I stayed at Hilton Yokohama for one night last week mainly to see what it’s like. I also need a few more stays to renew my status and the rate was not as high as some others have suggested. From what I have read here and in Tripadvisor I wasn’t expecting much.

Check-in

I had originally booked a king deluxe room on higher floor (deluxe rooms are the entry level rooms) but a few days before the stay noticed king deluxe rooms (not on higher floor) were available for 4,600 yen less so I cancelled and re-booked. I also received the same email others have mentioned about the location of king rooms. When online checkin started I noticed I had been “upgraded” to a king executive room which is not really an upgrade because it is still a king deluxe room but on a higher floor.

The lobby is on level 2 and is quite spacious. It was suggested I should check in in the executive lounge on the 5th floor and a staff member accompanied me there (and later took my luggage to my room on the 23rd floor). Staff were very polite and there seemed to be plenty of them though everything seemed to take a long time. I wondered if they were still being trained. I was offered a late checkout of 2pm. The normal checkout is 11am.

Hilton Yokohama from Bay Quarter


Hilton Yokohama from Tochinoki-Dori Avenue





Elevator lobby


Room

Judging by the plan it appears premium rooms (39 sqm) face the river and deluxe rooms (31 sqm) face away from the river. The area is still being developed and it would be interesting to know whether there will be more buildings at the back of the hotel.

What struck me as soon as I walked into my room was how it reminded me of older Hilton proprieties with the use of dark brown and black unlike more recent Hilton properties in lighter neutral colours (e.g. Hiroshima, Nagasaki).

The room has the standard facilities for Hiltons in Japan such as an empty fridge, coffee maker, kettle (a photo of which oddly seems to feature for every room type on the hotel’s website), pyjamas, slippers as well as umbrellas.

My room had a bath tub but according to room descriptions all types of rooms appear to have one despite a report in Tripadvisor which claimed only Executive Rooms have a bath tub.















View from the room at night


View from the room at sunrise


The famous kettle






Executive Lounge

Open between 7am and 10am for breakfast, “teatime” between 10am and 5pm, and cocktail time between 5pm and 8pm. I did not go there for breakfast. During the day they have tea, coffee, soft drinks and donuts. Offerings during cocktail time were very limited. Several types of bottled beer and some wine, Prosecco, etc. but food is limited to slices of sausage, olives, cheese cubes, pickled vegetables, Doritos, nuts, and donuts.

Outside the Executive Lounge entrance on 5th floor




Donuts are available in the lounge throughout the day and in the evening








Breakfast

Breakfast in the restaurant (Japanese and western) was similar to other Hiltons I stayed at during my trip (i.e. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Nagoya) but no special treatment for Diamonds. The restaurant is on the 3rd floor of a separate wing from the rest of the hotel. In order to get there you have to go to the 4th floor, walk along a corridor and take an elevator to go down one floor.

Corridor to the elevator for the restaurant


Entrance to the restaurant




View from the restaurant


Location

Getting to the hotel from Yokohama Station is quite tricky. I was in Yokohama a few days earlier for lunch with friends and saw the hotel across the river. I’ll post detailed instructions separately but you will have to know exactly how to get there and practically run to reach the hotel from the station in 11 minutes (publicity material in Japanese before the hotel opened mentioned 11 minutes from the JR Yokohama station, which would be 9 minutes after a new pedestrian bridge opens.) A staff member in the lounge confirmed the pedestrian bridge would not make the walk much shorter but would make it a little more straightforward. If you know the route and have luggage you should allow 13-15 minutes from Yokohama Station. There’s a Lawson convenience store on the Music Terrace level (level 1, one floor below the hotel lobby) round the corner from the hotel’s main entrance.