Wow. Really?

Well, here's my datapoint. Upon my first arrival into Japan in the summer of 2008, eager to explore this great country, I stayed at the request of the company at the Prince Hotel in Akasaka. I still rather vividly remember checking in to what seemed like a lobby with more marble than was possible. A million little boxes behind the front desk were apparently mailslots or some such for each room. I remember waiting nearly 30 minutes to check in due to lines and then finally getting up to the room only to feel like I'd stepped into a time machine.

The room looked and felt like a 1960's movie about the future. Space travel to be specific. The room immediately pulled me back to being younger going to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, where they had mockups of the ISS and shuttles. This room felt like an architect's rendition of what space travel should be like from decades ago. Complete with sliding doors, bubble windows, etc.

Now, I'm actually kind of a space buff, so you might think I thought it was cool. Well, that lasted for all of 5 minutes. I couldn't stand it. The bed was horrible. Everything was horrible.

Checked out the next morning and switched to the Hilton in Shinjuku. It was about 2X the price, I think around $350/night if I remember right. Of course the exchange rate was a lot different then too. Anyhow, the Hilton was, well a normal Hilton, and far superior.

So.... I can appreciate what some of you say must be quite some charm of some of their other hotels, but this one was horrific. I heard it was no longer in operation, but never returned to check...