And to think I spent so much of my time (mostly from the Radisson) jogging in the countryside! :o

Show your thanks by posting a trip report, and any new information you have. Also, if you have a digicam, link some pix to your trip report.

Cheers,

M8

A tip for traveling in Japan - works in Germany and other places as well. If you are stuck and need someone who speaks English to help out, look around for a high school student or younger person. You'll find they often are taking English in school and are happy to help out. Older adults may not speak one word... but when a phrase bok fails, a young person often makes the difference. Hai!

Will do. I'm staying currently at the NRT Hilton right now ... just overnighting to my layover to HND this afternoon. I'm staying here on the way back (2 nights), so I'll check post more on that later this week.

I did the bath thing last night down in the health club. That was interesting.

Yoshinoya is beef bowl chain. http://www.yoshinoya.com/en/index.html
Due to the ban on the US beef import, they are offering pork bowls instead. They say they cannot offer good taste with JP, OZ etc.. beef. I think they have an English menu available. Gyu-Tetsunabe-zen is only beef menu they are selling now. It is a sukiyaki dish and a white rice bowl.

Hilton Narita review
 

Hey all,

I was asked to post my thoughts on the Hilton Narita after staying there. I board in 15 minutes to go home, so I'll say what I can and add more later.

I stayed there twice: one night on the way out (between continued travel thru HND) and on the way back for two nights.

Overall, I liked the place. I had never stayed at an actual Hilton before, and I understand that HN might not be the top tier for Hiltons, but I was quite happy with it.

The service was fantastic. Bellhops and front desk staff were very helpful. Having taken advantage of the CTCH promotion for gold really helped.

Stayed in a Deluxe Queen Plus room both times. First time I paid for it (well, work did), the second time I was upgraded to it. Room wasn't anything fancy, but it was clean and well kept. Bathroom looked a little old.

I liked the fact that they had a LAN connection in the room. It cost about 1800 yen and worked pretty well. Much cheaper and more reliable than the wireless I had in Germany. I borrowed a 3 prong adapater for my laptop for free at the front desk. My only gripe with the laptop is that the LAN connection should have been placed closer to the desk. Didn't like tripping over the wire everytime I had to use it, or to place my laptop on the floor.

Airport views were great. I enjoyed watching the planes come in and out of NRT. Glide path was right in front of my window, but noise was minimal.

Food ... breakfast was great. Bacon appeared to be English style ... well cooked but not crisp. Fruit on the buffet was some of the best I ever had. Very happy with breakfast. Had a light dinner at the coffee shop last night and it was good. Much cheaper than the 3600 yen pasta buffet that didn't look too appealing.

Pastries are to die for. My friend introduced me to them in northern Japan and they're some of the best I ever had. Hilton has a good bakery.

Bar ... stopped in the bar the first night and we ate there. I didn't drink, but my coworkers did. The Brit who went with us really enjoyed the liter glass of Kirin that they offered. Food was ok. They had some washed up country singer that's self-proclaimed the "King of Country." Name was John McKennon or something like that. I wasn't too impressed. He appears to have a standing gig.

Health club ... one gripe I had was that you need a swimming cap. Only 210 yen, but still a pain. My friend said it's a cultural thing that the Japanese consider hair to be unclean, so a cap is required. Pool and hot tub were very nice. Sauna was nice and toasty, but there was just too much moisture in the air that it was hard to breate for anything more than 10 seconds.

Onsen/bath: The bath was interesting and fun. I did one in northern Japan and it got the nickname "naked spa" by one of the girls that went with us. Quite refreshing. Caveat though: don't jump into the cold bath immediately after the hot bath ... you can have a heart attack. I went to cold immediately after the hot and started to feel really funny. I got out. Fortunately no problems. Must acclimate before going into cold water.

Drug store: nice selection of snacks and stuff to grab for a quick bite or drink. They seemed to be confused with honoring the VIP discount when I presented my card, but I got it everytime.

Narita town: Great place to visit. I tried both the 150 bus and the Hilton shuttle. The 150 bus can be difficult if you're standing in it ... I'm 5'9 and was almost banging my head on the cieling. Also made it difficult to see where you were stopping, so I missed the temple. Fortunately, I had a map and the folks here gave me enough info to find my way there by walking.

I hit the Barge Inn. Didn't drink, but they didn't have anything I wanted to eat either. The temple was spectacular. Amazing architecture and an overall peaceful place. I also found a kimono/souvenir shop where I was able to get kimono's for larger framed Americans. 20% discount for cash. ^ Food was cheaper in town than at the hotel, and cheaper that many places I've seen.

