Tokyo Luxury Hotels (consolidated thread -- older thread, now closed)
I was thinking of trying somewhere new on a one night stay after 5 nights in Kyoto. My flight is not until 11pm from HND (QR 813).
I have access to some quite good corporate rates and can get a regular room at the MO or Andaz, or a Club Deluxe Room at the Prince Gallery for a similar price (around 45-52k JPY inc tax).
I hold mid-tier status with SPG and Hyatt at the moment but don't realistically expect either to give me a check-out anywhere near to 8pm. I'm more or less agnostic on location too, given how much time we'll have to make our way to HND and how easy it is to get everywhere on the subway.
I'm angling towards the Prince, as the hardware looks to be the best and I tend to find that great service doesn't always have a chance to shine through, on very short stays.
What do you all think?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...er-thread.html
Thanks
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...er-thread.html
The club lounge looks to be a significant improvement though (can't wait to try the chef's egg!) and the Grand Premier Deluxe looks a lot nicer than the Junior suites at the Conrad, which are the only other rooms I've tried.
Many have great locations, and pool is not necessary. Certainly space/beds is something to consider! Thanks for these thoughts.
What are your (personal opinion) top three favorites?
1) Ritz-Carlton club level
2) Mandarin Oriental
3) Four Seasons Marunouchi
4) Andaz
I just completed a stay at Palace Hotel, Aman Tokyo, and Ritz Carlton with an 11 month old. A few things to note in random order:
- There are age limits (that vary) to all of the pools. Our daughter was too young for all of them.
- RC has a Ritz Kids program (which looked pretty cool), it's for older kids
- Kids are not allowed in the Palace club level after 5:30. RC club level did not have any restriction.
- RC provided toys and small gifts (rubber duck, t-shirts, etc) to our daughter. They also provided free laundry and baby food for the baby.
- Bottle warmer. Palace didn't have it, RC did, and Aman provided us a microwave.
- They all provided diaper bins, cribs, and infant bathtub.
- Babysitting. Each of the hotels offered to book a babysitting for us. We ended up finding our own. PM me if you want any details.
- Being hardwood floor and lots of sharp lines, Aman is probably the least baby-friendly setup (though it is my favorite of the three hotels).
Even some of the hotels on high floors have ambient noise from traffic below.
HOSHINOYA Tokyo
1 Chome-9-1 Otemachi Chiyoda Tokyo, JP 100-0004
HOSHINOYA Tokyo (0 Photo)
HOSHINOYA Tokyo
Check In
Check-in was interesting even though I knew it would be a different experience as shoes are not allowed in the hotel. I've visited Japan before several times but shoe removal has always been more prompted even though I know not to walk at tatami with them. I had taken advantage of car service through the hotel, and while they did take care of my luggage I think they overestimated my comfort level at figuring out what to do with my shoes. Anyhow not a big deal (and experiencing cultural differences is the main reason I chose this hotel), and I managed to attract their attention fairly quickly and get assistance with storing my shoes.
After this, went upstairs to check-in and this was handled quickly with a couple of much needed cool towels to wipe off the sweat of a long trip. English level was very good at the front desk.
Room
Awesome futons (I have some very good futons at home but these were better). And a beautiful minimalist decor. I would say TV should either be hidden or available by request (it is out of the way but not completely hidden) and detracted from the minimalism, and there was an electric tea kettle that seems superfluous given the ready availablity of tea at the lounge. But these are very minor complaints, loved the room.
Service
Service in Japan is overly formal in my opinion, and the Hoshinoya Tokyo is no exception, but nevetheless the staff's friendliness was apparent, and service levels were extremely high with any request being done perfectly. For example, requested omurice as a special, off menu breakfast and was given an extremely well prepared specimen just oozing with flavor and stock. And the concierge staff prepared very detailed itineraries based off of what I was looking to do (plus they got me into a whole bunch of really hard to book restaurants). Itineraries showed what stations to get off at what times, and had small maps showing where to go. There were lounge areas on every floor, where you could get tea/coffee and small snacks that changed throughout the day (from a light breakfast of onigiri and miso soup to beautiful wagashi candies). The staff in the lounge were simply brilliant and incredibly patient.
Dining
The main restaurant in the hotel is French, and while I have no doubt it is very good, I don't come to Japan to eat French food so can't comment on it specifically. But I had room service for Japanese breakfast every day (you can also get a lighter breakfast at the lounge on every floor) and it was excellent, if too much food. The lounges offered excellent coffee and tea, made from scratch and way above most "Club Lounges" where Nespresso is somehow ok to serve. And delicious nibbles, onigiri were very good (I'd say 90% as good as the ones I got as parting gifts from top Tokyo kaseiki restaurants), and ever changing wagashi candies (I'm sure I ate more of the candies than is respectable but always felt like the lounge staff was happy for me to enjoy myself).
Location
Located in Otemachi, convenient for most of the great restaurants I was going to (nowhere in sprawling Tokyo is convenient to everything). Metro station in the basement of the hotel. I would say that Japanese taxis even with a printed taxi card given the hotel address are 50-50 on whether or not they'll have issues finding the entrance. They all do eventually find it of course, just extra minutes driving around or waiting for the taxi driver to call the hotel and get better directions.
Overall
Probably my favorite hotel in Tokyo as a hotel. It is not a resort, nor does it (for me) have sufficient F&B choices (I wish it had a great Japanese restaurant attached to it) but stayed previous at the Mandarin Oriental (which had great F&B aside from no real "lounge" to casually get tea/coffee/snacks in), I would return here in a heartbeat and just eat meals outside the hotel as I feel I experienced genuine Japanese hospitality and culture versus a great hotel that aside from the bowing could exist in any major city in the world.
Probably my favorite hotel in Tokyo as a hotel. It is not a resort, nor does it (for me) have sufficient F&B choices (I wish it had a great Japanese restaurant attached to it) but stayed previous at the Mandarin Oriental (which had great F&B aside from no real "lounge" to casually get tea/coffee/snacks in), I would return here in a heartbeat and just eat meals outside the hotel as I feel I experienced genuine Japanese hospitality and culture versus a great hotel that aside from the bowing could exist in any major city in the world.
MO has possibly the strongest overall F&B of any hotel in Tokyo, rivaled only by Ritz-Carlton and The Palace. However the Palace is somewhat different as they have restaurants that are essentially tenants, and are operated by top local restaurant groups, so therefore it no wonder why they are so good...
MO has possibly the strongest overall F&B of any hotel in Tokyo, rivaled only by Ritz-Carlton and The Palace. However the Palace is somewhat different as they have restaurants that are essentially tenants, and are operated by top local restaurant groups, so therefore it no wonder why they are so good...