APA Hotels Japan - Highs and Lows of Japan’s Cheap Hotel Chain

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APA Hotels in Japan are an affordable range of accommodation often in convenient locations. If you are looking for cheap hotels in Japan close to stations or near landmarks, APA Hotels might be for you.

APA stands for ‘Always Pleasant Amenities’ and their room sizes vary greatly (although they are all generally quite small but modern, in line with lots of mid-range Japanese hotels in city locations).

Some of the bigger APA Hotels are called ‘Resorts’ and have roof-top swimming pools and incredible city views (like the APA Hotel & Resort Ryogoku Eki Tower).

From the best APA Hotels to what to expect inside the rooms, here is our guide to staying in APA Hotels in Japan in 2024.

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Table of Contents

How many APA hotels are there in Japan?

One of Japan’s biggest domestic hotel chains, APA Hotels has over 700 hotels and 105,000 rooms in Japan and overseas including a small number of hotels in the USA (APA Woodbridge) and in Canada (Coast Hotels) – source APA Hotels website.

APA Hotels can be found in all the major Japanese cities including Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Osaka.

We have stayed in the following APA Hotels in Japan:

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The APA hotel experience

Walking around big cities like Tokyo or Osaka, you’ll often see the unmistakeable bright orange and black signs marking out an APA Hotel.

They are kind of hard to miss (so excellent if you are waylaid with heavy backpacks or several cases – you won’t walk past it or need Google Translate!).

The bigger APA Hotel Resorts (like the APA Hotel & Resort Ryogoku Eki Tower or APA Hotel & Resort Yokohama Bay Tower) have very grand entrances and reception areas, often with chandeliers and polished marble interiors – so far, so opulent.

They also sometimes have convenience stores actually inside the hotel to serve their hundreds of rooms. For instance, in the Yokohama APA Resort we found a FamilyMart on the fourth floor, and the Ryogoku APA Resort we found a Lawson on the second floor.

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One of the most amusing things about staying in at the APA Hotels is the check-in process.

Given some are some huge hotels with over 30 floors, they have a large number of self-check desks which automatically come at 3pm ready for check-in (don’t even think about trying to check in early at APA hotels without paying extra).

We found the APA Hotel experience at the bigger APA Resort hotels generally better as the rooms are larger and they are often taller with better views and facilities.

Our experience at the regular APA Hotel Akihabara Ekimae was OK as it was a cheap hotel very near the bright lights of Akihabara but the room was tiny (but we knew this when booking).

APA Hotel Akihabara Ekimae room Japan — *APA Hotel Akihabara Ekimae room*

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APA hotel room interiors and room sizes

Based on all the APA Hotels we’ve stayed in, the APA Hotel interiors are usually quite modern with big LCD TV screens and grey / black and white interiors (thankfully there isn’t much of the bright orange APA colour in the rooms).

The TV Screens come with digital channels (including BBC News), plus a VOD / on demand box – this is one of the ways that APA tries to get extra money from you.

Adult TV programming and movies seem to be available too for a fee (you can buy discreet VOD cards in the hallway). So make sure you double check the remote control looks ‘clean’ before using it!

When the TV channel is first switched on, you’ll often see a corporate video for APA where APA President Fumiko Motoya is being cosily interviewed on a comfy sofa – more on how large the APA brand looms across the hotels in a mo…

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The bathrooms in APA hotels always seem to be quite small (‘cramped’ some would say).

One of the things that infuriated us was having to switch the water system from the hand sink to the shower on a regular basis.

When you’ve just woken up in the morning and are still half asleep, it is as though you need an ‘engineering’ degree just to work the shower and switch it from the taps.

WIFI at APA Hotels always seemed to be generally pretty speedy based on our own experiences.

We also thought the APA origami crane that we found in hotel rooms when we checked in was a nice touch too.

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APA hotel branding / what about the APA water bottles!

As well as being featured on the welcome TV screen, APAs female president Fumiko Motoya’s presence is felt quite large and looming in the hotel rooms.

Motoya’s face also adorns all the APA Hotel water bottles – so she is often seemingly staring at you whilst you drink.

Even slightly odder, Fumiko Motoya has her own instant President APA curry brand which is often promoted in the hotel and available in the APA hotel convenience shops – so you really live the APA brand whilst staying there, whether you like it or not.

Some APA hotels even have the President’s APA curry restaurants as part of their dining set up – so you can eat Fumiko Motoya’s curry dishes in the APA curry restaurants (very meta!)

