So, this time I decided to use some of the recommendations in this thread and stay at cheaper business hotels, and here are a few thoughts on the ones I stayed at, Hotel New Ueno, ibis Styles Osaka Namba, and Tokyu Stay Shinjuku, stars given are based on the business-style hotel market, not hotels in general:

Hotel New Ueno

Booked Through - Agoda
Nights: 3
Cost - $138.82 - avg. $46.27
Stars: 4/10

Location: Right across the street from the JR Ueno Station, 5-minute walk from the Keisei Ueno Station. Lots of food options nearby, ramen shops, gyudon (Matsuya, Yoshinoya) shops, izakaya, and western (Wendy's). Right next to the Ueno Park and a quick walk into the main part of Ueno where there are a lot more food/entertainment options (lots of Karaoke places).

Thoughts: This hotel was small, smallest of the three hotels I stayed at. Bathroom was decent, included a bidet/washlet, water pressure was powerful. There was no safe in the hotel room I had. Bed for the price was a twin that took up almost the entire room, with a small desk taking up most of the other area. Normal Japanese hotel stuff, including an electric kettle, a yukata, and slippers. The window in the room did open to the road behind the hotel, which allowed fresh air in. It served a purpose of giving me a place to lay my head at night but wasn't the most comfortable room. The bathroom also included soap/shampoo and toothbrushes.

One big annoyance was that I was required to hand in my key card every time I left, I didn't catch that when I checked in, was caught and asked to give up my keycard as I was walking out the door to go grab food the first night. Which means you also have to go through the front door to pick your card back up on the way back in, which is annoying after a few drinks.

Overall, it was an OK hotel, but I won't stay there again.

ibis Styles Osaka-Namba

Booked Through - Accor (direct)
Nights: 5
Cost - 33,939円 - avg. 6789円 or $47/ni based on exchange rate at checkin
Stars: 7/10

Location: On the street that runs along the opposite of the river from Dotonbori. It's right in the middle of things, near a huge amount of food and entertainment options. Also about a 5-minute walk from several entrances to Namba Station to catch the Midōsuji Line (among others), and also 5 minutes to the Kintetsu-Nihombashi subway station to catch the Namba, Sakaisuji, and Sennichimae Lines. Super walkable area, and north of the hotel is a red-light district but with lots more smaller/more local food options. The one big problem I have with Dotonbori in general is that it's just dirty with trash and vomit all over the ground in the morning. They do a good job of cleaning it up though before noon, just to get trashed again, but once you get past that, the area is just full of activity, food, and things to do.

Thoughts: This was the biggest of the three hotel rooms. Not huge like I'd find in a Hyatt, but enough size to be able to stretch out. The bed was nice and comfortable, there was a good-sized desk, a safe in the room, very large bathroom, a chair, an air purifier, and the window opened (though there's a sign saying not to). The A/C was nice and cold. The staff were nice, there was a coffee machine on the bottom floor including drip coffee, latte's, mochas, and hot chocolate. There's an entrance in to the neighboring 7-11 right inside the hotel, so no need to go out. Downstairs has a computer you can use to access the internet, and a bar along the window you can sit at and charge your phone if you need to before checking in. I got in early and they held my luggage no problem until 2pm when I was allowed to check in. The bathroom also included soap/shampoo and toothbrushes.

Tokyu Stay Shinjuku

Booked Through - Tokyu Stay (direct)
Nights: 5
Cost - 51,643円 - avg. 10,328円 or $73/ni based on exchange rate at checkin
Stars: 9/10

Location: Right around the corner from the exit of the Shinjuku-Sanchome station with the Shinjuku Line that is one station away from Shinjuku station and also gets you close to places like Akihabara, via the Iwamotocho station, without needing to go to Shinjuku to get on a JR line. The area itself is a good mix of izakayas (right around the hotel) and small restaurants, starbucks, higher end restaurants, higher end stores (Gucci for example), a 15-minute walk to the main Shinjuku (and JR Shinjuku Station), and a 15-minute walk to Shinjuku proper and Kabukicho. Area-wise, this was my favorite of the three spots, as I'm a huge fan of staying in Shinjuku.

