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Tokyo luxury hotels (newer consolidated thread)

Old Jan 21, 2019, 9:52 pm
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Last edit by: bhrubin
Reviews of Tokyo hotels to be found in dedicated threads (If you review another Tokyo luxury hotel, put it in a thread and add a link here, thanks!)

Aman Tokyo (not a formal review but as detailed as one) -- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1639553&referrerid=14479

Mandarin Oriental Tokyo -- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1633439&referrerid=14479

Peninsula Tokyo -- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1627939&referrerid=14479

The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho -- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1728518&referrerid=14479

The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho from luxury perspective https://www.flyertalk.com/hotel-revi...d-service-2620
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Tokyo luxury hotels (newer consolidated thread)

Old Jul 19, 2018, 11:15 pm
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by sinfonia
We just returned from the Prince Gallery.
Hi,

Thanks for an informative post. I've shortlisted this place for an upcoming trip. I'd be interested in your thoughts on staying in that district as a base?

How did you like the location? It looks like it's very close to a number of handy metro lines, but perhaps not so good for JR lines. I've only visited that district in Tokyo once, for a visit to the Ninja Akasaka restaurant, but have not stayed in that area.

Previously we have stayed at the Conrad, Imperial, Marunouchi and the Palace, which are all kind of close together in in the eastern side of the city, but have no experience staying in the Akasaka area.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 11:54 pm
  #17  
 
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It's a great question, Offshore171. By no means are we Tokyo experts (this was our first trip there), but we did get around quite a bit, and we found this location rather central to everywhere we wanted to go. At the beginning of the trip, I questioned whether it was going to be a good location in terms of accessibility to places we wanted to go, but by the middle of the trip, I had quite an appreciation for the area. Surrounding the hotel itself, the area is quiet and rather lovely on the river, but yes, it has enough metro lines nearby that we found it rather easy to jet out to Tokyo Station or Ginza for this, and then head off to Harajuku or Shinjuku for that. We did have to transfer lines sometimes as it does not have all of the lines there (for example, getting up to Akihabara or Sugamo required a transfer), but since the metro is so easy and so frequent, it really did not matter much. We found the location to be a very nice balance between accessibility/easy of transportation and in an area that seemed to void of big crowds. As we walked around our area, we did not see anyone but us holding a map or speaking another language than Japanese.

One thing that we kept musing over was the generosity of amenities and service. While we have never stayed at a Prince hotels property, we have stayed at plenty of Luxury Collection properties, St. Regis resorts, etc., and we found the service and offerings here incredibly gracious and hospitable.

I will also note that for the most part, excepting certain arrangements and beneficial relations, I do not find a lot of value in using concierges for suggestions as even at luxury hotels, they sometimes perform the same Google searches that I already have performed, or they recommend a restaurant with which they have a relation, but which is not at all what I had asked for or desired. However, the concierge at the Tokyo Prince Gallery was excellent. We needed her help three different times and she really came through, going above and beyond what we would have expected. For example, we were looking to purchase certain items and had no idea the best place to get these. She had recommendations of a few stores, but specifically, based on where we were going to be, called the stores in all three of these areas (not just one department store but also smaller boutique stores) to inquire about their selection, and then she put together a game plan for us to most efficiently visit these stores and make our purchases. When I threw in a last minute difficult-to-find item that I wanted to purchase, she slipped a note under the door overnight while I was sleeping with not only two locations, but photos of the types of products they carried so that I could evaluate whether it met my needs or not, and she came up with creative ideas to help me get what I wanted. When I missed her calls, she persistently but politely continued calling until she reached me and quickly sent me detailed text messages with information.
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Old Jul 19, 2018, 11:56 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by Offshore171
Hi,

Thanks for an informative post. I've shortlisted this place for an upcoming trip. I'd be interested in your thoughts on staying in that district as a base?

How did you like the location? It looks like it's very close to a number of handy metro lines, but perhaps not so good for JR lines. I've only visited that district in Tokyo once, for a visit to the Ninja Akasaka restaurant, but have not stayed in that area.

