Hotel That Never Sleeps, Innsomnia Akasaka – CLOSED

The Innsomnia Akasaka in Tokyo bills itself as the “Hotel that never sleeps” in a “city of sleepless people.” It seems an unusual way to promote an establishment that is intended to facilitate sleeping, but there is nothing usual about this hotel. The convenient location, unusually spacious rooms, and generous amenities have placed the hotel on my top list of places to stay in Tokyo.

It’s easy to walk right by the hotel with its unassuming sign. You enter and walk through the 24-hour cafe to reach the reception desk.  The bicycles outside are available for complimentary rental.

It doesn’t stop there. Excellent drip coffee from Kyoto based Unir, offered free to guests 24 hours.

During the day, a menu of espresso drinks is complimentary for guests. I can’t think of a more appropriate perk for insomniacs and jet lagged guests. If you would prefer to hit the gym, the aptly named “Muscle Pain” is open 24 hours.

Pepper, Japan’s friendly service robot is on hand to help you get information on the hotel and city. In addition, the hotel offers free smart phone rental service with free internet and local (and designated international) calls. In a country that has very limited free wi-fi, it is a huge benefit. Just remember to erase your data!  I recently stayed in a hotel in Italy and the smartphone in my room had hundreds of photos taken by the guests before me.

When you get off the elevator, the building reveals itself as a former Japanese residential building with external corridors.

This is also apparent in the genkan, a traditional Japanese entryway where you leave your shoes.  This may seem like a new concept to some visitors, but it immediately made me feel at home. Particularly since the hotel is in the neighborhood that I lived in for many years.

The hotel has seven different room formats, including both Western and Japanese-inspired. We had two separate stays in a Western room.  The first stay was in a “Thirty-Five,” a 35 square meter room – very large by Tokyo Standards.

I don’t usually spend enough time in hotel rooms to watch movies, but the on-demand menu is actually complimentary. You can also log into your Netflix accounts. Again, remember to log out before you depart. I have been in several hotels recently where the Netflix was still logged into the account of the previous guest.

Our second stay was in a “Fifty,” a 50 square meter room that felt more like a small apartment.

It was nice to have a balcony with a view of my old stomping grounds.  Of course I lived there before the days of Tokyo Mid-Town, so the view is a little different.

The hotel also has useful spaces for rent at 50% off for guests. “Workaholic” is a meeting room, and “Kitchen Drinker” is party room with a kitchen. Now that I no longer have a place in Tokyo, I can’t wait to go back and host a dinner party for up to eight, or a cocktail party for a larger group.

Yes, Innsomnia is a strange name for a place that is intended to facilitate sleep.  Then again, if you are going be up with jet-lag anyway, why not stay in a hotel that will stay up with you?

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The small hotel is not served by the Airport Limousine Bus to Narita or Haneda Airports.  The most convenient way to the hotel is to take the Limousine Bus to the ANA Intercontinental, Akasaka Excel, or Capitol Hotel Tokyu, then take a cab. You can also take the Narita Express to Tokyo Station and take a taxi from there. My only complaint was that the woman at reception was not willing to help us get reservations on the return Limousine Bus. She said we didn’t need them, but I’ve had a few trips recently were the buses were almost full. It’s easy enough to make reservations at the Limousine Bus Office on the ground floor of the ANA Hotel. Everyone else we encountered was very helpful in providing information and making restaurant and other reservations.

The Innsomnia Akasaka is a two minute walk from Exit 2 of Akasaka Station (Chiyoda Line). Make a left when you exit and look for the small sign at the entrance to the alleyway almost immediately on your left. The hotel is six minutes from Exit 10 of Tameike-Sanno Station (Ginza and Namboku Line).  Akasaka-Mitsuke Station (Ginza and Marunouchi Line) and Nagatacho Station (Yurakucho Line) are also within 10 minutes walk of the hotel.