Hotel advice appreciated.
 

Ok, I am planning my trip to Japan. I have been before, and I plan to fly LHR to NAR from there I plan about 5 days in Tokyo before heading to Okinawa from there I will stay about 4 days then go to Osaka. From there 5 days and I'll fly back to LHR. I have been looking and really I am looking for a decent hotel but not expensive. Usual stuff TV, Shower, Air conditioning etc etc. Round the 60 - 80 usd per night. (I am assuming this will have to be paid in advance?)

Anyway, In Tokyo, I;d be happy to be in the Ikebukuro (forgive spelling) area. I was there before and stayed at the Crowne Plaza hotel. that is out of my budget this time, but something nice anyway. I am thinking that about 200usd a day will be enough for food, drink etc.

Relly I know very little about Osaka and Okinawa so some advice here would be cool, especially on Okinawa, as I haven't found that much so far but in fairness I haven't done that much research yet either).

Osaka I have a vague Idea about, but again, I'll have to have a real good look.

Thanks in advance.

I don't kow much about Okinawa myself. But the rest I have some ideas about. 200USD a day will be enough to even cover hotel, depending on how "grand" you want to live.

I found most of my "cheap deals" through JapanHotel.net Japanese Business Hotels, Ryokans, Minshukus, Guest Houses, Hot Springs and other accommodation

I can not stand that Japanhotel.net website first of they are one of the only websites that do not give you an immediate confirmation it takes them a few days to get back to you sometimes by the time they get back to you the hotel is already full, when I had them book me somewhere in Yokohama they put me in the red light district. I normally stay at a cheap youth hotel in Tokyo but when my dad came to visit we stayed at the dai-ichi in in ikebukuo and they were nice. There are plenty of website where you can find hotels, one of the best things about Japan is they are exceptionally clean 99% of what you find will be clean and most especially in ikebukuro will be good, I'll be going to Okinawa on Saturday but I booked through a travel agency and used their flier to book my hotel.

Hmm, my experieince with them was great actually. The bookings for all cities were fantastic, and the coordinator got back to me within 24 hours on any inquiries or concerns. I was able to change reservation 3 weeks prior without any hassle.

For Osaka, I suggest Hotel Raizan. It's the cheapest around (less than $25 a night) and there's a TV, some rooms have a small fridge, the beds are so-so but pretty decent, there's a shower (not in the room, but private at least) and a public bathhouse style thing if you prefer that, plus free internet. And best of all, the staff is really nice and they know English. Oh, and there's a 100 yen shop across the street that sells fruit and things that make a great cheap breakfast too. And did I mention it's pretty much right outside of a metro stop and is within walking distance to Denden town?

I stayed there for 6 or more days total when I was in Japan in December of '06 and didn't have any troubles. I'll admit it isn't the *best* looking of places, but it's the best budget hotel I went to. You can look them up online. There's Raizan North and Raizan South (one is 100 yen more and has no curfew, whereas the curfew is like 11PM for the other one). If you have questions about it or Osaka in general, let me know 'cause I spent a good amount of time there.

Annex Katsutaro Ryokan
 

I really liked the Annex Katsutaro Ryokan in Tokyo. It isn't in Ikebukuro but is near the Yamanote line so you can get to Ikebukuro quickly. It does fit your budget too. Review of the hotel, inn, and ryokan we stayed at in Tokyo, Hakone, and Kyoto Japan

Hello, I am originally from Yokohama (near Tokyo) and I know Tokyo area so I think I could help you with finding a good hotel around USD60-80. I can use hotel booking service for Japanese and they probably offer cheaper prices than the similer service provided in English.(sorry for my wrong English grammer and spelling), If you need me, then please pm me;-) hope you have a wonderful time again in Japan.

If you are searching for a hotel in Tokyo, the Grand Palace Hotel should
be a good option.
It is located in the Iidabashi area, near Iidabashi station and Suidobashi station.

Matane!

JapanHotel.Net and other hotel bookings
 

Hi everyone

Just wanted to add something about JapanHotel.Net. I recently got stung for a no-show 100% penalty for a hotel booked through JHN. In my view, the website makes it very easy for a user to make the mistake, as I did, of not realising that a firm booking had been made and omitting to cancel it.

The main problem is that on JapanHotel.Net you cannot check availability of rooms. Does anyone know of any other booking site where you can't do that?

If you want to know if a particular hotel has available rooms via JHN, you have to first put in your credit card details and only then will they check and reserve for you.

Also, if you look up an individual hotel, you find what looks like a list of its facilities but is in fact a list of possible, not actual facilities. This could be misleading. Maybe it is meant to be misleading. See, for example, RYOKAN TOUKAISOU - JapanHotel.net

So I'd say to any other traveller: if a booking service asks for your credit card details before they tell you whether the rooms you want are available, avoid it like the plague.

Book hotels yourself direct. I thoroughly recommend the three places we stayed in recently, both for their booking service and for their accommodation service:
In Asakusa, Tokyo: Sakura Hostel
In Kyoto: Kyoto Cheapest Inn
In Nara: Ryokan Matsumae.

Well, I think its a given that if you are booking accommodation online, you have to be careful and read.

I am sure Japanhotel.net do show room availability, I booked a ryokan that was full, I got a email the next day by the site operater who asked me specific information to rebook a different place for me. Its a given that they will charge you if you don't show up to a reservation, its an opportunity cost on their end, they need to cover their expenses too.

I am not saying thats the ultimate place to book hotels, just that I had fabulous experience with them for past years of travel to Japan thats all....

As I mentioned in my various post, there are MANY other sites to do your reservations and to look for hotel, I was recommending Japanhotel.net purely from personal experience and I find their online interface very easy to use, thats all

JapanHotel.Net and other reservation methods
 

I know I'm paying the price of my mistake and am only trying to prevent others from being caught in the same way.

But I must point out again that reservation doesn't have to be like this. At Sakura Hostel in Tokyo, they take your names and dates and simply ask you to reconfirm your booking a week before you arrive. If you forget to do this, you may lose your accommodation but you won't lose a whole pile of money. At Kyoto Cheapest Inn, they ask you to confirm your booking by sending credit card information in two separate emails, which is a clever way of ensuring security on both sides. Once you do that, there's virtually no way you could overlook the fact that you'd made the reservation.

These, as I said, are user-friendly methods of making reservations, where the client evidently comes first.

I still say a reservation site of any kind should allow you to check availability. Imagine trying to book a plane journey and the site won't tell you if there are any seats available on the particular flight you want ... Inconceivable, isn't it? So why is it any different for accommodation?

points taken and agree