Need hotel in downtown Tokyo
 

My friend asked me for a recommendation for a mid priced downtown centrally located hotel with decent access to the airport. He will only be in Tokyo one night, has never been there before, and will be heading to Kyoto the next day. It can, but doesn't have to be, a chain hotel, like a Hilton, Hyatt, etc. I know next to nothing about Tokyo so I'm hoping someone can throw out some recommendations.

Bobette

What's your definition of "mid-priced?" Two options come to mind.

The first would be to stay close to Tokyo station, there are a variety of hotels within easy walking distance in a range of price points. You can take the Narita Express (NEX) there and then the Shinkansen to KYOTO the next day. The only drawback is that Tokyo station is HUGE and confusing

The other option, particularly if this is a late arrival/early departure situation would be to stay at a hotel at Shinagawa. Both the NEX and the Shinkansen service this station and it is a ton easier to deal with than Tokyo. But, you're not in the city center.

What's the timing of the arrival and then the desired trip to Kyoto the next day? If this search is just for a hotel to crash for the night I'd certainly suggest Shinagawa for the ease.

Whatever your friend choses, the easiest way to deal with tickets is to visit the JR East Travel Service center at NRT - there's one in each terminal, downstairs by the entrance to the rail station. They can sell both a NEX/SUICA combination, which is good for local transport and SUICA now works for the Kyoto subway/private rain lines as well, and they will also sell the Shinkansen tickets. US credit cards are not a problem. The person who recently helped me was very good about explaining how to use the tickets. If your friend gets a JR pass this is also where you have that validated, although every time I've been through NRT those lines were crushingly long.

Depending on arrival time, another option would be to just skip the Tokyo stay and go straight on to Kyoto. Flights from the west coast of the US tend to arrive in late afternoon. It would be pretty simple to just jump on the Narita Express to Shinagawa and immediately change to the Nozomi (bullet train) to Kyoto, arriving by 8 or 9 pm.

If your friend really wants to stop off in Tokyo for the night, I'd agree the two easiest choices are Tokyo and Shinagawa. If he wants to get out and see some of Tokyo, then Tokyo Station would be better. If he just wants to crash for the night, choose Shinagawa.

Low- to moderate priced hotels can be found on:

www.japanhotel.net or
http://travel.rakuten.com/

Major chains like Hilton, etc can be booked on their sites. I don't think there is a Hilton close to either Tokyo or Shinagawa.

Any of the Prince Hotels near Shinagawa Station would work pretty well. Aside from the one shown on Japan Hotel Net, others can be found at:

https://www.google.com/webhp?source=...+station+tokyo

Actually, if your friend is only going to Kyoto, the easier way would be to skip Tokyo and fly directly into Kansai Airport (KIX). From there it is only a 75 minute direct train to Kyoto Station.

Another option is to skip Tokyo and go a bit south to Odawara and stay in the Hilton there, it's about 1/5 or so of the way to Kyoto.

Seconding Odawara.

If he's slightly more adventurous, he can take the train to Odawara and then transfer to another train to Hakone-Yumoto, where he can go relax in the hot springs :D

Do you know what time he is arriving?

And should the OP stay here they can avail themselves to at least a 10% discount should they have JR Rail PASS ^ !

Odawara Hilton, though nice, is inconvenient, especially during the summer and weekends, when the Odawara shuttle shuts down and you have to do the transfer at the unmanned station in Nebukawa.

I'd keep it simple and interesting, and stay at the new Tokyo Station hotel. Can't get better access to the bullet train than that!

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I've passed them all on to my friend.

Bobette

While not in the "luxury" category, I didn't suggest the Tokyo Station Hotel since it doesn't really fall into "mid-priced."