Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Review: First Cabin Akasaka Capsule Hotel

Another review on a capsule hotel I stayed at in Tokyo. First Cabin is a little different from the other capsule hotels as it has an airport concept theme which combines compact and luxury into one. There are many branches within Tokyo and other regions of Japan and there is even one at Haneda airport as well. I stayed at the one in Akasaka 赤坂 which is located in the residential and commercial district area north of Roppongi nightlife district.






The check in front desk is located on the 2nd floor. There are quite a number of English speaking staffs so I didn't have any problems with communication. Check in actually doesn't start until 5pm but if you wanted to arrive at the hotel early and leave your luggage or bag behind, the staffs are more than welcome to help you store it there until you check in for free at no additional cost. 





One of the cooliest thing at the front desk that I got to mention is this self playing piano that plays music on its own. I didn't take notice at first and thought it was just a piano on display but it actually operates on it own and plays programmed music recorded. How incredibly amazing is that?





When you check in you are given a keycard which allows you access to get to the cabin room floors in the elevator and a wristband key to store your personal and valuable belongings inside the storage space located in each room. Without the keycard, guests can only access to the front desk inside the elevator and every time you leave the building to go outside, you must return your keycard to the front desk and retrieve it when you come back. You also have to use the keycard to access entering through the door to the cabin rooms floor as well. 



Female and male cabin rooms are located on different floors. My room is located on the 6th floor and right when you enter into the cabin room, there is a map that shows you where all the rooms are located.



There are 2 different type of rooms you can stay at, First Class cabin and Business Class cabin. I stayed at the First Class Cabin at 6B13. It is actually really dark inside the hallway so it was quite hard to take clear pictures. But here are some pictures I took from the official website for a better view of what it looks like when it is fully bright and light up.


The First Class cabin is much bigger at a slightly higher price and looks more luxurious.


And this is what a Business Class cabin looks like. 







On the right side of the room, there is a bed which was actually pretty comfortable to sleep in along with 2 power outlets to charge your phone and any electronic devices, an earphone jack for watching TV, a time which you can use to set an alarm to wake you up, button to turn on the air condition and a light switch. And right next to the bed is a table with the TV control and a manual guide with some policy and rules of staying at the hotel.


And on the top left side of the room, there are a few hangers for you to hang your clothes up. 


You are required to take your shoes off and put them at the front of the room.


Also at the middle front left side of the room, there is a floor map on the wall and a light button at the bottom which controls turning off all the lights in the room when you press it and the light button actually lights up acting as a little night light.




Keycard and wristband as I have mentioned earlier to lock your valuable belongings. The key is located underneath the wristband key tag.



There is actually no lockers to store your luggage or bags and instead there is a storage drawer at the bottom of the bed that you can open and lock with the key on the wristband so you can leave your room and not have to worry about your personal valuables getting stolen. 


Amenities that you get: a set of pajamas, towels, slippers, tooth brush and tooth paste. I highly DO NOT recommend using their tooth brush, it is as hard as rock. (-___-")


A really nice thing I like about the First Class cabin room is they had this mirror inside the room as well. I'd do my makeup and hair in front of the mirror inside my own room instead of doing it at the washroom to have a little more privacy. 



A TV is also available in each room in which you must use earphones to watch to avoid disturbing other guests.







Now that we got the room tour complete, time to move on to the washrooms and I am quite impressed with all the amenities in the washroom. So there is actually 2 parts to the washroom, a sink area which has pretty much everything that you need. There is even a flat iron and curler too aside from the hair dryer and even makeup remover. Shower caps, hair brush, and shaving razor in case you forgot to pack yours! I love the individual set up space along with chairs to sit on and not to mention how super nice and clean it is. 




Behind the sink cleaning area is a place where you take off your slippers and put on these other slippers that are strictly used for the washroom only. And across from it is a sink counter to wash your hands after using the washroom.







Towards the left side of the sink counter is where the washrooms are. It was very clean and they even have this bottle of sanitary alcohol wipe to clean the toilet seat with instructions written in English.



Now that we got the washrooms covered, it's time to head to the showering/bathing room or the spa as they call it. The showering/bathing rooms for both male and female is located at the basement level but opposite side of each other and you must also scan your keycard to unlock the door and get inside. 



Right after you enter into the spa room, you'll see a bare foot symbol sign on the floor and you are required to take off your slippers/shoes and place them on the shoes counter.







There are 2 shower stall rooms available and a bathing room in which you bathe pretty much naked with other female guests. The showering room is completely private but the only part I didn't like about it is that there is only 2 available and I would have to wait to use it if they're both occupied. But it was really clean and has pretty much everything you need with shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and face wash too. 




Another really great amenity they have is laundry service. There are 2 laundry machines that you can use to wash your clothes and it doesn't require you to use detergent. So while you wait to use the shower room, you can also do your laundry at the same time.



The bathing room is in another room on the other side and I noticed that they have a weight scale in front of the room. In case you needed to check if you gained some weight, lol. And because I didn't use the bathing room, I did not want to go inside to take a picture in case there was someone in there. But here is a picture from the website of what it looks like in case you are wondering.


There is a big bath tub and then there are these individual showering stalls that you use to wash and clean yourself before entering into bath tub. Just like how you would do so if you were to go to the onsen (hot spring). As you can see, it is pretty much an open space and there isn't really much privacy. 




And right outside of the bathing room, there is also a locker space and baskets to store and put your towels and clothes in as well. 



Also located right outside of the showering/bathing room at the basement level is an open lounge area with a TV for guests to relax and entertain themselves. 





On the other side behind the lounge area, there is a quite area where you can read or use your laptop/phone with power outlets as well in case you needed to charge your electronic devices. And right next to it on the table on the left side, there are brochures of all the other First Cabin locations and business cards. There is also a poster advertising for their new grand open in Kyoto with the Arashiyama Bamboo forest shown in the picture. 


There is even a vending machine in the lounge area where you can get some drinks while you relax and watch TV. 



Another really great amenity is they even have an ironing board and irons as well as air refreshers too that you can use and find at each cabin room floor. 




And as I have mentioned earlier, there are no lockers available to store your luggage but instead they have this luggage room where they give you a robe with a lock that you can wrap around and lock it onto the bars so no one can take your luggage away. Or if you are staying in the First Class cabin room that has more space available, you can take your luggage/bag inside to your room too. I have seen other guests sleeping in the Business Class cabin rooms just put their luggage outside of their room instead so it is more convenient to access. 







Also on the 2nd floor right across from the check in desk, there is a lovely cafe called KEY'S CAFE where guests can order a drink and snack while sitting to enjoy the view outside. And you can even order take out food too!









Overall I had a pretty good stay at the capsule hotel and I'd stay there again. There are lots of restaurants and shops nearby such as Yoshinoya and Matsuya and 711. I only stayed for 2 nights and wish I had more time to explore around the area. 

Room rates:
Business Class cabin: 4,300 yen
First Class cabin: 6,800 yen
Short stay: 1,000 yen for 1 hour

How to get to First Cabin Akasaka: 
1. You can take the train to Akasaka station and get out from exit 2 and it is right across the street. 
2. If you are coming from Haneda airport, you can also take the limousine bus to Akasaka Excel Hotel Tokyu and then walk to First Cabin in about 8 minutes

Official website: https://first-cabin.jp/en/

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