Thoughts: This hotel room was the middle-sized one of the three (though really not much smaller than the ibis), so less value per $$ based solely on room, but location made up for it. The hotel also has a coffee machine at the bottom floor but only drip coffee, no latte's and mochas, along with a beer vending machine for 230円 per beer, and another one with the typical teas/milk teas/coffees for about 120-140円. The staff were very nice, and the hotel itself was extremely clean and my room looked new. The bathroom was great, including washlet, and the tub was massive. I was given a room on almost the top floor, and that gave me a nice view of Shinjuku and it's buildings. Same as the others, this room included the typical Japanese hotel things like the Yukata, slippers, and kettle, and there was a selection of tea bags, and some other amenities, on the bottom floor near the elevators. The bathroom also included soap/shampoo and toothbrushes. Overall this was my favorite hotel of the 3, based on how clean and new the room was, the location, and getting a high up floor with a nice view. Definitely will be staying here again.

BONUS - Sauna & Capsule hotel Cure Kokuboncho

Booked Through - at the capsule hotel
Nights: 1
Cost - 5500円 - $39 based on exchange rate at the time
Stars: 5/10

Location - Kokuboncho is a 15-minute walk from the Sendai station or a 10-minute ride on the Namboku Line to the Kotodaikoen Station. From there the capsule hotel is another easy 5 or so minute walk. The area had some excellent yakiniku restaurants, several gyutan (beef tongue - something Sendai is famous for) restaurants, and typical izakayas and ramen places. The area didn't have much more going on, closed a bit early and was a bit sleepy for the most part, but Sendai does get quite busy, with a lot more to do and not far away either by walking or train. The area was clean and safe. I didn't really spend much time there, from what I experienced, I liked the place, especially the Sendai Horumon (仙一ホルモン) restaurant, which had some of the most flavorful meat I've eaten at a Yakiniku restaurant.

Thoughts - I got stuck in Sendai trying to make it to Toshirojima (cat island), getting there after the last boat where I didn't need an overnight hotel stay on the island, which honestly I wish I would have just done since they ran about 7000 yen and included dinner and breakfast the next morning, and it's on cat island, but with the hour train ride back to Sendai, I didn't want to deal with trying to get a late night Shinkansen raid back to Shinagawa station. I ended up just searching capsule hotels and that one came up with good reviews.

The hotel itself was pretty easy to get checked in, take shoes off and get a locker for them, give the key to the front desk, they give you a wrist band with a locker/capsule number on it, some clothes to wear once you're up on the floor, and direct you to the payment machine to the left side. You can pay via cash or credit card. I paid, and went to the third floor where my capsule was. On each of the capsule floors there are sets of lockers, several banks of sinks with hair dryers, tooth brushes, and a machine with combs. There's also a beer and tea vending machine on each floor, along with a smoking room, and a cell phone usage room.

On the 5th floor is a sento with both indoor and outdoor baths, an area to purchase a body scrub/massage, a sauna, several showers to clean yourself off before you go into the water, and a vending machine with different types of milk (regular, strawberry, chocolate) and some mango drink, which is traditional for people to drink after a soak in the onsen/sento. The capsule I got was on the bottom level (there are 2 levels) was about 7' long, had a small tv with a headset, and a light that made it quite bright inside. There was also a quite thick blanket, that you could also use to sleep on. The place was clean, no weird smells, but given that it's a capsule, it's not overly comfortable and the place is noisy with snoring at night and alarms going off as early as 5:30am. For a quick place to sleep, it wasn't bad, but it cost more than I would have paid if I weren't in a rush to find a place. There were also "premium" capsules, which were basically rooms with a curtain instead of a door, I beleive those went for 7500 yen. Overall not bad, just had a hurt back by the time I woke up in the morning.


ibis Styles Osaka-Namba (excuse the wire mess)

Tokyu Stay Shinjuku

Hotel New Ueno

sauna&Capsule hotel Cure Kokuboncho