I'm just wrapping up a 7 day stay at the
Tokyo Marriott in Shinagawa.. I had emailed in advance and asked for an upgrade, but didn’t get one. I asked again at check-in, but nothing was available. They told me they could upgrade me on Friday. In the meantime, I had a very small room with a queen bed. No couch, just the bed, two chairs, and a table. I like to have a comfortable chair or couch in my room to sit on. I tried to communicate this while asking for an upgrade, I don’t need a suite, just something more than a bed but somehow that didn’t get trough - it’ll be interesting to see what kind of upgrade I get on Friday.
Overall, this is a nice hotel and the staff are incredibly friendly. A few observations.
First, some pros…- The Family Mart at the hotel is great to have.
- I totally didn’t mind the ~10 minute walk to Shinagawa Station, I did the walk twice (once in each direction - up the hill is obviously less enjoyable), took the shuttle the rest of the time. The bus to and from the station does get crowded at peak times, but nothing compared to trying to board a crowded subway car during rush hour! LOL!
- The Premium burger with Wagyu beef in the restaurant is really good, I mean really good!
- The Japanese restaurant is really good also. The chef speaks English very well, and made something custom for me one day - super nice!
- I came back to the hotel at lunch time one day and there were several food trucks around the hotel. Two down at the Family Mart level, two on the mail lobby level.
- The free breakfast for elites in the restaurant is good. It was a little crowded a couple of days, but the food and service really are as good as people have reported.
- The water pressure is great!
- In room safe, check! And the refrigerator has room for the water and tea I bought at Family Mart (on top of the stuff they have in there that you can buy). They do give you a few bottles of water, and restock them with every room cleaning. There were two robes, and two pairs of slippers, iron, hair dryer, etc. The iron itself is was something new for me, it was rechargeable, so you don’t have to fight with the cord when ironing!
- I love the heated toilet seats! Such a little thing, but so delightful. It did take me a minute to find where to flush the toilet the first time, but that is an example of a low persistence problem (once you know it, it’s not a problem anymore).
- The view from the concierge lounge is spectacular! There is a coffee / espresso machine in the lounge, along with a refrigerator that is fully stocked with sodas, beers, juices, etc. I don’t eat dinners in the lounge, so I can’t comment on the selection or quality of the food.
Now, some cons… - Dinner wasn’t available in the restaurant until 5PM. I skipped lunch on Sunday and was starving. It seems strange that they don’t start serving dinner until 5. I guess that is not a big deal most of the time, but for a business hotel with people coming and going all the time, it seems odd.
- Similarly, they don’t start serving breakfast until 7AM. I’m kind of an early bird, so wish they would serve earlier.
- The Concierge lounge doesn’t open until 6:30AM in the morning, so getting coffee (other than the Nespresso machine in the room) means doing room service, going out, or waiting, I’m not sure why they don’t open this earlier…it’s not like they’re serving anything, it’s key card access, so I would love it if it were open at say 5:30AM
- For both of those, it seems odd that they don’t open earlier as I’m sure that even for people who aren’t early risers they are still adjusting their body clocks from whatever time zone they’re coming from. I just think hotels should operate longer hours. I get there is a cost to that, I understand it isn’t free.
- I used the Bonvoy app to make a service request for towels and the chat feature in the Bonvoy app for Laundry pick up at about 6AM, and after no response for an hour, I called and asked for some extra towels and for Laundry pickup. The guy asked if I could wait for the towels until housekeeping service, I could, but why not send me some now? He said to just leave the laundry outside my room. I asked when someone could come pick it up, and he said to just leave it outside my room. I told him I’d pass. I was hoping to get my dress shirts dry cleaned, and even though I know Japan is super safe, I didn’t feel like leaving my dress clothes that I needed for my presentations this week sitting in the hallway. I told him never mind, I’d skip the laundry service. I get this is possibly a culture and communication thing because on Thursday I finally decided to use the laundry service, called, they said leave it in the hall and within 10 minutes it was picked up and waiting for me when I got back to my room Thursday night, so maybe a pro and a con.
- I checked online on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings if there were any nicer rooms available, and both nights were showing several higher class rooms (including several suites) available for booking for the rest of my stay. On Wednesday, I emailed the concierge again and asked if they could upgrade me sooner - the small room was feeling a little claustrophobic, and she said no, not until Friday. I don’t expect upgrades, but this is one time that I really wanted one. Oh well. First world problems.
Overall, love the Marriott and elated to finally be visiting Japan! This place is pretty amazing!
As promised, I was upgraded on Friday morning to a Jr. Suite on the 24th floor. The room is awesome!
Last edited by jonisflying; Apr 29, 2023 at 1:14 am