Previously we have stayed at the Conrad, Imperial, Marunouchi and the Palace, which are all kind of close together in in the eastern side of the city, but have no experience staying in the Akasaka area.
Just about anywhere in Tokyo close to a subway or train station is convenient for getting around the city. That's my conclusion after 100 visits or so over 15+ years. Akasaka Mitsuke/Nagatacho has access to 5 different subway lines. You really can't do better. I would say that the Conrad, for example, is in an acceptable but worse location for transit access.

BTW, my kids and I went to that Ninja restaurant. The environment was unusual and the mini-magic show was nice but the food was a total ripoff. .
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Old Jul 20, 2018, 12:13 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by RichardInSF
BTW, my kids and I went to that Ninja restaurant. The environment was unusual and the mini-magic show was nice but the food was a total ripoff. .
Not to get too far off topic, but there was a really great thread here on FT that is now closed devoted to restaurants with great food for inexpensive pricing. I scoured that old thread as I have a particular love for off-the-beaten path hole-in-the-wall restaurants that have really great food with or without the fuss. I took a lot of notes, and we definitely were very pleased with the ones that we visited.
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Old Jul 20, 2018, 12:17 am
  #20  
 
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You can also try [email protected].

(In response to the question about an email address for the hotel.)

Last edited by sinfonia; Jul 20, 2018 at 12:24 am
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Old Jul 20, 2018, 12:54 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by sinfonia
It's a great question, Offshore171. By no means are we Tokyo experts (this was our first trip there), but we did get around quite a bit, and we found this location rather central to everywhere we wanted to go.
We also found the hotel very well located and with great access to many lines on the metro. There are 4 lines that are basically within a 5-10 min walk from the hotel. It was a mere 15 min taxi drive to the main Tokyo Station, as well.

One thing that we kept musing over was the generosity of amenities and service. While we have never stayed at a Prince hotels property, we have stayed at plenty of Luxury Collection properties, St. Regis resorts, etc., and we found the service and offerings here incredibly gracious and hospitable.
^^^

The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho is clearly the class of the entire Prince portfolio. Its amenities and service, not to mention it’s exceptional modern hard product. truly are among the best in the city. In our opinion, only the Aman Tokyo has a better hard product. And the service here was the equal of any top hotel in the city.

I will also note that for the most part, excepting certain arrangements and beneficial relations, I do not find a lot of value in using concierges for suggestions as even at luxury hotels, they sometimes perform the same Google searches that I already have performed, or they recommend a restaurant with which they have a relation, but which is not at all what I had asked for or desired. However, the concierge at the Tokyo Prince Gallery was excellent. We needed her help three different times and she really came through, going above and beyond what we would have expected. For example, we were looking to purchase certain items and had no idea the best place to get these. She had recommendations of a few stores, but specifically, based on where we were going to be, called the stores in all three of these areas (not just one department store but also smaller boutique stores) to inquire about their selection, and then she put together a game plan for us to most efficiently visit these stores and make our purchases. When I threw in a last minute difficult-to-find item that I wanted to purchase, she slipped a note under the door overnight while I was sleeping with not only two locations, but photos of the types of products they carried so that I could evaluate whether it met my needs or not, and she came up with creative ideas to help me get what I wanted. When I missed her calls, she persistently but politely continued calling until she reached me and quickly sent me detailed text messages with information.
^^^

Shinobu Momoi is a true gem. She easily could be working at any Aman or Peninsula hotel in the world. Her English is good, but her instinct to provide genuinely amazing service is innate. Prince is extremely lucky to have her, indeed.

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Old Jul 20, 2018, 5:31 am
  #22  
 
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i had a rather poor stay at Prince Gallery Kiocho Tokyo in June. This is our second stay in PG . We had such an amazing experience on our first stay similar to bhrubin trip report, in fact we were upgraded to Designer suite with an in-room sauna, that we have decided to stay again this time around to celebrate my wife's birthday.

