Where to Stay in Tokyo: Hotel Villa Fontaine Roppongi

Day 1: Landing in Japan - REVIEW OF HOTEL VILLA FONTAINE ROPPONGI, TOKYO - Expedia Office Meet.

Hotel Villa Fontaine Roppongi, Tokyo: A Review

One of the major deciding factors to answering the question, How was your travel trip? largely depends on the hotel that you choose to stay, I am sure you all agree. It is one thing that can make or mar your trip, polish it or blur it towards oblivion. Which is why I was so eagerly looking forward to the Hotel Villa Fontaine Roppongi in Japan booked for me by the travel company, Expedia!

Hotel Villa Fontaine Roppongi, Tokyo

And I don’t know if I am doing it right in disclosing this beforehand, but Hotel Villa Fontaine Roppongi did score excellently well on my scorecard.

First Glance - Entrance

At first glance itself, the hotel spelt luxury. The lobby was spacious, well lit up with a pleasant and an obliging English speaking front desk.

The Lobby area after entrance -
the reception on the left and the breakfast area to the right of the picture.

Complimentary Breakfast

In one part of the reception area, there was a complimentary buffet style breakfast to start the day that came along with our room price.

Guests dining at the breakfast seating area in the lobby

Quite elaborate with a wide range of exotic items like miso soup, rice, yoghurt, salad, different types of bread, milk, orange juice, tea, coffee; the lavish spread was an absolute treat to the senses.

Cabbage Salad and chopsticks in the foreground

Miso soup - This is non vegetarian

Green and Black tea, kept on a burner

Milk bread buns - similar to the Indian bun paav

... And this was my favorite -

The Chilled Orange juice!

My Plate: Vegetarian Options

While pure veggies don’t have much of a choice but for us the combination of milk-bread, butter and the orange juice worked wonders and ensured that our day started on a healthy and a filling note.

My Plate looked the same on all the three days
consisting of milk bread, butter and juice.

My Room

My room had a cozy and a warm set up that came along with a special queen bed. I flopped on it, tired and weary every night and this made it quite hard for me to leave it the next morning. The room was big enough for two people to fit in comfortably and clean enough for a homely stay. They weren’t anything elaborate, just simple and comfortable. The allure of this room, for me, simply lied in its uncluttered details.

My Queen Bed!

Amenities and Facilities

The amenities in the room integrated a small refrigerator with slip-ons and night pyjamas included.

The night pyjamas made for a pretty picture of amusement..
And no, I did not use them! :-)

The Bathroom

But what absolutely caught my fancy was the bathroom. The tap water was filtered and good to drink, toiletries provided were fragrant with a delicate scent - refurnished as soon as we used them and the toilet seat looked more like a toy with buttons and lights! (More on that in a later post though)

I drank this water everyday.

The Mineral water bottle was too costly,

and this proved to be a pretty safe bet instead!

The other freebies - toothbrush, paste et al

Free Wi Fi and Internet Access

Apart from this, the hotel also offered the usual amenities like free wifi access in all the rooms that are the hallmark of every luxury hotel today.

The Business center at the ground floor with two PC's
-- this was my temporary work area too.

The language was set Japanese and could not be changed

but thankfully, Gmail was an exception!

And... to cap all of the above,

These were the views to which I opened my eyes every morning...

[This picture was taken somewhere around as early as 4.15 am...

Yes, the sun rises that early in Japan.]

So, Should you stay in Hotel Villa Fontaine?

YES

Simply because, the 3 days that we spent in the hotel in many ways set up our trip in Tokyo, not only because of its ambiance but because of its courteous staff as well. Voluntarily offering to keep our luggage at the reception area, personally attending us with the subway map route and sight seeing options when asked for and helping us track the veggie options from the breakfast buffet are just some of the things that will ensure that I come back to this hotel, the next time we come to this beautiful city and recommend it to you as well.

Facts and Tips for Travelers:

1. One thing that you need to be careful of is the check in time. They are quite firm about it and wont allow you in before their predefined point. However, the good side to it is that in case you happen to drop in before time like we did, the staff is helping enough to safely shelter your luggage till you secure your room later. That’s it though, they dont entertain any more requests in this regard, no matter how long your travel has been or how tired you are, and you are left to take care of yourself.

Timings: Check-In: 15:00 Check-Out: 11:00.

2. Conveniently located right adjacent to the Roppongi-itchome station, Hotel Villa Fontaine gives you easy access to the subway train network that connects you to the rest of Tokyo.

3. I am not too sure what use addresses serve when trying to reach a place in Japan. My personal experience says that people hardly identify places by their exact addresses. Its better to know the nearest station to your hotel beforehand, well in advance and then ask for the place after alighting at the correct station.

4. Do a thorough research on the web for places to stay before deciding on one especially if you are travelling solo and on a budget - you can find some really cool best hostels to stay for solo travellers in Tokyo. 

Basic information:

Address: 1-6-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku,Tokyo - 1060032 

- 0 min. from Roppongi Itchome station. The station gives direct access to the hotel! (Namboku Line)
- 8 min. walk from Kamiyacho station.
- 8 min. walk from Tameiko Sanno station.
- 12 min. walk from Roppongi station.

Telephone no.: 03-3560-1110 (direct), 03-5339-1200 (reservation desk)

Tariff: Around 20,000 Yen.

For more details, please visit: http://www.hvf.jp/eng/roppongi.php/

Previous Posts from the Japan Trip -

1. Planning for Japan: Visa, Flight Bookings, Hotel Reservations, etc.

2. Sunrise pictures from the flight to Japan