Guitarthur

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but looks most appropriate.

Any advice for booking hotels over New Years? My wife and I arrive into NRT on Dec 29 and depart on Jan 2 from HND. The plan was to split the first part between Tokyo and something in Nagano before heading to Hokkaido from Jan 2-7.

From what I can see, most hotels are either sold out already or charging $300+ per night. Are they actually sold out or do more rooms come available?

Is New Year's eve better spent in Tokyo or Nagano?

Thanks in advance!

angra

A lot of hotels don't take reservations this far in advance.

you can easily fill those 3-5 days in Tokyo and surrounding area.

bbmatt

we were in hakuba, tokyo and hokkaido (niesko/sapporo) for xmas/NYs this past year, I suggest Airbnbs. They are less sensitive to the holiday price increase.

tokyo was awesome for NYEs, also, if you're looking for great deals, the lucky bag shopping was amazing new years day. its like the japanese version of black friday. snow in nagano this year was meh, but niseko was amazing

evergrn

Putting in 29Dec in / 02Jan out on Rakuten Jpn, I get hotels with prices far less than what you're saying.

These are nightly rate for 2 people (double occupancy)
- Akasaka Tokyu Excel 26,800y
- Shinjuku Prince 23,650y

There's a bunch of higher-end business hotel type places going for <20,000y per night for two.

Guitarthur

Excellent news. Sounds like Tokyo for New Year's itself, and then seeing what the airbnb deals look like is the way to go. Also good to know that the hotels aren't "sold out" yet, so I can keep checking. Thanks!

bbmatt

Yes, NYs for tokyo has both the party scene and the traditional temple visits at midnight too, depending on what you want to do.

we were able to find really nice airbnbs for ~100-150 USD/night. We got a wonderfully modern 1 bedroom apartment in a highrise in shibuya for about $100/ngiht.

Gradfly

I did something this past winter similar to what you're planning. You should be able to find something in Tokyo during New Year's Eve. When I booked my accommodations for Nagano last June, I barely found a room.

As for deciding which place is better to for New Year's that depends on your tastes. I was determined to go skiing so I made that my priority. If you're more into celebrations, then Tokyo would be the way to go. You'll also have the extra benefit for places to see/eat. I was at a onsen town and it was pretty quiet. One I have recommendation is to visit a local temple on or after New's Year's day. You'll see the locals lining up to get blessings for the upcoming year. Its something uniquely Japanese and you can participate too, if you wish.

In addition to Rakuten mentioned by evergrn, I recommend Agoda and Japanican for rooms. If you find that a hotel in your search has an English website, check there and see if they have better offers if you book direct.

pdxkankuu

I had no problem booking a hotel for NYE/NY in tokyo about 3 weeks before my trip (NY 2016). ~$100/night iirc. Hotels.com has a variety of <$150/night places right now, and as was mentioned, most places don't even take bookings this early.

angra

Do you find any of the three particularly reliable when it comes to user ratings?

s0ssos

They also keep the subway running all night NYE, so you can get out cheaply (cause taxis are expensive).

You can try using hotel guarantees to get a room (you have SPG Plat I see), even when they are sold-out.

If you use third-party sites they will list less well-known hotels, but there is definitely availability over NYE, just be prepared to stay in a junkier place/pay more. You can also consider staying a little outside, like Yokohama, but you'd have to commute in.

Gradfly

Personally, I think Agoda had the more accurate reviews. After I selected a particular property, I checked if it had reviews in the other sites in order to get a better picture of the property. Couple of things I focused more on were the types of reviewers and any detail that was consistent in the reviews from all three sites.