Andaz Tokyo - REVIEW - MASTER THREAD
May 22, 2016, 2:28 pm
#856
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: ZRH, CGN
Programs: AA Gold, *G
Posts: 257
I think I saw someone up thread post about how the 3x on Hyatt Chase didn't post for this property. My statement just closed and I can confirm the same thing. A quick phone call corrected it (and they threw in some bonus points for the mistake), but be sure to check your statement if you plan to use the Hyatt card at this property.
May 23, 2016, 7:55 am
#858
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: IAD, TPE
Posts: 465
Hi,
We visited Tokyo during April 8-15 and stay at Conrad Tokyo, Park Hyatt Tokyo, and Tokyo Andaz. Among the 3 hotels we stayed at, we had the worse experience at Tokyo Andaz and Conrad Tokyo being the best.
We booked two standard rooms for 2 nights (4 people) for April 14 & 15 (one with king bed, one with 2 twin beds) using Chase Hyatt 2 free night certificates (total 4 certificates were used). Before we arrived Tokyo Andaz, I had already emailed the hotel directly to request Tower view for Diamond members (of course I understand it is based on availability) and the hotel said they will put a note on my reservation regarding the upgrade.
We checked in at Tokyo Andaz on April 14 around 7pm, during check-in, we inquired if there was any upgrade available for Diamond member. Without checking in the system, the girl who checked us in immediately said "No, nothing." Because we were short on time needed to be somewhere else, so I didn't have time to actually check Hyatt.com to check the Tower view room availability. After we returned to the hotel around 11:00pm, I checked Hyatt.com and saw there was Tower view room available!! So I went downstairs to check with front desk again. This time was a gentlemen at the front desk. I told him my room number and asked him if there was any Tower view rooms available for upgrade, without checking, he immediately said no! OK, so i showed him my phone and told him, "well, i just checked hyatt.com and it shows you have tower view room for tonight!" Then he started to look into his computer and found a Twin room with Tower view. He then said, there will be a fee to upgrade to Tower view. I said, "there is an upgrade fee for Diamond member?" He said, "Oh, you are a Diamond?" Up until this point, I was already not happy. I was thinking, didn't you just look into my reservation? Didn't my reservation say I'm a Diamond member? But in the end he was able to upgrade us for one night to the Twin Tower view room as the next night the hotel is "fully" booked.
Feeling really upset, I went back to my new room and emailed Tokyo Andaz to tell them the unpleasant check-in experience I have encountered and asked them if there was any "discrimination practice" for not upgrading Diamond members when there is indeed availability. Next morning I receive an email from the Front Desk Assistant Manager and told me he would like to meet with me. However, I have to say, the meeting experience with the Front desk assistant manager did not go well either. He apologized about bad experience we had, but I can tell he was not sincere. His attitude and tone of voice was just not sincere and candid. He even mentioned the rooms are not paid room and are booked with points/certificate. I was actually pretty surprised because Japan is known for their good customer service. I asked him to check if the tower view room was available for the second night (4/15), he said no, the hotel is "overbooked." This time, it is not fully booked, it is "overbooked." Thinking to myself, so he is telling me, if the hotel has 200 rooms, they are overbooked for 205?? is that what he is telling me?
When we checked out on 4/16, the front desk was a little busy. I approached a gentlemen and asked if i could have General Manager's email or name card because I would like to share my experience and feedback about this hotel. He then told me he is the director of room and he will be glad to talk to me. So we went to the lounge area and I told him about my unpleasant check-in experience (asked him why upgrade was not offer upon check-in) and also the bad attitude from the Front desk assistant manager. He said he had received my feedback email from another day and was actually waiting to meet with me when I check out. Director was much more sincere and nice compare to the assistant manager. He said it was their fault that upgrade was not offered to me upon check-in and said the front desk agent (who checked us in on the first night) might be thinking we wanted a King Tower view room, but they only had Twin Tower view room (Thinking to myself, uh we booked one King and one Twin, if you had Twin Tower available, why would you think we only want King Tower? I think he is just making up excuses too). Director then said, on that day, all front desk agents were told all rooms are booked and there will be no upgrade offer (which i think was a bad excuse to cover their fault). How can the agent not check the system and just tell the guests no upgrades.
