Hotel New Star Ikebukuro

"This was my first time traveling to Japan and I had a comfortable stay!\nAll the staff was super polite and friendly. The language barrier was easily solved with Google translate and there also was one employee that does speak some English.\nI've stayed here for around 10 nights in the smallest (smoking) room they offer. It does smell strongly of smoke but that's to be expected and I didn't mind. Opening the window during the day helped a lot with the smell and the airconditioning worked perfectly fine to.\nOutlets, TV, kettle, hair dryer and a fridge are available but no microwave so be mindful of that!\nThe only thing that was not okay was the bath. When I filled up the bathtub black stuff started floating around in the water. I'm not shure if it's due to bad cleaning because everything els was properly clean.. Luckily it cleared up after 3 days or so but it did grose me out at first.\n\nMy conclusion is, you pay what you get for. It was a really good price for the duration of my stay so I'm not going to nitpick the small details. Thanks for having me!"

"Cons:\nDated rooms, you can smell cigarette smoke in the hallways and rooms.\n\nPros:\nThe location is amazing there are lots of places nearby. Its also cheaper compared to the other hotels, but you get what you pay for\n\nOther note:\nIts weird that you have to surrender the key when you leave every morning and its also a physical key not a keycard"

"Stayed here twice on one trip. First time was ok. And just okay. Service was friendly. First room was okay for a smoking room, we don't smoke but was available and other hotels I've stayed in with smoking rooms haven't been bad. Having a physical key to the room and it being required to stay at the hotel all day is very annoying.\nSecond time was the worst experience I've ever had. Smoking room again but it was like it hadn't had a clean in a long time. There were stains on everything, the chairs, the bed sheet, the lamp shade, above the window. The bathroom vent was constantly letting smoke from another room into our bathroom. There was a vent on the ceiling of the actual room and it was almost black.\nThe bathroom smelt mouldy. The sinks were either off, on only while you hold the tap slightly or 100% and would splash everywhere.\nThere was spider webs on the ceiling with dust hanging from them. I was sneezing so much it was horrible.\nWall paper coming off the walls everywhere.\nTo make matters worse, when we got there they told us that the air conditioning has been turned off and was now only heating. And it was a 25 degree day and the room was so stuffy and opening the window barely helped.\nWas so bad I gave up after a few nights and found another hotel and just left."