ksandness

If you do a search on previous posts on the same topic, you will find references to the Tokyu Stay chain, which unfortunately operates only in Tokyo.

These are basic but reasonably priced extended stay hotels. Not all properties have family-sized accommodations, but some do. I once spent a month in the property in Monzen-Nakacho, and there there was a family with two school age children (apparent corporate transfers waiting for their apartment to be ready) living there. (The children left each morning wearing school uniforms.)

However, they rent rooms/studio apartments for as little as one night.

The great advantage for families with small children is that all rooms have individual washer-dryers and some have kitchenettes. Some have attached "Jonathan's" restaurants and include your choice of a Japanese or Western breakfast included in the price of the room.

I understand that there is now a Citadines in Tokyo, but I have no personal knowledge of it.

Someone else will have to help you with accommodations in Kyoto. If you're staying at least a week, you might try to see if Googling "weekly mansion" plus "Kyoto" brings up anything. ("Mansion" is the Japanese-Engrish word for a condo-style apartment.)

SJUAMMF

We used Takigawa ryokan in Kyoto once:
http://en.takigawa-ryokan.jp/
They gave us the large tatami room in the back upstairs. It is reasonably priced. If you call them, they will come to the station to pick you up.

For Tokyo, I would recommend the Shinagawa Prince North Tower. Just book a double room with two beds. This hotel is at the great location convenient to everywhere. Prince Hotels have a reservation desk in Honolulu.

LapLap

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...mily-four.html

Personally, I'm happy to share a Queen or King sized bed with an infant, or source an appropriate travel cot.

jib71

Many hotels will provide a cot for an infant. Some hotels have triple rooms. Searching some Japanese discussion boards for family friendly hotels turns up the Prince (mentioned above) and the Tokyo Dome Hotel.

There are also places like the Sanuki Club, that offer tatami rooms, which might be suitable.

Kyoto's Granvia hotel gets a couple of mentions for being family friendly. Kyoto is also full of traditional inns with Tatami rooms - However, it may be difficult to communicate with them. I guess the challenge is to find a hotel that allows you to communicate your needs in English.

RoarAhead

Thanks all. It's not so much the "physical" feasibility of all sharing one room. We have a decent light-weight travel cot for the infant and so would even use our own. It is more about finding hotels that, for the sake of fire regulations or otherwise, will not show you the door if you show up with 2 small kids and hope to put them in the same room. I will look into the suggestions mentioned. Unfortunately the Citadines do not allow more than 3 persons to the room.

SanDiego1K

I've just merged two threads on the same topic. Since the prior one is very recent, it should be helpful to the current inquirer.

SanDiego1K
Senior Moderator

josephstern

Having started the first thread, I'll add my update here.

We're staying in the Hilton Shinjuku in November. The price is just under $400US per night for a junior suite (one room, I'm pretty sure) with a fold out couch, and I think a rollaway will be added pending the language barrier.

We opted for a Western-style hotel because we figured having a concierge and some familiarity would be nice considering just how foreign we expect the rest of the trip to be.

RoarAhead

Having just come back from a week in Japan with two small kids in tow I'll just recap my experiences. Basically all the hotels we stayed at had a family policy that allowed, typically, kids below 6 years of age to stay for free in the parents' room as long as they used the existing bedding (or the typical baby cot provided by hotels). Hilton central reservations even stated that they allow "kids" under 18 to share the parents' room under this policy, though quite how that'd work with big kids I don't know.

We ended up staying at the Citadines Kyoto and Grand Prince Akasaka in Tokyo, in both cases in what was effectively a triple room with a convertable sofa. In the other places that only had a double bed we solved this by bringing a blow-up air mattress along, which turned out reasonably well. Beware that the Citadines Kyoto has such small rooms that once the sofa is in use there is no further space for a baby cot.

ksandness

I didn't know about the Sanuki Club, but it would be a good option for anyone flying in via Haneda.

MikeFromTokyo

Another option would be two rooms at the nearby Hyatt Regency Tokyo. Using the rate code TYO304 (details can be found on the property`s master thread in the Hyatt forum) the rates are currently very low. You could probably get two rooms for around $300. I am not aware of connecting rooms at the hotel, but they may have them.

