jsnearline

My family has a four night stopover in Tokyo next week en route to Manila. I currently have reservations booked at both the Park Hyatt Tokyo in Shinjuku and Hotel Nikko Tokyo on Odaiba island in Minato. I'm having a very hard time trying to decide which one to choose. We have two young kids, ages 4 and 1.

Shinjuku - Park Hyatt Tokyo
Pros:
- It's the Park Hyatt, need I say more?
- The ultimate room with a view
- Complimentary wi-fi
- English speaking hotel staff
- More of an authentic Tokyo experience?

Cons
- perhaps too busy an area to navigate with young kids in tow?
- a bit of a walk from Shinjuku Station


Odaiba - Hotel Nikko Tokyo
Pros:
- Less crazy than Shinjuku, although I hear it gets crowded on weekends
- Easy access to monorail line
- View of Tokyo Bay and Rainbow Bridge from hotel
- Legoland Discovery Center in walking distance
- Shuttle service to Tokyo Disneyland

Cons:
- Limited English spoken at hotel
- Fewer transportation options
- Limited access to wi-fi
- Hotel seems to nickel and dimes for extra services (wi-fi, pool, etc...)

Any suggestions?

Braindrain

If you're looking to explore Tokyo, I'd suggest Shinjuku. For Odaiba, you just have to take the monorail in/out almost every time. It's a hassle and it's expensive.

If you're looking for an easy time with kids, Odaiba is good as the malls are interesting and there are a couple of "kid friendly" places on the free shuttle service that circles around Odaiba. You could spend a day or 2 doing that, and then another day going into Tokyo.

joejones

Yeah, it really depends on how you want to spend your time. Odaiba is a very Americanized area -- lots of shopping malls, big expressway cutting through it. The area of West Shinjuku around the Park Hyatt is a high-rise business district. Two very different environments. For a trip alone or only with a partner it would be the PH for me without question, but with kids I would lean toward Odaiba even though it is a much less Japanese experience there overall.

I rather like Braindrain's suggestion of spending a day in Tokyo; the other end of the Yurikamome train is in Shinbashi, from which you can walk to the Imperial Palace, Ginza, Tokyo Station, Tsukiji, etc. etc.

hailstorm

With a 1 and 4 year old, Park Hyatt Tokyo is a no-brainer. There's a neat playground literally right across the street from the hotel that they'll love.

There's also a babysitting service at the PHT, in case you and your wife would like to enjoy a romantic dinner.

(pedantic aside to Braindrain: the Yurikamome Line is an elevated train, not a "monorail". )

lobsterdog

>Odaiba is a very Americanized area

I'm not sure what's so "American" about shopping malls and highways - Tokyo had shopping malls before America was even a country.

I would vote for Odaiba - there are just so many attractions designed for children out there, and there are lots of places where you can let them run loose for a few minutes without constantly worrying about automobile traffic.

Also the non-monorail isn't the only way to get in and out; there's also a subway line. You can even get around by boat!

joejones

With Old Navy and Krispy Kreme?

OK for going to Disneyland, but I'd say the Yurikamome is generally better; you get a view and you get dropped off in a pretty good area for tourist purposes, rather than riding through tunnels to fight crowds in Shibuya and Shinjuku.

Not at this time of year, unless you want the kids to catch colds.

jpatokal

Since nobody has mentioned this, it's worth pointing out that the PHT is on the western side of Shinjuku station, which is full of government and office skyscrapers and is almost eerily quiet at night.

The "crazy/busy" side of Shinjuku is the eastern side, particularly Kabukicho, which is packed full of drinking holes, nightclubs, massage parlours etc and is about as wild as Japan gets at night. (Which, at street level, is not particularly wild at all.)

All things considered, I'd go with the PHT. It's an awesome hotel, among the best in the world, and Shinjuku is just that much more convenient for getting out and exploring the rest of Tokyo. Airport access is good too, there's a direct limousine bus to the PHT's front door. Kid-friendly it may be, but I can't really recommend staying in Odaiba unless you've already been to Tokyo itself umpteen times and checked off the main sights.

hailstorm

Thanks for mentioning that. The area around PHT is far more peaceful than the area around Nikko Tokyo.

PHT also offers free bicycle rental that might make for a fun experience, but I'm not sure if they have children's seats available...

