seacarl

It will be sad for me personally if this is the end of this property. I stayed there many times when it was the Century Hyatt, and I certainly swam in the pool. My company had an office in the Shinjuku office district. Originally the Tokyo Hilton as the main hotel where we stayed but I discovered that the Century Hyatt was really just as nice at half the price. I don't think I even had any Hyatt status. Over the years I have come back there time and again, long after the company office moved and I left the company. I have always been treated well. The hotel has been clean and well-maintained and offered decent treatment for Hyatt elites. Granted rooms were small and there are few suites. I did like it better when the Club lounge was on the floor that overlooked the atrium. And after it moved to the interior space on the higher floor the offerings were more sparse. But we did get the Tocho-mae station on the Oedo line in return.

The rooms are small. The renovated bathrooms are nice. It would be hard to believe that the owner will not invest to keep a quality hotel in the space... but maybe it has become economically obsolete?

Another hotel I once frequented was the Akasaka Prince, both before, during, and after it was affiliated with Westin/Starwood. Hard to believe that the property was torn down. I'm not sure what was built in its place.

The Grand Hyatt in Roppongi is certainly nicer nowadays. Much more expensive. Inconvenient to train/subway stations. At least there is a Sushi Zanmai within walking distance.

hailstorm

The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho, Japan, LC [Master Thread]

Also, last month I completed a five night stay at Grand Hyatt Tokyo that was only 4000 yen a night more than the lowest Hyatt Regency Tokyo rate, and included free minibar (sans alcohol).

seacarl

Thanks for the link. I never followed up after they tore down the Akasaka Prince. I still remember staying there with my kids when I took them on their first trip to Japan and we experienced a pretty severe earthquake and heard the rollers moving around as the building swayed.

I haven't priced anything since Covid19 and I would not imagine that today's prices reflect anything close to normal. In the most recent times that I compared the HR to the GH usually the GH was at least 20,000 more than the HR

hailstorm

Prince Gallery is really nice. Definitely an improvement on Akasaka Prince. But if you're really feeling nostalgic, then I think the current Tokyo Prince Hotel has much the same vibe.

I am quite looking forward to the opening of Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay. It was already the world's nicest Hyatt Place, and it looks like they are upping their game even more. But it seems strange to think that there will now be three Hyatt Regency hotels in the prefectures surrounding Tokyo, but in the near future possibly none in Tokyo itself.

AlwaysAisle

The legal registered name of Hyatt Regency Tokyo is Hotel Odakyu and since opening on 1980 this hotel is a group company of Odakyu Electric Railway Company, the train line runs between Shinjuku and Odawara. The land of the hotel was purchased jointly by Odakyu and Dai-ichi Life (insurance company) and the twin tower right next to Hyatt Regency Tokyo, Odakyu Daiichi Seimei Building, is owned by Odakyu Real Estate.

Hyatt Regency Tokyo is owned by Odakyu. The president of Odakyu Hotel, Jyun Koyanagi and executives of Odakyu Electric Railway are likely people making decisions on investments on Hyatt Regency Tokyo. Another hotel Odakyu owns is Hotel Century Southern Tower at Shinjuku, if that will be any reference. The hotel was built in 1980 and back then it was one of upper scale western style hotels in Tokyo. Now hotels like Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, the Peninsula, Four Seasons, etc. (none of them existed in Tokyo in 1980) moved into Tokyo. Simple renovations of guest rooms at Hyatt Regency Tokyo may not be enough to keep up with competitions. Just to make guest rooms slightly larger requires gutting of walls, total re-fitting of water and sewer pipes in the building, position of windows on the building become issue, etc. It could be that to keep up with the competitions, Hyatt Regency Tokyo may need to totally close down the hotel and do complete renovation of the building itself. That is what Okura Tokyo and the Tokyo Station Hotel did. I think Odakyu has made and will make more business decision about Hyatt Regency Tokyo in today's Tokyo hotel scene, which is very different from when it opened in 1980.

Pickles

Yes, I would agree with AlwaysAisle that they are slowly winding down the hotel to tear down the building and build something else there instead. My guess is that Shinjuku is next in getting the full Marunouchi treatment. At some point it'll all look like Paul Tange's Mode Gakuen egg building.

MSPeconomist

I'm not convinced that the hotel that's now the HR Tokyo was ever intended to be in the same category as the Peninsula, Four Seasons, etc. My first trip to Tokyo was probably 1990 and I remember that there was an ANA hotel that was somewhat similar but considered a bit better than the HR. I stayed in the old LM then, and the Imperial was certainly highly regarded. There was a very private smallish hotel in/near Ginza (IIRC it had a hyphenated name and has been gone for a while) that would also have been highly regarded, as was the Palace way back, and then later again after its renovations. PH would have been prestigious when it arrived on the Tokyo hotel scene, as was the best of the Prince hotels in their "compound" with the gardens.

AlwaysAisle

Sorry, I did not intend to say that Hyatt Regency Tokyo is on the same category as the Peninsula, Four Seasons, etc. That was not what I meant, sorry it was not clear. I meant that there was no Peninsula, Four Seasons, etc. at Tokyo when Hyatt Regency Tokyo (Hotel Century Hyatt back then) opened in 1980. Back in 1980 I think Hyatt Regency Tokyo (Hotel Century Hyatt) was considered on the category that the Peninsula, Four Seasons, etc. position today. That is the way I recall living at Tokyo (Setagaya, only 15 min. train ride to Shinjuku) in 1980. Then hotels like the Peninsula, Four Seasons, etc. came into Tokyo which pushed down the category for hotels like Hyatt Regency Tokyo. If Hyatt Regency Tokyo wants to remain on the same category as this hotel was considered back in 1980, then today Hyatt Regency Tokyo has to consider their competitors as the Peninsula, Four Seasons, etc. I do not think owner of Hyatt Regency Tokyo want to be on the same category as the Peninsula, Four Season, etc. Then the owner of Hyatt Regency Tokyo need to figure out where Hyatt Regency Tokyo fit into today's hotel scene at Tokyo.

hailstorm

Owing to the end of the national emergency, hotel operations have changed as of yesterday:

https://www.hyattregencytokyo.com/Po...s_22_March.pdf

Notable are these two items in clear English:

* Pool and Fitness Center is closed
* Pool will be permanently closed effecitve March 31 2021

SNA_Flyer

Still kind of mindblowing that they are closing that many outlets and pool, permanently, never to ever appear again after recovery. One wonders what they are going to do with the spaces. Drywall over everything and fill the pool with concrete to make everything disappear?

lAzyTraveler

Hopefully, they will do something better using all that space. They are going to Cat 4 next year (I guess they postpone Cat change this year)...

hailstorm

Where did you see that?

lAzyTraveler

Cat change? It was here but seems like it's deleted for now....

hailstorm

Then I don't think "they are going to Cat 4" is accurate wording. That was surely decided before COVID destroyed their occurpancy rate and gutted their services. It would be foolish of them to carry on with that now...if anything, they should join the HRO down at Cat 2.

lAzyTraveler

Well, you asked me where I saw it, so I answered. the link was showing this hotel was going to be cat 4. It would be nice to see that the hotel would be down to 2.