Volvic

The service was so great that I was really positively surprised. In the lounge I was always addressed by name, Mr Volvic. It’s really difficult to pour your own drink without a lounge staff member telling you that you can go and sit on a table and he can take care of it. And after two days at breakfast, the staff asked me if I wanted also that day the same kind of morning drink.
Free wine, beer and champagne from 17:00 to 19:00, plus good finger food. I presume to have seen also small bites of beef with small gold bits on top. Hey, I mean gold !

I asked clarification about the best way to go to the airport and I opted for the NEX. Well, the concierge take care of all the booking process and in two hours I had the ticket delivered to my room and the cost charged to the room account. My shirt was washed in six hours even if I selected the normal (slow) cleaning and I was charged no extra.

Health club: gorgeous. It’s half of the 28th floor, or better two half. The lower part of the floor is the swimming pool with a terrific view. Forget the infinity pool type, here it’s even better (always IMHO), the upper part with the gym and the treatment and changing rooms. I do not know what you read changing room on the door but I found inside something like: four Jacuzzis, one dry sauna and a steaming room. A real pity it was Tokyo and not Hamburg. If you know, you do not have to ask, you have to ask… well, go to Hamburg and discover by yourself. I suggest the IC or the newest Le Meridien.
Suggestion about schedule: visit first the fish market, than sauna and relax and later on breakfast !

jinabe

Thanks to the 5-10-15 Stay Free Offer, I am staying at Conrad Tokyo the night of Feb. 17 (Sat) for running the Tokyo Marathon the next day.

Right now, I am booked into a City Room. I wonder if anyone has stayed in both City and Garden Room, and if so, which view did you prefer? Not really a big deal, but it's not often that I stay at this hotel so I might as well go for the gusto. Thanks for your advices/opinions!

BlackBird

If you don't care about executive rooms, which are available only with city view, then I would take ocean view room (=garden view). In the city view rooms the view is partly blocked by couple of high rise buildings nearby. My first choises are the executive rooms with city view then classic ocean room and after that classic city view.

jinabe

Hi, BlackBird:

This answers my question....thanks for reading into my intention. As an HH GE, there may be a chance of getting bumped up, in which case I will go along with what they give me. Otherwise, the ocean/garden view sounds more appealing to me!

Condition One

I just checked out of the Conrad Tokyo on a four night award stay. When I checked in, I was upgraded to a corner one bedroom suite with an ocean view. I had a box of chocolates waiting for me on the table. Service at the hotel was impeccable. Every time I passed a hotel employee, they acknowledged me.

The executive lounge had an excellent breakfast spread. In addition to the spread, there is a made to order egg/omelette station. Evening appetizers change every night. One night, I was too tired to go out so I had "dinner" in the lounge (which consisted mostly of dim sum). The lounge staff were very attentive. As soon as I walked in, I was asked if I wanted a drink. The staff was also very helpful with sightseeing advice. Also, there is one tablet notebook PC with wireless internet access for lounge guests.

I was mostly amazed by the service of the staff. It's definitely 5 star. I was on a quest for a notebook computer that isn't sold in the states. After failing to find it in Akihabara, I figured that I'd ask the hotel staff to try to locate one for me. A few hours later, I received a phone call. The person was very apologetic and said that after calling several stores, an international version of the notebook wasn't available. I thought that was the end of it, but two days later, I received another phone call. The hotel staff actually called up Samsung and Sony to confirm that my notebook wasn't available!

Sorry if this post isn't very coherent. I have a bad cold and I gotta run to make my flight to BKK. Hope this helps!

SanDiego1K

It's now 2007, and I am wondering how this property is faring. How are Diamonds doing in getting Executive Lounge access? I'd love to hear both from those who have and those who haven't.

BKKLEE

I'm only a lowly Gold, albeit qualified already thru 2009, but would be interested in the same Exec Lounge access as we'll be staying this April.

fedexflyer

Although I am Diamond now, I was Gold when I stayed there in October. No executive lounge access for me, only breakfast vouchers. I was traveling with someone who had no elite status, however, and he cajoled the front desk into giving him lounge access, so YMMV.

It's a very nice hotel, if a bit too "modern" for my taste.

JDiver

<le grand bump>

I'm spending some time at the Conrad Tokyo mid-April, and 1) want to thank everyone so much for the great information, and <bump> to see if anyone has any more recent experiences. FlyerTalk is great!

