Hotel Nikko Narita is a 685-room hotel located nearby Narita Airport. The hotel was completed in 1978, becoming one of the first few airport hotels to service New Tokyo International Airport (Narita), which opened that same year. Hotel Nikko itself was actually a subsidiary of Japan Airlines, as evident from its name that’s written as「ホテル日航」in Japanese. This name was derived from the abbreviated name for Japan Airlines 「日航」(Nikkō). Whilst the company was sold to Okura Hotels in 2010, Hotel Nikko Narita retains a prominent JAL logo on its façade.

Booking Hotel Nikko Narita

As with most hotels on this trip, I booked Hotel Nikko Narita via agoda.com, which had the best price for my stay. I paid the equivalent of JPY8,300 (~ Rp 932,000, £50) for a single occupancy room, which I thought was a solid price.

Location

Like most airport hotels, there is pretty much nothing to do within the immediate vicinity of Hotel Nikko Narita. Apart from a 7-11 convenience store and a Sukiya chain restaurant, there’s not much else to see around the hotel. The hotel provides an airport shuttle bus, which I will talk about next.

Shuttle Bus

To get to Hotel Nikko Narita, I took a limited express Asakusa Line train from Tokyo, which eventually merged into the Keisei Main Line. After a really long (but cheap) ride passing by every suburb in the east of Tokyo, I finally made it to Chiba Prefecture, where Narita Airport is located. I alighted at Terminal 2 Station with just enough time to catch the shuttle bus to Hotel Nikko on the terminal’s arrivals level.

The shuttle departs from Bus Stand no. 33, where a Hotel Nikko employee is stationed. He requested everyone to line up their bags by the kerbside so that they can be loaded into the bus quickly. The green Hotel Nikko bus arrived around five minutes before its scheduled departure, and we were motioned to board.

Whilst the employee was very calm and polite, I was really surprised when another guest started arguing about the bags. She was adamant that her bags should be placed on the door side, for whatever reason. She and her eight-person party even stood watch as they loaded the bags. Crikey, I can’t believe how entitled some people are!

After watching that interesting altercation, it was a two-minute drive to Terminal 1, where the bus picked up more people, before another five-minute drive to the hotel.

Arrival and Check-in

By way of the shuttle bus, I arrived at the hotel at around 15.20. The shuttle bus was nearly full, so there were a lot people coming off to check in. Somehow, my bags were the first to be unloaded, allowing me to avoid a long queue for check-in. Wew!

Before getting into the check-in line, a porter asked me to leave my bags with her so as not to overcrowd the line. She even loaded them onto a trolley so that it would be easy to carry to the room. How thoughtful! At the reception desk, the associate was very warm and friendly. He asked if I’d like to speak in Japanese or English, with me settling for the latter. 😉 As I wrote on the registration form, he quickly explained the features of the hotel before issuing my keycard. All in all, it took me less than three minutes to check-in. Very efficient!

Style Single Room

I was assigned a recently renovated Style Single Room on the 8th floor in the Main Wing. As advertised, the room is expectedly small, sizing at only 16 sqm. This was honestly no issue, considering my short sub-20-hour stay. My room viewed the airport complex, although the terminals themselves weren’t visible. Occasionally, I’d be able to see a few planes taking off and landing, but that’s about it. The windows thankfully kept the aircraft noise out of the room, though it shouldn’t be a big issue at night anyway, since Narita Airport has a curfew.

Bedroom

The bedroom consists of a single bed placed by the window side of the room. Next to it is a wheeled side table that can be easily moved towards the bedside. There is also an adjustable reading lamp on the headboard, along with the light switches and a power outlet. Across the bed are the television and the desk which houses the minibar.

The bed is very typical of a Japanese hotel. The mattress is on the firm side and the pillows are small. Whilst I didn’t find this especially comfortable, it was completely fine for my short stay at the hotel. Interestingly, this room can be joined with another Style Single, though I’m not sure what kind of travelling party would book two interconnecting single rooms…

On the desk is a lamp as well as a small vanity mirror that features flaps to cover it when not in use. Underneath it is a small and empty minibar, along with a hot water dispenser. If you plan to use the dispenser, make sure to fill it up in advance, as it takes a while for the water to boil.

Additionally, the room understandably does not have a closet, like at Sapporo Prince Hotel. Instead, there are several coat hooks by the entrance to ensure that you don’t forget your belongings.

Bathroom

Whilst the bedroom is small, there is apparently enough space to put in a full bathroom. As expected from the hotel’s age, the bathroom looks quite old but is otherwise very clean and well-maintained. It features a small but deep bathtub with a shower, alongside a toilet with a bidet-equipped seat.

The toiletries came in large refillable bottles and were from Cue, which is a brand of the Kao Corporation (a major Japanese cosmetics producer). As the colour of the bottles might imply, the soap was mint-scented and was sufficiently nice quality!

The water pressure from the shower was good and the bathtub also filled quickly. In any case, I was already grateful that the room even has a bathtub, which is great to alleviate aches after a long day of travel.

Lawson Convenience Store

At the lobby level, there is a Lawson convenience store available. The store is open 24 hours a day and is very convenient, especially given the lack of proper restaurants outside the hotel. In fact, I saw many of the guests on the same bus at Lawson after check-in, presumable to stock up their minibar (as I did!).

Service

Despite effectively being a transit hotel, I was impressed with the staff at Hotel Nikko Narita. For one, there was always an entourage of staff members standing in the lobby, ready to greet and assist guests. They were all friendly and proactive in offering assistance, which was almost quite overwhelming. The staff, whether in the lobby or on the corridors, were also very quick to greet any guest they passed by. Suffice to say, I was impressed by the service!

Overall

Overall, I found the Hotel Nikko Narita to be an excellent airport hotel in the vicinity of Narita Airport. Whilst the room was adequate, I felt that the great service and amenities really made this hotel shine. In such a sense, I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again, should the need arise – although, I’d also try to avoid having to spend too much time in Narita in the first place…

Read more from this trip here!