Luxury Hotel in Tokyo & Kyoto with 2 kids
 

We are looking to travel to Tokyo and Kyoto for 8 days during Spring Break in 2019. It will be from end of March to the first week of April. We want to evaluate luxury hotels (like Four Seasons, Peninsula, Ritz, etc.). I started looking into Tokyo/Kyoto hotels for 2 adults and 2 kids (10&5). I have stayed at the Peninsula Tokyo in the past and it was solid but rooms were Ok. I hear great things about RC club-level. Also, do these hotels accommodate 4 people in a room? Right now I am seeing rates for RC or Four Seasons at $1400+/night.

Am I searching too early? When is the right time to search? If I were to go one option lower, which hotels should I look at in both Tokyo and Kyoto?

Thanks for your help!

Speaking of Kyoto, are room rates there always that high? I have an upcoming Japan itinerary in November this year, and the RC Kyoto is the most expensive accommodation by far, the entry-level room at the RC is more expensive than the middle category at the Amans - 1500 USD per night for a basic Deluxe Room!

I knew going in that Kyoto is popular and rates would be high, but I - naively so - expected mid-November in Japan to be off-peak period. The FS is in the same price range as the RC. the Hyatt is fully booked and the other options don't look appealing. I do have flexible dates, but even +/- 10 days the rates are the same, even mid-week or Sun-Wed. Seeing that the OP mentions similar rates for March, I wonder when it's non-peak period?

@nealsense spring break is extremely popular in Japan for families, particularly Kyoto and Tokyo because it coincides with time off from school in Japan and cherry blossom season. We visited Japan a couple years ago over spring break with kids (Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo) - lots of waits for anything touristy or family based. Don't even bother with Disney if that was on the agenda because it took us an hour to even get inside the gates, 3 hours to get on one not-so-popular ride, etc.

As for the hotels, most luxury western hotels can accommodate 4 in a room with 2 doubles or 2 queen beds. We didn't have any issues with that. We didn't stay at the 5 star hotels though. We really enjoyed the InterContinental brand hotels in Japan, particularly with lounge access.

Be aware that most hotel lounges do not admit children at all or children after 5 pm, so you need to inquire if the hotel provides for alternate arrangements (most do). Same with pools - there are set hours for family swim.

November is peak... based on my notes for Ritz Kyoto rates drop off from 28 November until just before festive.
October should be less busy and Ritz has a 4th night free offer then

Thanks for the pointers. I went to RC website and they don't publish any kind of deals after Dec. 31st, 2018. Do you think it's too early or should I actively be trying to secure rooms in Tokyo and Kyoto for March 31st - April 7th timeframe? If properties like RC/MO don't work, I will look at 1 notch lower like Grand Hyatt that I have stayed in the past and was quite decent though very business-oriented.

RC Osaka is a great idea. Will look into that. I will also check out the Intercontinental properties in Tokyo and Kyoto.

We will be in Japan for two weeks in April 2019 and were planning to spend our son's birthday at Disney. It falls on a Tuesday and I thought we'd be okay with crowds, but your post has me rethinking things. What day(s) were you at Tokyo Disney please? Thank you.

We were there at the end of March/early April in 2016. We were at Disney 2 nights Tuesday to Thursday staying at the Disney hotel. I posted this in another post, but the early morning 15 mins extra passes were of no use because the line to get in took over an hour long before the park even opened.

Uh, what- you thought the rooms at the Peninsula Tokyo were just "okay"??? WOW- they must have put you in the smaller broom closet.
I thought the room was wonderful and the rest of the place just on par (with my expectations for that type of place).

Thanks so much for responding and clarifying. We may need to reconsider Disney.

You might be okay if you go towards the end of your vacation as most kids would have returned to school by the first week of April (we were there the 1st week) and it is the end of Blossom season. Check this calendar as it gets closer to your trip: ƒfƒBƒYƒj�[ƒ‰ƒ“ƒh ƒfƒBƒYƒj�[ƒV�[ �¬ŽG—\‘zƒJƒŒƒ“ƒ_�[ It will give you a better sense of what kind of crowd it expects, but isn't accurate until a few weeks before your anticipated dates.