txpenny

I was recently at the Conrad on 7.8.18, the night of the M5.9 earthquake of the coast. While I love the Conrad, I'm even more impressed with Japanese engineering! Fun times.

catcher1

I was in Kyoto, in a hotel gym for my morning workout. I had to really grab and hold on to the elliptical machine hand bars to prevent myself from falling over. And this was on the third floor. My wife was on the 15th floor and freaked out along with many others. Yes, fun times indeed.

evergrn

Speaking of elliptical, the elliptical machine at Conrad Tokyo just doesn't feel right. Not sure if it's the design (which makes you feel like you have to lift your knees up higher than any other ellipticals I've used) or unusual pedal resistance or what. I used it yesterday and played around a bit to see if there was a way to adjust things, but I don't think you can.

frudd38

Did you book the children down officially on the reservation?

When trying to book an award stay with 2 adults and 2 children, it shoots the price up dramatically (suites only). Are we supposed to book it as 0 children and the hotel will just charge accordingly based on age (ages 1 and 2 in our case, so no charges) at check in?

The site does clearly state 18 and under stay free with no extra bedding, but doesn't clarify if it should be officially booked on the reservation.. TIA

thbe

You better send an email to the Hotel and ask.

On one hand kids stay free. On the other hand you have to make the booking for the number of guests, who are supposed to stay. We have two kids as well and most hotels switch to a suite, if I try to make a booking for us. The only way to be sure about it is to make a request to the hotel. That way I get the rollaway(s) for free as well most of the times.

JJeffrey

Yes, I would certainly just book the standard points room online (2 adults, 0 kids) then call/email the hotel directly to add your children, rollaway, etc.

evergrn

You have to either put 2 adults + 1 child or 2 adults + 0 child (I don't think that really matters), then just put in the comment that you'll have 2 kids sharing beds.
And then if you're Diamond, then put in 1 adult + 2children, then let the hotel know that you're taking advantage of the 2nd adult stay free benefit. The 2nd free adult will get the Diamond benefit also (ie, EL access, free breakfast).

If you count your kids as kids or no-one, then they will not get the Diamond benefit. You'll have to pay for their EL access fee (~5000yen, I think, after tax/svc), which is hefty but would then include the free breakfast option. Also, if you request rollaway, then you'll have to pay the hefty rollaway fee for your kids plus their EL access fee.

On the other hand, if you count one of our kids as an adult and put 3 adults + 0 kid on your reservation, then the paid-for child will get the rollaway + EL access included. In this case, though, you cannot invoke the 2nd adult stays free benefit since there're 3 adults involved.

You just have to try out different options and figure out what works out best for you price-wise.

But the bottom-line is you cannot book their standard non-suite room if you put down a total of 4 people on the booking, whether it's 4 adults or 2 adults + 2 kids. With all of Conrad Tokyo's provisions about kids-stay-free and stuff, this is a glitch I think they need to rectify on Hilton App / website.

Perhaps all of this is very confusing. I just know this because I've gone through this enough times with them recently. You can always contact them via email and ask them to present different pricing options for your party.

frudd38

Interesting, thanks for the detailed explanation. So for an award stay as a Diamond and to avoid EL/breakfast charges, the best option would be to put 1 adult + 2 kids (since this gets all 3 the diamond bennies?) then invoke 2nd adult?

We'll actually have 3 rooms totaling 6 adults and 2 kids with all 3 rooms booked under separate Diamond accounts, so I guess I really could just put 1 kid per two of the rooms, or does that still incur EL/breakfast charges?

evergrn

As I understand it, the 2nd-adult-stays-free thing only applies to paid stay. Everything that I wrote above mostly applies to paid stays, also. The way Conrad Tokyo sees it, the Diamond member + one additional registered guest gets free EL access. However, if there are 3 registered paying adult guests, then all 3 get free EL access.

Now, as I'm writing this, I'm wondering what would happen if you booked 2 out of your 3 rooms as 3 adults + 0 child (with the 3rd adult in each room actually being child) as an award stay. 3 stays ago, we did an award stay with 2 adults + 1 child (plus 1 more child notified to the hotel but not on booking), and we were told we had to pay EL access fees for the 2 kids. I wonder what would've happened, had our award booking been 3 adults. Maybe it wouldn't have been any different.

To clarify, you'll notice that the paid rate for standard room is different for 3 adults vs 2 adults, whereas it costs the same points for 3 adults vs 2 adults. Hence the above debate.

Btw, if you read through this thread, you'll see number of folks who managed to get the kids' EL access fees waived via pleading/arguing. Not sure if it'll work for you, though.

Suzzin

I don't know if the Conrad Tokyo is different, but at the two Conrads we stayed at this summer (Beijing and Bangkok) they didn't charge for the child if he used existing bedding but they were adamant on charging for breakfast and the lounge. Even when we booked a triple room for three people (either 2 adults or 2 adults plus a child), they would accommodate the third person in bedding but not in benefits.

frudd38

Knowing that I may just try 3 adults on 2 of the rooms. That's a bit annoying and may look at Hilton instead if they're more lenient. Thanks again for all the insight and will read past experiences more in depth.

Thanks for the DP, I guess it's a Conrad (or Hilton) thing rather than Japan only.

MSPSKI

I have been meaning to get back and follow up on this.
The end result was i booked a Twin Suite City Corner through the FHR program.
Upon checking in- i asked about the upgrade and was told no upgrade was available.
I asked if it would be possible to be charged the next lower class of room and then have it processed as an "upgrade" into the Twin Suite City Corner.
The front desk agent was more than happy to accommodate and it saved a hundreds in the process- score.

evergrn

It's not really a Conrad/Hilton thing, though. It's more of an individual property thing. Conrad HKG, for instance, will not charge for kids' buffet / EL access.
In the US/Canada, kids stay generally free at all Hiltons/DT's and some will charge Diamonds for kids' breakfast whereas others won't.

frudd38

Thank you, noted. I totally missed your earlier comment stating the lounge access is charged to kids ages 6+. The two kids in our party will be 1 and 3, so I should be fine this trip.

kapooncha

I'm seeing standard room rates now available, even for April. Managed to snag 5 nights the 2nd week of April. Only had 2 nights on my last trip and now will have 5 nights, love this damn hotel. Cash rates are north of $900 per night so getting the 5 nights on points is outstanding value.