It does sound like the hotel is coming to gether in terms of service - and that we will be able to travel around (from touristy Asakusa to ??) and get reasonable food nearby (e.g. downstairs.)

I think we will depend on the Friendly Airport Limousine to get there - even with Tokyo traffic, it sounds easier on arrival to just let someone else find the building, and learn the lay of the land once we have fully landed. It looks like Friendly still advertises the price as ¥3,000 p/p 1/w.

See below for more, including rail connections from Narita. Haneda connections are described in a previous post.

bassmanben

I stayed in the property in Late january for my honeymoon on Q3FN certs.

Since we bookended the 2 stays (2 nights each) with a day in Hakone, I can give you a little clarity.

The first 2 nights we were given an upgrade to the executive level. With the executive level access, we were given access to the lounge, which is on the same floor. If you are a diamond, you can check in upstairs at the lounge or down in the lobby. The lobby was not very busy so I checked in there.

All of the employees were very courteous, even to the point where they had a 5' tall 100 lb woman trying to lug our luggage onto a luggage cart to bring to our room. I felt bad about that. Wherever we walked, the employees would step to the side and bow, which felt a little weird at first, but we got used to it.

The lounge is nice - decent view of the city. But we didn't really have interest in the evening fare, so I don't remember exactly what they had - some small snacks for sure.

Before we left, we requested a garden view room (view of the small park behind the hotel, the bay, and rainbow bridge). The lounge attendant told us that he would request it, but we would not be able to get a "double upgrade" - if we received a garden view room, we would not get a room on executive level. Since I had known that before hand, I was fine with it, just wanted to see the view on the other side.

We left our luggage with the hotel and went to Hakone for a day to visit the onsen. When we returned, they had already placed our luggage in our room.

As stated, it was not an executive floor room (but was a garden view suite - 2 rooms with a sliding door between the living room and the bedroom). The view was not bad. We enjoyed the executive floor room a little better, but the suite was nice as well, with a 1 1/2 bath. No exec lounge access, but they gave us breakfast vouchers for the restaurant. To be honest, the breakfast is as good, if not better than the executive lounge breakfast, with more choices. It's a very busy restaurant, but quiet due to the respect people have for quiet. We didn't miss the evening fare anyways, since we went out for dinner each night.

As for access to the city, the Shiodome station is literally in the basement of the hotel. This will get you to the Oedo subway line, which can get you directly to the fish market. About 1/4 - 1/2 mile away is the Shimbashi (Ginza Line) station, which can get you to the JR or to the other train lines. Also right there is the Non-o-rail station (since it looks like a monorail, but is really a bus on wheels =)) that can take you directly to Odaiba, over the rainbow bridge. Took us a day or so, but we figured out the trains pretty easy thanks to a handy map provided to us by the lounge attendant (who was very friendly and likes to clap his hands when you say something he agrees with )

All in all, we loved the Conrad. We also stayed at the Le Meridien Grand Pacific in Odaiba, which did not hold a candle to the Conrad. We'd be happy to go back again if we ever come back to Tokyo.

bassmanben

I think that's the way to go. If you're not familiar with Tokyo and have a lot of luggage, take the bus. It takes some time because they only come like once an hour, but it drives through the city and has decent views of both of the ferris wheels at night.

JDiver

Good grief, that was fast! Domo arigato, bassmanben!

Im reasonably familiar with Tokyo and getting around, but lugging my rollaboard (and Lady JDiver with hers) up and down stairs isn't appealing after a long transpac (we met there in 1965.)

The current Friendly Airport Limousine (bus) schedule shows afternoon NRT Terminal 2 departures with a stop at the Conrad as: 13:50, 15:20, 16:20, 17:20 and 18:50.

Pickups (arrange via a call to :+81-3-3665-7220) at the Conrad occur at: 07:10, 08:40, 11:10, 13:10, 14:10 and 16:10, estimated time between points 80 ~ 90 minutes (traffic dependent.) As previously mentioned, ¥3,000 per person one way, credit cards acepted (at least at the NRT Arrivals kiosks.) The busses often have WCs onboard, and carry luggage.

