badgersfly

I am going to be attending a trade show at Makuhari Messe in March. The hotel chains I prefer to stick with (Hilton and Marriott) do not have any locations near the convention center. I would prefer to stay in the city center, but I also don't want to spend 2 hours commuting each way via train. Does anyone have any experience with trade shows at Makuhari Messe? Is it feasible to stay downtown and take the train back and forth or are there better options?
Thanks

jib71

You could, conceivably, commute from the Courtyard Marriott. If you want to do that, I'd suggest taking a cab to the Keiyo line entrance of Tokyo station (It is at the extreme south of Tokyo station so make sure to ask for the Keiyo line). And from there, you can take the Keiyo line straight to Kaihinmakuhari station. At Kaihinmakuhari, nothing is built on a human scale. You walk a fair distance (usually into gale force headwinds) to the exhibition halls.

Cab ride = 5 minutes (or 15 minutes walk)
Train journey = 40 minutes
Walk = 10 minutes

Frankly it's a drag. But you might consider it worthwhile to stay in a neighborhood with some life.

If Marriott points are not SO important, you could stay at the Four Seasons Marunouchi or the Fujiya Yaesu hotel, which are very close to the Keiyo line part of Tokyo station. That would be a somewhat easier commute.

If you want to be at the event first thing in the morning every day, I'd recommend staying at one of the hotels on site - New Otani Makuhari, for example.

RichardInSF

The hotels at Tokyo Disneyland are pretty close, just one or two stops on the train. But I think there is just a Sheraton and an Inter-continental -- someone else will know this and post I hope!

NewbieRunner

The Hilton Tokyo Bay is close to Bayside station on the monorail "Disney Resort Line". It's 7 mins on the monorail to Resort Gateway Station (adjacent to JR Maihama station) or there is also a free shuttle service between the hotel and Maihama station. It's 21 mins from Maihama to Kaihin-makuhari which is the station for Makuhari Messe.

AlwaysAisle

You mentioned that you want to stay in the city center, I interpreted that to be that you would like to see Tokyo during your trade show at Makuhari Messe in March. There are hotels at Makuhari Messe which are comparable to Hilton and Marriott standard but I take it that you do not want to stay at Makuhari Messe.

Kaihin Makuhari station is right at Makuhari Messe. It is 29 minutes train ride from Tokyo station by Rapid train.

Which is important for you? Stay at Hilton or Marriott hotels or stay at Tokyo? Closest hotel which will work for you will be Courtyard by Marriott Tokyo Ginza, which Higashi-Ginza subway station is closest. There is Hilton Tokyo Bay at Tokyo Disneyland as some mentioned which is closer to Makuhari Messe but it is not in Tokyo. If you want to stay in the city center then Hilton Tokyo Bay will not work out.

Considering Courtyard, the commute from Higashi-Ginza subway station to Kaihin Makuhari will be:

Higashi-Ginza to Haccho-bori (subway Hibiya Line)
Haccho-bori to Kaihin Makuhari (JR Keiyo Line)

Considering transfer time it will be 45-50 minutes from Higashi-Ginza to Kaihin Makuhari. Assuming that the trade show is full day event where you will be traveling to/from hotel and Makuhari Messe during rush hour. You should expect 45-50 munities train ride will be standing room only, better not to expect commute on train while sitting down. Even though you will be going against rush hour traffic, do not expect trains to be that empty. Considering walking you need to do from/to train station, from Courtyard to the location at Makuhari Messe will easily be one hour plus each way when everything is considered.

If staying in the city center is more important than Hilton or Marriott, then as some already suggested that staying around Tokyo station will be your best. Ginza is near Tokyo station and you can easily go out to Ginza form hotels around Tokyo station. Again, considering walk from/to train stations, staying at hotels around Tokyo station will be 40-50 minutes from the hotel to the location at Makuhari Messe you need to be.

If you want to stay at other parts of Tokyo then commute to Makuhari Messe will be easily more than one hour each way. Also, as jib71 mentioned at both end at Makuhari Messe and Tokyo you will do some walking to/from train stations. Such is everyday life for middle class salary men in Tokyo and they may not think anything of such commute. However, if you are used to in car commute such as in the U.S. where you take a car right from your home to the parking lot of the building at work then you may find commute from Tokyo to Makuhari Messe to be a lot of travel.

I think you need to consider two situations, deal with the commute so that you can stay in the city center of Tokyo, or stay at Makuhari Messe so that you do not have to deal with commute.

jib71

This is why I recommend heading to the Keiyo line entrance of Tokyo station in the morning rather than getting on the train at Hatchobori. Since Tokyo station is the first stop, you have a chance of snagging a seat. At Hatchobori, you're going to be standing all the way.

For the return trip, getting off at Hatchobori and taking the subway to Higashiginza would save some money and/or time.

hamburgler

He's going to be doing the reverse commute. I haven't had a huge problem getting seats at Hatchobori on the regular Keiyo line trains heading towards Ichikawa at around 8.45am in the past. I haven't tried the rapid ones though since I need to go to a local stop...

jib71

Depending on the event at Makuhari, I've known the trains to be standing room only from Tokyo onwards. It's been a while since I've attended a big event there, but ...

Q Shoe Guy

I have recently been "experienced" at riding the rails to both Makuhari and Big Site. Big site works better, because of my location near Shibuya....but both are an absolute pain at rush hour ! IME

jamar

In which case it might be worth it to pay the 500 yen for a seat on one of the limited express trains? I do that if I've bought a lot at Costco and don't want to stand and hold on to it all the whole way back to downtown. On the other hand, it's been a while since I've stayed at a hotel in downtown Tokyo when visiting (I've found that since I'm usually coming and going from different airports, I just stay close to the other airport and take a direct bus there), so I don't know if they still have limited express trains that stop at Kaihin-Makuhari.

5khours

If I recall correctly, Hibiya Line has an easy connection to the Keiyo line at Hachobori and Yurakucho Line connects at Shin Kiba. These give you a lot of hotel options. Relatively easy trip to Makuhari. Good decision not to stay at Makuhari. Cultural desert out there.

Neither Marriott nor Hilton have great options in Tokyo. I'd stay at another hotel.