APA Hotel Nishi-Azabu (Tokyo, Japan)

If you’re into shopping, eating and/or sinking a few jars in the evening then this hotel’s location is likely to please you no end, set as it is within an easy walk of countless restaurants, bars and shopping venues. Being about to stroll up to Roppongi Hills in 10-15 minutes is a huge plus too.

Full of endeavour and keen to please, the hotel’s small team of customer-facing employees are about as polite and industrious as they come.

The fact that is hotel lies in a residential part of Nishi-Azabu means there isn’t as much going on at street level as there tends to be in more tourist-friendly neighbourhoods. The upshot of this is that there’s very little, noise-wise, to keep you awake at night.

Yes, it’s Tokyo so expecting a three-star hotel to be spacious isn’t really an option. What pushes these guest rooms well and truly into the realm of ‘OMG’ though is that they’re equipped with incredibly large flat-screen TVs which only help to make the space as a whole feel even more limited. Bizarre.

It may be economical but having the electricity go AWOL every time you go out makes it very difficult to charge your devices during the daytime

Unlike so many other hotels within this price range, this property does not reach the very high standards of presentation which is thankfully (for visitors) the norm in Japan. Indeed, the presence of things like torn curtains, smelly bathrooms and worn carpets makes this hotel standout for the wrong reasons.