Non-o-rail! Love it!

bassmanben

The hotel might be able to book the trip for you as well and charge it to the room. I don't know if the Conrad does it, but I know that the Le M we stayed at was able to book the Limo Bus for us, and charged it to the room. For some reason I think it was cheaper than if we had called them ourselves?

JDiver

The Conrad is one minute's walk from the Shiodome station (Toei Oedo and Yurikamome lines), or seven minutes' walk from Shinbashi station (JR, Toei Asakusa lines or the Ginza Metro line).

First, you can take a taxi - convenient, they accept credit cards - and are expensive! Iirc, about ¥24,000 / USD$200 / £100 / €140.

You can also hire a car service to transport you, like Tokyo Airporter, for about ¥18,000 all in.

Here's more transfer information, from other sources I clipped and adapted, and personal experience... (a convention page, iirc.) Be aware rail or subway to subway line changes can mean stairs or walking some distance (a block or less,) to change stations / platforms, particularly when changing from a private railroad line to a public one or a nearby subway line.

I will work on the information below to update -


Narita Express Train: (1) ¥1,450 (train ticket) plus ¥1,660 (express ticket) and (2) perhaps ¥300? (train ticket) about 63 minutes. (You can save and use all the local train and subway systems by using a Suica or PASMO Passes. (Finally! Passcards you can use on ALL Kanto rail / subway, etc. ^)

1. 60 minutes: Take the JR Narita Express ("NEX") trains from Narita Airport to Tokyo station, change platforms to Yamanote Line. NEX has luggage areas onboard.

2. Ca. 3 minutes: Change to a Yamanote line train (Shibuya direction) and get off at Shimbashi station and use the Shiodome (shee-oh-dough-may) exit. Best if you only have rollaboard.

The JR Narita Express departs every 30 min. and "Tokyo" station is the first stop from Narita Airport Terminal 2. To board the train, follow the signs from inside the terminal building.

The alternative here is to take the NEX to Tokyo station, have the information to the hotel written for you and take a taxi for the much shorter distance / cheaper ¥1,200 than from the airport (most cab drivers will probably get it if you say "shee-oh-dDOUGHmay hoe-TERR-u CONE-rahd," especially if you can rroll yourr rrs a little. This is a good option if you have significant luggage, the NEX and taxi combo involving Tokyo station.


Keisei Express Train : ¥1,920 (express ticket) plus ¥160 (train ticket) and ca. ¥370 (train), about 71 minutes.

1. 56 minutes: Take the Keisei Skyliner from Narita International Airport to Nippori station, change to JR Keihin-Tohoku Line.

2. 15 minutes: Take the JR Keihin-Tohoku line trains from Nippori station to Shimbashi station (Shiodome exit again). This is not a great idea with significant luggage, however.


You can take the Friendly Limousine bus (afternoons NRT - hotel, not mornings) for ¥3,000 one way, and you can charge the ticket to NRT to your room with the lounge / concierge. Purchase your ticket at the kiosk in arrivals, go outside Terminal 2 to Stop #7. Figure 80 - 90 minutes, sometimes longer during rush hour; comfortable bus, most have lavs aboard and are nonsmoking / non-cellular phone. Shiodome / Ginza schedule. Of course, they have huge luggage bins and deliver you right to the Conrad. (BTW, if you return to NRT by Friendly Limo bus, your passport will be looked at as you enter the airport grounds at a road checkpoint.)

You can get tickets for all these at Narita - the arrivals hall has a tourist information kiosk (maps, brochures, help, have taxi directions written, etc.) as well as ATMs that work with US credit cards (not all in Japan do, though you'll find the ATMs in the Post Office will always work,) and kiosks selling rail and bus tickets - you can use credit cards at all of them, iirc. Everything is very organised, helpful and friendly here, though you may encounter slight language turbulence (usually younger people will be the best "ingirish" speakers.)

A couple of further resources:

Conrad Tokyo web page with PDF downloads - Conrad floor map, getting ther eby car map and geeting there by train map, with Japanese and English names, etc.

Tokyo area transportation (rail maps, pass information, etc.) c/o japan-guide.com

Transportation from HND / Haneda airport c/o japan-guide

Transportation from NRT / Narita airport c/o japan-guide

Tokyo Travel Guide (same origin)

wr_schwab

In Oct 2006 I stayed at the Tokyo Conrad, the bell desk was able to arrange the Limo Bus to take me back to NRT and charged it to the room.