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APA Hotel swimming pools

One other curious detail we noticed about branding in APA Hotels – all of the swimming pools we saw seem to have floor tiles that feature prominent drinks brands.

We think this must be a weird sponsorship deal but for instance, the Nescafe coffee logo loomed large at the APA Hotel & Resort Ryogoku Eki Tower – thankfully the pool contained just water and not coffee.

APA Hotel & Resort Ryogoku Eki Tower pool

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APA Hotel facilities including public baths

As mentioned previously, bigger APA Hotels often have convenience stores but some of the resorts have an incredible array of indoor activities – you kind of don’t want to leave the hotel.

For instance, many of the larger APA Hotel Resorts have steam rooms / public baths which are free to use and separated into men’s baths and women’s baths (mixed bathing is not available).

One bit of neat technology we really liked at the Japanese APA Hotels was that you could select ‘public baths’ on your in-room digital TVs and see how busy the baths were with a virtual occupancy screen.

So if the bath is too busy, it’ll show you on the screen and you can just wait in your room until it is quieter – now that is a smart TV!

APA hotels also provide robes in the room for you to wear between your room and the public bath.

Some APA Hotels have laundries too including their Yokohama Bay Tower hotel (it was actually quite a social place!). Microwaves and ice machines are available every few floors in most hotels too.

Many APA Hotels also have restaurants onsite (including some of their own brand curry restaurants selling President currys from Fumiko Motoya).

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APA Hotel check out time is early!

One thing to bear in mind when booking a hotel room with APA Hotels is that check out times are early.

Conventionally, Japanese hotel check out time is usually around 11am (so earlier than many other hotels overseas) but check out at time at APA Hotels is at 10am.

So for instance, at APA Hotel & Resort Yokohama Bay Tower, we could check in from 3pm and had to depart at 10am. So if you are staying just one night, this is 4 hours less than say a typical room in western hotels.

Late check out is available at APA Hotels for an additional fee.

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APA Hotel typical prices in Japan

Based on our own personal experiences, we found APA Hotels in Japan pretty good value compared to most of the other hotel chains.

We spent several months travelling around Japan and spent several nights in Tokyo and Yokohama in APA Hotels and APA Resorts.

Generally we were paying around £45 to £50 a night ($57 USD to $63) for Japan APA Hotels in Tokyo and Yokohama, without breakfast and booking a few months in advance.

All our stays at APA Hotels were perfectly fine, with clean hotel rooms in central locations (often near metro stations).

The average price for an 4* hotel room in Japan is usually around $150 so you can see what staying in an APA Hotel is an attractive proposition when looking for affordable accommodation.

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Who owns APA Hotels?

APA was founded in the 1980s by Toshio Motoya, wanting to start a range of affordable business hotels on a budget (which are also suitable for travellers).

He is one of the richest 50 people in Japan (according to Forbes) and is worth around $1.5 billion.

Toshio Motoya has some ‘interesting’ views of various world events and history, which are often included in the APA Hotel in-room literature and books.

He also employs his son Isshi as Group President, plus his wife Fumio Motoya is the hotel president (and the face of the APA Hotel water bottles)!

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APA Hotel controversy and scandal

One of the surreal things about staying in the APA Hotel chain in Japan is the APA Hotel book ‘Strong Army’ they put in every room, which is written by Fumiko Motoya with her face peering out from the front (as if the APA water bottles with her portrait weren’t enough).

This in-room literature is often accompanied with a controversial APA Hotel book that has quite strong views – “Theoretical Modern History – The Real History of Japan ” by Seiji Fuji (which many claim is a pen-name) and has upset many people, including Chinese guests.

As well as Japanese versions of the Japanese book, they even provide English language versions of their ‘manifesto’.

Several APA hotels in 2007 also failed earthquake safety desks after some of their data was deemed to be incorrect.

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APA Hotels Review – are they worth it / recommended?

All in all, APA Hotels are a pleasant stay often in great locations and close to public transport links – all of the APA Hotels we’ve stayed in have been clean and comfortable and the APA Resort hotels have some great facilities like free public baths.

APA Hotel Rooms can be quite small (like our experience at APA Hotel Akihabara Ekimae) but if you are mainly sightseeing all day, this likely won’t be an issue.

We do think all the branding on the water bottles (and on the TV screens) plus the in-room APA Hotel literature in the rooms is a bit bonkers / over the top.