Originally Posted by abmj-jr
You would probably be ok just to say Grand Hyatt ho-te-ru . If you want to try to Japanify the name, try gu-ran-do hy-ah-to ho-teh-ru and give the community it is in - ie Roppongi. To be really complete, you could add - ma-deh eet-teh koo-dah-sye.
JR
Try saying "Gurando Hayatto - Roppongi"
It is definitely worth saying "ROPPONGI" in addition to Grand Hyatt, because a novice taxi-driver might not know that there is more than one "Hyatt" in Tokyo. And then you might end up at the Park Hyatt or Century Hyatt.... over in Shinjuku.
Similar problems can occur with other hotel names in Tokyo
Palace / Grand Palace (relatively close to each other in Otemachi/Kudan)
Park Hotel / Royal Park Hotel (very close to each other in Shiodome)
I'm sure there are other examples, but it would probably not be helpful to read lists of easily confusable hotel names. Better to remember the hotel name and the name of the area of town
Better still -
carry a business card or copy of the hotel address and/or map to the hotel.