YoYoGodMom

I don't usually stay in these two areas but based on my friends' recent experience (with two young kids, ages 5 and 2?), I will prefer Odaiba over Shinjuku because the walk from/to Shinjuku Station could be really chilly (we ended up taking a 3 min taxi) and the shuttle to Disneyland is super convenient if you have young kids

RichardInSF

There is no subway on Odaiba. There is the Rinkai line train which runs underground for some of the way. An average ride is about Y100 more expensive than the equivalent subway ride of the same length. In most cases, it is a longer walk to any destination from the Rinkai line stations than from the Yurikamome.

As to the claim that the walk to/from Shinjuku station is a problem from the Park Hyatt, the hotel runs a free shuttle to and from the station every 20 minutes from about 9 am to 9:30pm. There is another free shuttle to/from the station from the backside of the Park Tower building every 10 minutes during the day.

MSPeconomist

Why is the OP limiting the choice to these two hotels? What does the OP anticipate doing while in Tokyo for three days? (I'm assuming that four nights will mean arrival late in the day for the first night and departure to NRT at a time that makes it hard/impossible to do any tourist activities that day.) I could envision one day Disneyland, one Lego-Land, and a third day of gently expolring the area of Tokyo around the end station of the Yurikamome: Imperial Palace, Ginza, old Tokyo Station building, department store food hall, the electronics display store, maybe take a taxi to the fish market, Tokyo Tower. Another gentle nearby activity could be to go to the Tokyo Big Sight (convention center on the island) and take the long escalators (or find the elevators) to the top for the view. On the island, there's also a small amusement park with lots of colored lights at night.

I don't think of the atmosphere at PHT as being kid-friendly at all and other than the park, anything you do would mean getting to the subway, fighting crowds, and spending a somewhat long and unpleasant time in the subway system (including going up and down stairs) with the kids in tow, probably with a stroller for the younger one. It doesn't sound fun at all.

OTOH having the Friendly limobus at the door at times that work for your flights is the easy way to/from NRT, so you might want to check the schedules before making a final decision.

jib71

Indeed. The mall is a quintessentially Bangladeshi phenomenon. I don't know why anyone would think otherwise.

Vidic15

Would easily go for Shinjuku. Far more central, with the Yamanote line right there for you.

Closer to main sights without having to change again after leaving Odaiba.

zerkokei

I would say that the high rise area west of Shinjuku station, where the Park Hyatt is located, is not particularly busy. The side walks are broad by Tokyo standard. During lunch it is flooded with white collar salarymen, but other than that it is definitely a very hassle free area to navigate, even with your kids.

The Park Hyatt is however about 1 km, or a 10 minute walk from Shinjuku stations west exit. If you walk via the Tokyo Metropolitan Building it is possible to cover almost the entire walk indoors through tunnels. But as someone pointed out there are shuttle buses as well.


The Hotel Nikko is conveniently close to Daiba station on the Yurikamome line, but you will probably find the Rinkai line station Tokyo Teleport more convenient for accessing Shibuya-Shinjuku-Ikebukuro. That station is however a 10 min walk from the hotel it seems.

All in all I would recommend staying in Shinjuku. It is a great hub for exploring Tokyo with convenient access to almost all places, including Odaiba, where you will probably not spend more than a day or so.

jsnearline

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

To answer the question about why I limited myself to these two properties, the simple answer is price. I was able to get fabulous rates at both. I finally decided in favor of the Park Hyatt. Since I had a hard time making a decision simply based on location, I considered some additional factors.

One thing that had concerned me about the rate I got for the Nikko is that I got it prepaid, albeit deeply discounted and fully refundable, from Expedia. The rate I got for the Park Hyatt was direct with the hotel. For some reason, the Nikko would not match the Expedia rate when I inquired about booking directly with them. Last week I tried calling Expedia to ask some basic questions about what was included in the rate and they couldn't answer. They said they would contact the hotel, put me on hold and about a half hour later came back on the line and said they couldn't get in touch with anyone at the hotel who could speak English to them. Based on that experience, I'd much rather deal directly with the hotel if I encounter a problem than having to work through Expedia's customer service.

This leads me to the second factor I considered, which was the level of responsiveness of the hotels to my inquiries. I emailed both properties late last week with some questions. The Park Hyatt responded to me within three hours. Hotel Nikko on the other hand, has still not replied almost a week later. That makes me think there may be something to what Expedia said about not being able to reach English speaking staff to talk to.