Originally Posted by
MarisaInChicago
Our travel days are this Thursday through June 5. We prefer five stars. Do you recommend the final night back to Tokyo so we don't have to travel from Kyoto to the Tokyo airport?
Of all the five-star hotels, which is in the best location, that's more boutique and not for the masses?
You mean you land Fri 5/26 into TYO, depart Sun 6/5 out of TYO. Is that correct?
For 5 nights, checking in on 5/26, I see:
Imperial Hotel (Premium Tower Flr twin) 248k + tax
Prince Sakura Tower (deluxe corner king) 168k + tax
These are via Rakuten website. Prices are in yen, total for 5 nights. They're more like 4.5 stars than 5 stars. They're not quite on the level of MO or Peninsula, but they're considered elite hotels. Imperial is within walking distance to a lot of places, whereas Sakura Tower is within walking distance to Shinagawa Station which is a big transportation hub. Sakura Towers sits on Japanese garden that it shares with its sister properties.
Not sure what your definition of boutique hotel is. But if you'd consider Andaz to be a boutique hotel, then Sakura Tower may sort of fit the bill.
As long as your departure out of TYO is mid-afternoon or later, I would recommend spending the last night also in Kyoto and traveling back to TYO via train the same day instead of having to spend the last single night somewhere back in Tokyo. If you left Kyoto by bullet train at 10am, you'd get to NRT by 2pm.