Originally Posted by
Chiller3333
I know the following has been asked way too many times already, but I'm still very undecided and would really appreciate your help.
I will take my brother on a Japan trip in mid August and we will be staying in Tokyo for the first 3 nights.
Neither of us has been to Japan before so we're both very excited.
We will be arriving at NRT in the morning (around 9:30am) and we both have the JR pass.
So the plan is to take the Narita Express into the city and stick to the JR operated lines where possible.
At the moment I have a (semi-flexible) reservation at the Hilton Tokyo (Shinjuku) for a basic Twin Hilton room (cost being ca. 900 USD).
I am HH Gold so breakfast would be included, however, an upgrade seems unlikely to me rn as most categories of Twin rooms are no longer available.
While browsing AmEx Travel I saw that I could get a Twin room (City view) at the Conrad for an additional 350 USD.
That would be through FHR so it comes with an upgrade based on availability, breakfast, free wifi, late checkout, and 125 USD in property credit.
At the Conrad most room categories (Twin with bay view, and the executive floor twin rooms with city and bay view respectively) can still be booked it seems.
The credit would probably go towards the bar or the Cerise I think.
Location wise the Hilton definitely seems to be the better property.
But on the pictures the rooms at the Conrad definitely are a lot nicer.
I'm having a really hard time making a decision :/
My wife and I stayed at the Tokyo Hilton for 10 days last September for our anniversary and would go back in a heartbeat. My biggest complaint was the selection of English language television to unwind to was limited (fixed using the YouTube app on an iPad and the Lightning-to-HDMI adaptor to connect to the TV
) but the service was impeccable -- easily the best we've had worldwide with Hilton (the Rome Waldorf Astoria being a close 2nd and I'm not even sure where the distant 3rd would be). We had booked a standard room of some kind and were upgraded to a Junior Suite with a ton of room and a great view. Room was clean and well maintained...and we were usually so exhausted by the time we got back I don't remember much else.
Subway is close but can be a bit of a hike if you do the tunnels. Government building a couple blocks away has free observation deck. Plenty of food nearby including Western options if you need a break from the unusual.
On one hand I regret not giving the Conrad a whirl but since I've heard great things about it, but I was not disappointed by my choice at all.
On the other hand the Hilton NRT was a massive disappointment (hot room with a strange smell, old bathroom, worn furnishings) despite its airport convenience... if I were doing it again, I'd spend an extra night at the Tokyo Hilton even if it meant waking up super early for our flight home.