Also, what about a serviced apartment? Oakwood, which has many properties all over tokyo, might have two bedroom units that could accommodate your family comfortably. They provide housekeeping and have hotel style reception/concierge who speak English.

railroadtycoon

The Sutton Place Hotel in Ueno isn't that bad of a location, it's within walking distance of Ueno Station (yamanote line, ginza subway line, hibiya line, and Keisei Line at Keisei ueno) so access to other parts of Tokyo and direct access to Narita Airport.

They have deluxe twins and Jr. Suites for 20,000 and under.
http://www.thehotel.co.jp/en/sutton_ueno/room.html

rsolomon

I'm in the same boat: family of 4 - kids aged 10 and 6. Tokyo area arriving NRT ~16:00 12/22 and departing ~17:00 on 12/27. My kids can bring sleeping bags and have used those around the world, so a single Double/Queen/King bed is sufficient for us if there's even barely room on the floor for each kid to roll out their "schlafsack" (that was half the fun in Frankfurt I think that they learned a new word).


I'm just now looking into the www.utell.com site mentioned earlier in this thread, and had already run across the Prince Sakura Tower.

I've been having a tough time getting anything under 30,000 Yen (in my dreams I'd hoped for 12-13,000 but I could probably go up towards 20,000 if I had to), so any help is *GREATLY* appreciated! (I'm going to do a Mileage Run over Thanksgiving weekend so ideally could go stay 1 night at the same hotel next week to pre-plan travel - thus I'm kinda rushing!)

Thanks in advance!
Richard

LapLap

Sorry. That rate has been coming up repeatedly this year, but only as some kind of 'last minute offer', generally within a month.
It's currently available at 21,000yen for your dates with the linked I supplied earlier:
http://www.princehotels.com/en/sakur...oominfomation/

Unfortunately, your stay is coinciding with the Christmas weekend. You need to imagine that Christmas Eve is Valentines day so central rooms with large beds that can be considered romantic in any way are being snapped up.
You may like to try the twin bed rooms at the Tokyo Bay Intercontinental (these are semi double beds you might all be able to squeeze into and the rooms are large). Or the Grand Hotel Iidabashi has triple rooms for your dates at around 16,000yen inclusive via Expedia.

The 21,000 rate over Xmas at the Sakura Tower seems like a good deal to me. It's for a Twin bed and each bed is 1.2metre wide - about 6.5 inches narrower than a US double.

rsolomon

Ahhh, that makes sense, thanks! How does the Shinagawa Prince compare?
http://www.princehotels.com/en/shina...oominfomation/
I'm still a little confused as to whether I can assume (or how I can tell) that a hotel will allow me to add the 2 little ones (6 and 10) providing we bring their sleeping bags along. Utell is giving me a rate of a bit under 15,600 per night after all taxes ("Total Cost Inclusive" divided by number of nights) for a "Standard 1 Queen Annex Tower Floors 8-32, 20sqm Hi Speed Internet Free". Given that we roll the sleeping bags up during the day, that didn't seem out of line - and free internet is a big plus for us computer geeks

I will check out the other hotels you listed also, thanks! My kids are actually better off sleeping separate (less fighting, etc) so a room with two beds is probably not as good for us as a room with only one (for the parents). Something with one bed for both parents and then 2 single beds might be ideal, but I'd rather not pay extra for beds when the kids see the sleeping bags as a privilege!

Are there any problems with cancelling through utell? I see its rules (for the rate I quoted above at the Shinagawa Prince) say cancel by 6pm day of arrival but I thought Prince said cancel 72hrs in advance. In either case I'm wondering if I should reserve one or more options through utell and then contact the hotel(s) directly to find out if the room is acceptable?

Thanks again LapLap, you are a wealth of information!!!

Richard

rjque

Bumping this thread - I'm taking three adults and two children (12 and 14, so not small) to Tokyo for three nights in March. I would love to go with a tatami room that can accommodate us all, but we can split into two rooms if necessary. The Sankui Club looks great and is in the right location for us (as close to Shibuya as we can get) - can anyone recommend other similar places in Aoyama/Nishi-Azabu/Roppongi/Sangenjaya/Yoyogi/Shinjuku or very close by? I realize that there are a few places near Shinagawa, but that doesn't seem like a lively enough neighborhood for us.