We are staying at the Kioi suite , which I found although the suite is large but we don't find it spacious as compare the open floor plan you get in designer suite. You get a separate room with a large dining table that in our case is useless and take up a huge portion of the suite. Unlike our first experience, we were not escorted to our room ( not even offer to escort to our room), and basically just hand us the key. We didn't receive information at check in or in our suite about the club lounge and restaurant operating hours like we did on our first stay. We showed up at 1015 am on a saturday to the lobby breakfast restaurant and was told they were already closed for breakfast. (MO breakfast tokyo open till 1030 on weekday and 1130 on weekend ).

When we did try the breakfast at the lobby restaurant, the service was so poor. The staff need several reminder to serve our very first cup of coffee or tea and the restaurant weren't even busy. Of all my dining experience at a suppose luxury breakfast buffet, the staff would bring a new cutlery to you when they clear your plate automatically, unless you suggest otherwise but of the 3 day i dined there, not once did we get a new set of cutlery when it's used, which was the complete opposite experience when i stay there the very first time. The hot food offering is luke warm at best.

I also did use their concierge service including speaking to the chief concierge but they didn't seem to able to outperform MO concierge in terms of able to secure impossible to book tokyo restaurant ( which for the record, MO concierge over the years has secured matsukawa, sugita, saito, sugalabo, kyoaji ....etc for us). Mind you, we are regular guest at MO tokyo, in fact we have stayed over 30th times for the past 10 years, so i understand YMMV and acknowledge more than handful of people have negative experience at MO.

We did complain and the service recovery was a pair of chopstick. We are not going to return for the foreseeable future.
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Old Jul 26, 2018, 9:50 am
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by silverlim
We did complain and the service recovery was a pair of chopstick. We are not going to return for the foreseeable future.
Ha! Service recovery at Four Seasons Nam Hai was two pairs of chopsticks. A trend!
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 5:02 am
  #24  
 
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what's the best way to get to prince gallery tokyo kioicho from haneda airport? taxis is too expensive in tokyo.
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 5:07 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by MattEvan
Ha! Service recovery at Four Seasons Nam Hai was two pairs of chopsticks. A trend!
Whats the problem with a pair of chopsticks?
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 5:53 am
  #26  
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Originally Posted by MattEvan
Ha! Service recovery at Four Seasons Nam Hai was two pairs of chopsticks. A trend!
That's slightly(?) better than being told "no service recovery" will be given in an email by a GM.
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 7:00 am
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by MikeFromTokyo


Whats the problem with a pair of chopsticks?
Who said there was a problem?
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 9:04 am
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by MattEvan
Who said there was a problem?
You did not. However the poster you quoted implied dissatisfaction with chopsticks as service recovery.

A quality pair of chopsticks is a nice gesture. It would depend on the situation of course. I am not usually focused on getting compensation from hotels unless they have done something really outrageous. An amenity of some kind along with a note is always a nice gesture. What’s most important is that the underlying problem be remedied.

In many cases I am of the belief that compensatory service recovery is not due. In those cases, a token gesture such as a pair or chopsticks or some chocolates is a better way of acknowledging the situation without engaging the guest in a back and forth.
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 5:18 pm
  #29  
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Originally Posted by zack14
what's the best way to get to prince gallery tokyo kioicho from haneda airport? taxis is too expensive in tokyo.
I can't see any really simple way. Take either the monorail or Keikyu train to the Yamanote line and go on that in the direction of Tokyo station, getting off at Shimbashi. Transfer there for 3 stops on the Ginza line to Akasaka-Mistuki. Two transfers and around Y700 or so in fare. Maybe someone else can do better.
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Old Aug 13, 2018, 5:29 pm
  #30  
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Originally Posted by zack14
what's the best way to get to prince gallery tokyo kioicho from haneda airport? taxis is too expensive in tokyo.
We had a private transfer from Haneda to the Prince Gallery for JPY19,440. You're right that taxis are expensive in Tokyo, but that also made the airport private transfer seem a better deal to us. It was seamless and just what we needed after a long international flight.
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