lines for exploring the city.

The rooms are well-appointed and the bathroom in my single room was of a princely size compared with the usual tiny prefab standard in cheaper hotels.

However the better-quality room is reflected in a higher price than you might usually pay for a midrange/business hotel. If the slick finish is not important to you, you might want to look for something a little cheaper.

The hotel is also located next to an expressway; I didn't notice it from my room on the 10th floor but lower down you might get some noise.

Although close to the station, the Keisei Skyliner terminal is at the opposite end to the hotel so it is a bit of a walk to get there and you might want a taxi if you have a lot of luggage.

The entrance is a little hard to spot from the street as it has a very small street frontage (down a corridor to a lift).