Hotels We Like

J-pop Best Western

Next time I'm in San Francisco I really want to stay at this Best Western. That's not normally something I could usually imagine myself saying, but this is a chain hotel with a difference. Best Western Hotel Tomo is located in Japantown and is suitably attired in the very best of Japanese pop culture.

It's the ultimate immersion in Japanese culture without the jet lag. Guests are met in the lobby by a wall of TV screens, vending machines and anime murals by Heisuke Kitazawa. You'll also find one of these in each of the 125 rooms, along with glow-in-the-dark desk blotters, 26-inch flat LCD televisions, cable TV with LodgeNet and on-demand movies and games, iPod docking stations with radios, bean bag chairs, and high-speed internet access.

If you want to go the whole hog and surrender to your teenage years all over again, book a gaming suite, which comes equipped with PlayStation 3, Wii, bean bags, and 6-foot LCD projection screen.

Step outside the hotel and you can keep the illusion of being in Tokyo going for a little longer. Japantown is full of gift stores, bookstores, kimono shops and sushi bars. All this with rooms starting at $139. All Best Westerns should be this cool. RM

Images: Hotel Tomo

2008 Jul 1 2 responses. share this

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