Also, during our stay at the hotel, we also felt the staff at the hotel treated non-Asian and Japanese guests better. I have recently read a review here and Tripadvisor that Asian (not Japanese) guests receive less of of service in this hotel. When I brought up this issue with the director, he said he is aware of that guest's Tripadvisor review and he will try to educate his staff better.
Anyways, I am really disappointed about my stay at Tokyo Andaz and compared to my experience at Conrad Tokyo, it was like day and night.
We visited Tokyo during April 8-15 and stay at Conrad Tokyo, Park Hyatt Tokyo, and Tokyo Andaz. Among the 3 hotels we stayed at, we had the worse experience at Tokyo Andaz and Conrad Tokyo being the best.
We booked two standard rooms for 2 nights (4 people) for April 14 & 15 (one with king bed, one with 2 twin beds) using Chase Hyatt 2 free night certificates (total 4 certificates were used). Before we arrived Tokyo Andaz, I had already emailed the hotel directly to request Tower view for Diamond members (of course I understand it is based on availability) and the hotel said they will put a note on my reservation regarding the upgrade.
We checked in at Tokyo Andaz on April 14 around 7pm, during check-in, we inquired if there was any upgrade available for Diamond member. Without checking in the system, the girl who checked us in immediately said "No, nothing." Because we were short on time needed to be somewhere else, so I didn't have time to actually check Hyatt.com to check the Tower view room availability. After we returned to the hotel around 11:00pm, I checked Hyatt.com and saw there was Tower view room available!! So I went downstairs to check with front desk again. This time was a gentlemen at the front desk. I told him my room number and asked him if there was any Tower view rooms available for upgrade, without checking, he immediately said no! OK, so i showed him my phone and told him, "well, i just checked hyatt.com and it shows you have tower view room for tonight!" Then he started to look into his computer and found a Twin room with Tower view. He then said, there will be a fee to upgrade to Tower view. I said, "there is an upgrade fee for Diamond member?" He said, "Oh, you are a Diamond?" Up until this point, I was already not happy. I was thinking, didn't you just look into my reservation? Didn't my reservation say I'm a Diamond member? But in the end he was able to upgrade us for one night to the Twin Tower view room as the next night the hotel is "fully" booked.
Feeling really upset, I went back to my new room and emailed Tokyo Andaz to tell them the unpleasant check-in experience I have encountered and asked them if there was any "discrimination practice" for not upgrading Diamond members when there is indeed availability. Next morning I receive an email from the Front Desk Assistant Manager and told me he would like to meet with me. However, I have to say, the meeting experience with the Front desk assistant manager did not go well either. He apologized about bad experience we had, but I can tell he was not sincere. His attitude and tone of voice was just not sincere and candid. He even mentioned the rooms are not paid room and are booked with points/certificate. I was actually pretty surprised because Japan is known for their good customer service. I asked him to check if the tower view room was available for the second night (4/15), he said no, the hotel is "overbooked." This time, it is not fully booked, it is "overbooked." Thinking to myself, so he is telling me, if the hotel has 200 rooms, they are overbooked for 205?? is that what he is telling me?
When we checked out on 4/16, the front desk was a little busy. I approached a gentlemen and asked if i could have General Manager's email or name card because I would like to share my experience and feedback about this hotel. He then told me he is the director of room and he will be glad to talk to me. So we went to the lounge area and I told him about my unpleasant check-in experience (asked him why upgrade was not offer upon check-in) and also the bad attitude from the Front desk assistant manager. He said he had received my feedback email from another day and was actually waiting to meet with me when I check out. Director was much more sincere and nice compare to the assistant manager. He said it was their fault that upgrade was not offered to me upon check-in and said the front desk agent (who checked us in on the first night) might be thinking we wanted a King Tower view room, but they only had Twin Tower view room (Thinking to myself, uh we booked one King and one Twin, if you had Twin Tower available, why would you think we only want King Tower? I think he is just making up excuses too). Director then said, on that day, all front desk agents were told all rooms are booked and there will be no upgrade offer (which i think was a bad excuse to cover their fault). How can the agent not check the system and just tell the guests no upgrades.
