What is a Weekly Mansion?
A weekly mansion is a furnished apartment for short-term stays. From a size vs price perspective, they are generally more expensive than other housing such as guesthouses and ryokans. One of the big differences between a guesthouse and a weekly mansion is that guesthouse accommodation is conducive to meeting other people and socialising, whereas weekly mansions are private rooms with no ‘social space’ to mingle with other guests. Weekly Mansions are predominantly used by Japanese people and often by those on business trips.
The rooms are fairly small and in most cases not ideal for families. Meals are not included and at most places there is no housekeeping. The rooms are set up to cater for travelling business people so all rooms have a high speed internet connection.
The company which runs the weekly mansions in Tokyo is called Weekly Mansion Tokyo. They offer accommodation in 44 locations in the Tokyo area. Unfortunately their site is only in Japanese so you may need some assistance when choosing a room from their site. They do have an English site but they only offer accommodation in two areas in Tokyo (Akasaka and Asakusa) and two locations in Osaka (Otemae and Shinsaibashi). The rooms advertised on the English sites are called the ‘comfort selection’ and are a bit larger and can cater for families.
Prices
If you stay longer than a week, many of the monthly mansions provide a discount. The weekly prices are about 5,000-6,000 yen/night although you can receive a discount of about 500 yen to 1,000 yen per night depending on the location if you stay for a month. The average price at Weekly Mansion Tokyo is about 5,000 yen per night for a monthly plan.
Location
One good thing about weekly mansions is that there are a lot of them and they are nearly always located within walking distance of a station. The main locations in Tokyo are in the following areas: Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Gotanda, Shinagawa, Akasaka, Roppongi, Ueno, Asakusa, Nihonbashi, Koto, Kawasaki, Yokohama and Chiba.
Most of the weekly mansions have essential facilities such as a microwave oven, air conditioner, desk lamp, iron etc. They also have free internet access, television, phone, fridge, dryer and also some other creature comforts such as video on demand.
Alternatives to Weekly Mansions
Another type of housing similar to Weekly Mansions are Monthly Mansions. Because many of the Weekly Mansions in Tokyo are run by the same company there is a fair degree of standardization in the facilities. There are a larger number of Monthly Mansions run by various operators so the pricing, size and standard of facilities varies quite a bit.
Author: Richie
Richie Johns is a long term resident of Japan.