Chez Lily is a fantastic location !! I would stay here again because it’s literally the perfect location for any traveler.
There were a few cons though but the pros of the location outweighs the cons for me.
Pros:
-location location location! There’s a 7 eleven nearby. Very convenient because we were leaving to explore at like 5am everyday so having a 24/7 convenience store nearby was helpful to grab a quick breakfast and snacks.
The Higashi Shinjuku Station is literally across the street so coming home from a long day and subway rides you don’t have to make a far walk to get to the apartment. The Higashi-Shinjuku station is 2 stops from the main Shinjuku Station. So if you actually feel like walking to the central area (shopping, food, etc) instead of using the subway , it’s totally walkable! Some days we took the subway to the main shinjuku area but most days we just walked. Popular tourist spots such as Downtown where robot restaurant is, is a 5 min walk away !
Chez Lily is in Shinjuku district which is central part of Tokyo so it’s easy access to all the Tokyo hot spots and the main stations.
Location is very important to me as a visitor because time is precious! We are currently staying in another area of Tokyo which doesn’t have any of the above so it’s inconvenient for us. Takes us over an hour to get to the center, far walk to convenience store etc. So Chez Lily is truly a gem location wise.
-As for the place itself. We actually stayed in 2 rooms. Both were IMPECCABLY clean. Love it! Each room was decorated nicely. I love the theming.
-They have a guidebook that gives you very clear instructions on check in process, and how to use the appliances.
-Lastly, our host was kind and try to help best they could for any situation beyond what is expected from a host. Thanks!
Cons:
People said check in process was easy but actually it can take a while. Don’t get me wrong, the instructions were clear and not confusing. It’s the actual check in process with the operator that can take a while because of slow connection and actually reaching one. It took us so long before we could get in our room and we were incredibly tired from our flight. On my second night we saw another couple trying to check in and they were also struggling a lot. Initially the internet wasn’t even working for them to check in! Our room was right next to the check in area and the couple struggled for a long time (longer than us) to be able to access their room.
another con was that the internet connection was very poor during our stay which was very frustrating. The internet would not work most of the time. Luckily we had our own pocket WiFi so we had rely On that.
Lastly, the place is pretty cramped. To be fair, I think this is normal for a Japanese home though. But it’s unfortunate because we didn’t even have space to eat unless you want to pull the table to the middle of the room which wasn’t very practical.
Anyway, those things didn’t bother us too much because location was perfect and we were gone everyday from early morning to evenings. Oh I forgot to mention a yummy coffee shop is across the street too!