Also, during our stay at the hotel, we also felt the staff at the hotel treated non-Asian and Japanese guests better. I have recently read a review here and Tripadvisor that Asian (not Japanese) guests receive less of of service in this hotel. When I brought up this issue with the director, he said he is aware of that guest's Tripadvisor review and he will try to educate his staff better.
Anyways, I am really disappointed about my stay at Tokyo Andaz and compared to my experience at Conrad Tokyo, it was like day and night.
After about 4 months of inactivity, the GM at the andaz Tokyo finally wrote me back regarding my stay. However, the email was just a prolonged paraphrase of his TA response. I totally sympathize with you because we felt slighted as well but this is not an issue that can simply be pointed out like a broken faucet. The behavior is often intangible, but as you mentioned comes through in an employee's sincerity, earnestness, and overall willingness to help.
I do have a trip planned for Tokyo, and I plan to stay at this property a couple of nights. It’ll be interesting to see if anything has changed. In the meantime, feel free to PM me if I can help in any way.
May 23, 2016, 1:35 pm
#859
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: From and of Boston.
Posts: 4,973
Back in January, fangtl said "we didn’t feel very welcomed or at ease from the time we checked-in to the time we checked-out at the Andaz Tokyo. If it wasn’t for time constraints and being in a foreign country and city, we would have looked for other options." He goes on to say, "I WILL remember the blatant discrimination I felt during my stay."
Now while I make no assumptions about what the hotel staff actually did or didn't do, I don't for a moment question that fangtl felt as he'd claimed. But for the life of me, I cannot figure out why someone who felt unwelcome, who felt discriminated against, and who would have changed hotels but for time constraints, chooses to stay at the same hotel several months later.
As Albert Einstein didn't actually say, it's not terribly wise to do the same thing over again and expect different results.
May 23, 2016, 1:59 pm
#860
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: AUH
Posts: 8,267
Now while I make no assumptions about what the hotel staff actually did or didn't do, I don't for a moment question that fangtl felt as he'd claimed. But for the life of me, I cannot figure out why someone who felt unwelcome, who felt discriminated against, and who would have changed hotels but for time constraints, chooses to stay at the same hotel several months later.
May 23, 2016, 3:39 pm
#863
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: Hyatt Discoverist, SEIBU PRINCE CLUB Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 20,436
May 23, 2016, 6:55 pm
#864
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 73
My stay in Andaz Tokyo yesterday was quite pleasant. I am a diamond member, having just booked a Twin room using BRG, they upgraded me to a Tower View King room [not large tower king...] after looking up at the inventory. (At first they claimed only bayview and garden view twin avaliable for upgrade which I confirmed after having a look through the hyatt app, but they did at least try to check their inventory]
2 down side i recognized is:
a. there is no club lounge for this hotel and the apparent "lounge" is avalible for all guests at the lobby. Not that many snacks avaliable and alcohol is just serve from 6 to 8pm [2 bottles of wine and a bottle of sake]
b. Rooftop bar spendings on alcohol cannot save points in Hyatt gold passport, so, a pity as well.
All summed up here for my stay.
2 down side i recognized is:
a. there is no club lounge for this hotel and the apparent "lounge" is avalible for all guests at the lobby. Not that many snacks avaliable and alcohol is just serve from 6 to 8pm [2 bottles of wine and a bottle of sake]
b. Rooftop bar spendings on alcohol cannot save points in Hyatt gold passport, so, a pity as well.
All summed up here for my stay.
May 24, 2016, 9:40 am
#866
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: pleb
Posts: 563
Club lounges are not a feature for Andaz hotels.
May 24, 2016, 3:09 pm
#869
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,413
May 24, 2016, 3:31 pm
#870
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: Hyatt Discoverist, SEIBU PRINCE CLUB Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 20,436
Hyatt Gold Passport points will not be awarded on alcoholic beverage purchases in certain jurisdictions/countries.