hanajiro

Another vote for the Century Southern Tower. What it lacks in some amenities such as room service, etc., it makes up for it with its location. Short walk to the Shinjuku Station South Gate as well as the new bus terminal. Just across a bridge to the massive Takashimaya department store and the always great Tokyu Hands (not as good as the Shibuya branch but pretty great nonetheless).

BRITINJAPAN3

Forget Odaiba, its Ok to visit I guess but a terrible location meaning slow bus or train to go anywhere.

ksandness

Agreed. Odaiba can be a fun excursion for the onsen theme park (Oedo Monogatari), for the sometimes weird architecture (the Fuji TV building and the Tokyo Big Sight convention center), and for the experience of riding an automated train over a spiral bridge, but I would never stay there. It's an expensive train ride to anywhere that isn't Odaiba.

Even when I was attending a conference at Tokyo Big Sight, I stayed in Shimbashi (near the starting point of the automated train), which is on the Yamanote Line.

evergrn

Odaiba sure is taking a beating here. I enjoy staying there personally, as do a lot of other Japanese apparently. Although not for more than a couple nights. Lot of fun stuff on the island for the family, not to mention great view of Tokyo and the Rainbow Bridge. I often see good rates at the Hilton there. If Disney is on the agenda, Hilton offers free shuttle. So the location definitely works for some. On the other hand, it's difficult to recommend Odaiba to first-time foreign visitors who're looking for a good base to explore Tokyo out of, for the reasons already mentioned above.

I don't think Odaiba was optimally designed. The different malls/attractions are too spread apart, which probably contributes to the place feeling dead in the winter time.　　Hilton/Aqua City to ferris wheel takes a good 20 minutes to walk... either that, or pay a lot of money for the short ride on Yurikamome. Yurikamome is too slow. Rinkai line is the more useful link to Tokyo than is Yurikamome, since you can go straight to Shibuya and Shinjuku. Yet Rinkai's Teleport station is too far from the hotels. They should have had the Rinkai line stop near Daiba station instead.

tim0409

Thanks again for all the replies; I missed out on the Century, and have booked the Hilton Tokyo for £975 on a cancellable rate, although I am now looking at the Richmond Oshiage which gets good review and is only £428 for the same dates (5 nights)....

ksandness

It's not the greatest location, although it is on a direct line to Asakusa and the Tokyo Sky Tree. It is at the terminus of the Hanzomon Line, which will take you into central Tokyo.

It is more likely than the Odaiba Location to have interesting stuff in the immediate neighborhood, like little hole-in-the-wall restaurants and shops.

Pickles

Keep the Hilton, that's a good rate for 5 nights. The Richmond Oshiage is a major step down in both the hotel quality and location.

evergrn

I agree with you that Shinjuku is a much better spot than Oshiage and that 975gbp for 5 nights is not a bad rate at Shinjuku Hilton. I've never been a fan of that part of Tokyo, although it's great that Sky Tree is right there.

But 975 vs 428 is a huge price difference, and that price difference becomes even more when you factor in other things such as the price of breakfast buffets (much more expensive at Hilton, even though the quality will likely be fairly similar). I think that's a tough decision unless it's one of Richmond's small <20m2 rooms. Although I'd still probably stay at Hilton if you're hhonors Gold or Diamond.

Although I'm not impressed by most Japanese hotel chains, I do think highly of Richmond. Especially their Premier locations, of which the Oshiage location is one. Richmond's rooms are typically very clean, breakfast is excellent, and they provide many little amenities. Where Hilton has a leg-up is that it's more full-service (concierge, bellman, more English speakers), there's better upholstery, and has legit bathroom instead of those filthy unit baths.

smithrh

I'm at the Shinjuku Hilton right now; prepping to leave this afternoon, been here 7 nights total.

Yes, it's a *short* walk to the main attractions in Shinjuku, but I stress short - maybe 5 minutes, 6 minutes? It's also one block from a subway stop if you don't want to walk that.

I'm guessing the OP is not Gold/Diamond at Hilton, but it's still a good property. I think many rooms come with free breakfast, which has both asian and western food; plentiful selection of items at very decent quality.

As others have mentioned, there's a high service level here as well. Rooms are plenty large and nice - even nicer on the executive levels, as they seem to have been redone and updated fairly recently.

Plus, the Hilton is a stop for the Narita Limousine bus - making life just a tad easier. I know some here would say take the train and I understand that but the bus lowers the hassle factor with no transfers and no mucking around with luggage. You do pay a penalty in time spent but I'm making that tradeoff. If I had just one or two smaller bags then the train would be the better option.

kerryflyer1

That's a very good rate for Hilton Tokyo.