Beard Family Trips & Vacations

Tokyo from March 15 - 24, 2008

Tokyo - March 16:  Hotel Monterey Hanzomon

website:   http://www.hotelmonterey.co.jp/hanzomon/  (Japanese version)

Address of the location (from the website):  23-1 Ichiban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0082

Pictures from the Hotel Monterey Hanzomon: 

• Note: pictures were taken after we were in the room, so it is not showing the neatness of when we first arrived (i.e., the bed is not as smooth as it had been).

• Entrance to the Hotel Monterey Hanzomon as seen from the entrance to the Hanzomon Subway line. 

• Entrance to the subway seen from the entrance of the hotel; an escalator running up from the floor below and stairs are just inside to the left.  An elevator to the subway gate level is just to the left of the stone wall.  The blue symbol of an "M" is the symbol for the Tokyo Metro system.  This is entrance #5 for the Hanzomon station.

• Entry door to the room along with sign and key activation for the power to the room; main light switch to the right of the key holder; sign is in Japanese and English with a map showing the floor 

• Looking from the entry door into the room; armoire on the right opposite the bathroom door, which opens out into the entry way:

• Basket between the armoire and the entry door; full length mirror above it

• Bathroom with toilet/bidet, sink, and a deep bathtub with handheld shower; the walls are lined with an acrylic product so that they are waterproof.  The tub is designed to funnel water along the top (since the handheld shower does not allow the water to stay just in the tub) and drain into a trough along the outside bottom of the tub.  Notice the trough and the drain below the sink alongside the tub in the second picture.  Seems to be a good design that could be incorporated into houses.  Light switch to the bathroom was in the entry hall behind the bathroom door, which made it inconvenient.  I tended to turn off the light to the bathroom, instead of the main room, which coincided when someone was in the bathroom almost all those times.

• Television on cabinet with a hot water maker and tea/coffee set; both had been stored in the cabinet below the television.  There is also a small refrigerator (stocked with a few items for sale) in the cabinet on the right side. 

• Desk in between the two single beds; free internet connection (cable stored inside the desk drawer) and electrical plugs on top the desk.  Lights on the desk are controlled with individual knobs on each side making it easy for a person on the bed to turn off/on the one adjacent to it.  Also had a lamp under the desk for a low light setting.  Clock and alarm are built into the wall above the desk on the right.  Push button below the clock/alarm turns off/on the power to the other lights in the room.

• Thermostat to the room; never figured out how to control it since all the instructions for it was in Japanese and we didn't feel like asking the staff.  Based on an English note in the desk, I think it more controlled the blowing of air than heat or cold.  The bottom of the window to the room would open up and allow air in from the outside.

• Robe left on each bed everyday and a paper delivered and left on a holder on the outside of the entry door each morning.

• View from the window of the room; this side of the hotel seemed to be overlooking apartment buildings and one house

Overall, the hotel was a very good value and in a good location directly across from a subway station and in the middle of Tokyo.  Being near so many embassies,  it is a very safe location to stay in.  We tried the breakfast offered by the hotel, which is a mixture of western and Japanese food.  It was a decent size buffet and food, but I don't know that I would normally want to pay almost $20 a person for it.  However, the hotel is designed for business personnel, not tourists and families, so it is not surprising that it would cost that much.  There was also a Chinese restaurant in the hotel that we did not try, so are not sure of the quality or value of it.

The hotel did not have snack vending machines or ice machines in it.  There was a cigarette vending machine in the lobby.  On each floor was a drink vending machine - soda/water/coffee products were on even numbered floors with alcoholic beverages being on the odd numbered floors.  Warning - being a business hotel, there is not any way of hindering anyone from buying from any of the vending machines that they wanted to.  Some of the drinks are listed on the drink display linked from the main page for our Tokyo trip.

There was a convenience store just a couple of buildings over from the hotel, named AM-PM.  It offers a variety of items and many things for any meal that you may wish to have.  There was also a McDonalds at the other end of the Hanzomon station (entrance #1 and #2) along with several small cafes, restaurants, and a bakery on the same street near to the hotel.

Bottom line - this is a place that makes a good location to stay for a very good value. 

This site was last updated 03/29/08