Nice little town.

The Japanese people were really friendly and accommodating. I know very little Japanese, but fortunately the signs are either in English or at least romanized so you can figure things out. I didn't have trouble with simple transactions.

Overall, I enjoyed my stay there. Great hotel for the value, and the staff is friendly and helpful.

I recommend.

I'll post pics after I get home. Gotta get on a 13 hour flight to ORD now.

Bad news from Hilton Narita
 

Hilton Narita is a very friendly hotel for the HHonors members and they give nice treatments especially for G and D members. For example, they give G and D members the continental breakfast tickets but actually they offer the full breakfast buffet.

But after 16th on May, the continental breakfast ticket will be offered for the real continental breakfast. If the full breakfast buffet is wanted, 1,270JPY would be needed with the ticket. :(

This news has not been announced officially, but the guests who have stayed recently at this hotel were told by the hotel staff and the regular customers have got mails from the hotel.

The hotel probably read about the "easy Gold" promo, and bracing themselves for the estimated 44,000 additional Gold members ;)

and in a similar vein, at Phoenix Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak, only 2 breakfast vouchers per room are now being given out to golds (don't know about diamond, would guess it is the same). Previously I had received vouchers for the number of people in the room which really made SP a super value.

They would appear to be strictly adhering to the HHonor benefits which state:
At U.S. and Canadian Hilton hotels, and at Conrad and Doubletree hotels with Towers or Executive Levels, Diamond VIPs will be provided with a guest room on the Towers or Executive Level floor, whenever possible. In cases when Towers or Executive Level accommodations have been fully booked, Diamond VIP members will be offered the use of the Towers or Executive Level lounge, including complimentary continental breakfast each morning for the member and one additional person or (2) personalized certificates for each day of the stay for the member and one additional person valid for complimentary continental breakfast in the hotel coffee shop or all-purpose restaurant. At hotels without a Towers or Executive Level, Diamond VIP members will be offered complimentary continental breakfast each morning for the member and one additional person.

Outside the US there is not even the benefit of continental breakfast now stated:
At Hilton Family hotels outside the U.S. and Canada that have upgraded accommodation, Gold and Diamond VIPs will be upgraded to Executive Level or to the next best available room type. Upgraded rooms are subject to availability. At hotels that do not have upgraded types of accommodation, Gold and Diamond VIPs will receive additional amenities and/or services, which vary by property.

I am tending to find, especially in the UK hotels without Executive floors (most of them), that they now give elites a £3 ($5) bottle of wine and 2 chocolates in a box as the additional amenity. This is probably hoping that people will spend £15 per person on full breakfast!

Chris.

Does the Hilton Park Lane offer breakfast or wine/chocolate to Diamonds?

When I stayed at the Park Lane in April 2003 I was put on the executive floor with access to the lounge with breakfast. There was also chocolates and bottled water in the room when I got there. No wine. And this was an award stay the weekend of the London Marathon. I was Diamond at the time. I also gave my sister an award room at the same time. She has no status. She was also given a room next door to mine and access to the lounge including breakfast. She did not get the chocolates and water.

I know that is what the HHonors benefits state, but for the three trips to SP prior to the last one, I received 4 breakfast certs per day. And I mostly go with other family members, one of whom received 5 certs per day times 6 days for 30 breakfast certs. I did not complain when I only received the two certs per day as I carry my rules and know them. It was the change in policy I was noting. They are well within their rights to do it.

That is a bad choice and hope it is not systemwide. My Gold lapsed for a couple months once due to hhonors inactivity and the breakfast at Kensington Hilton was £15 per person, $25 US. We did not eat there once. That would have been $100 for breakfast for 4 of us when we could go out in London and get breakfast for only $70 , instead. ;) Or eat in the room, cereal and milk or breakfast sandwiches seemed a better alternative.

They seem to geet cheaper all the time, but usually because someone was abusing the system. The first time I stayed at the Hilton Tokyo bay I was there for 60 nights. I got a coupon for a free drink in the bar every day. Towards the end of my stay a co-worker who had been staying there for a little over a year gave all of her coupons to her paint crew (we were working on a near by theme park) and they went nuts. After that drink coupons were reduced to 1 per stay. I would typically use mine on a glass of 25 year old scotch. On my most recent trip I tried to order my expensive scotch and was handed a menu with a list of a dozen or so drinks that you could get with the coupon. Now I hear the bar (Windows on the World) is gone and so are the drink coupons.

That's too bad. It was a really nice spread.

Anybody know what the continental breakfast is limited to/consists of?