Weekly Mansions

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 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 who 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. They have 3 types of rooms Value, Standard and Grand.

In addition to weekly mansions, they also have specials which include deals for monthly stays, couples and seasonal holiday specials. Weekly Mansion Tokyo also have other budget accommodation called Flex-in, Hotel My-stays and My stays-in.

Facilities
Free internet
Video on demand (over 100 titles)
Television
Phone
Fridge
Air conditioning
Bed
Furniture
Small table
Dryer
Unit bath

If you ask at the front desk they will loan you a rice cooker, plates and cooking utensils.

Weekly Mansions have the following items for rent
Microwave oven
Air conditioner
Desk lamp
Iron

In the hall areas they have the following
Coin operated internet
Laundry corner (washing machine, dryer)
Vending machine
Newspapers for sale-Japanese

Services
Copy machine (charged)
Fax machine (charged)
Postal service

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.

Prices on the English site are slightly higher because of the larger room sizes and start at around 7000 yen/night (6,000 if you stay at least a week).

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.