silverlim

I am interested in knowing which hard to book restaurant in Tokyo that hoshinoya manage to secure for you? Are they able to secure Saito, Sugita, Sugalabo, Kawamura, Iyuki, Matsukawa, Mibu,, Amamoto , shimizu , shimbashi hoshinoya that are all introduction only restaurant, which are all Intro only restaurant? I would stay there in a heartbeat if they could secure one of them easily . FYI, I have been to most of them .

japanesegeek

I did tell the concierge to let me know if there were any awesome places he could get me into, but since they are introduction only I didn't ask the concierge about any of those specifically.

What I did get reservations for were Jimbocho Den, Kagurazaka Ishikawa, Ryugin, Sushi Sawada, Sushi Yoshitake, Sushi Sho Masa, Kondo Tempura. I'm sure some of these are easier than others. Jimbocho Den for reference is my favorite restaurant in the world.

gengar

I'm curious to know what specific rooms those were. As I mentioned in my OP, I figure that some rooms may be better-insulated than others, and obviously people's noise tolerance varies (hence why I simply offered my differing opinion on the issue, rather than suggesting anyone was 'wrong' about it) - but actually hearing noise from the trains is not a subjective opinion.

I pretty much only stay in hotels in big cities and I am rarely bothered by noise from outside the hotel. But as I indicated in my post (my word choice was "utterly invasive"), the track noise was not just some background noise or "ambient noise" - it was distinct and very loud click-clacks of trains going over tracks, all day long. It was bad enough to be a dealbreaker, which is really saying something considering how much I liked pretty much everything else about the hotel.

Kagehitokiri

wonder how often one can/will have a floor to oneself at hoshinoya tokyo

gengar, agree details are always ideal. what floor was your Exec Suite?
FS site less accurate, only lists 3 categories having view of tokyo station
fourseasons.com/tokyo/accommodations/room_comparison/

what floor / room ?

FS staff will also meet at airport & arrange train/car
(SL website / reports also mention platform service)

Aventine

They'll send 1 or 2 bell people to the bus stop or into JR NEX platform for you.

chang9121990

Anyone have thoughts on the best concierge team in Tokyo? I have enjoyed my past few stays at the MO (great hardware and service and I like the location), but have found their concierge team to be unsatisfactory when booking restaurant reservations. It also usually takes 2-3 days before I receive any kind of response...

I see up thread that Japanesegeek has had good experiences with Hoshinoya but unfortunately their rooms just don't appeal to me.

MikeFromTokyo

I think several days response time is sufficient if this is a stay somewhat in the future. Bear in mind that the hotel has in house guests and guests that are arriving shortly whose requests are more urgent. And the restaurants themselves may not be responding immediately to the hotel even after the request is submitted.

Particularly if these requests are for restaurants where reservations are difficult to secure, you will need to be patient.

Aventine

From the concierges of the following hotels: SL, PH, MO

- SL managed to find some hard to buy luxury items that my partner wanted
- PH was very thorough when some reservations required them to go back and forth with me.
- MO might have slipped (since my last stay with them was in 2015) but I thought they were responsive and good.

In my experience, I usually got replies by the next business day and they do their best for the restaurant bookings depending on the schedule of the place (eg. restaurant closed on Mondays, etc).

kzap

SL concierge got me tickets for all sorts of places like Skytree, Disneyland and Ghibli when my card would not work for those places online.

Also got a booking Sushi Iwa though not hard to get they were responsive and accommodated all our requests.

MikeFromTokyo

It is important to keep cultural differences in mind, this is Japan, and patiently waiting is often part of cultural norms. This will take some getting used to for westerners, particularly Americans, with A type personalities.

I would suggest just being patient, a bit of a response lag is acceptable for pre arrival communications that are not particularly urgent. What matters is that they ultimately get you the bookings you want or acceptable alternatives. And the service given while in house is very prompt, and in a way that is the reason why pre arrival communications aren't immediately answered.

If you are still dissatisfied, Four Seasons Marunouchi, or R-C/S-L club level could possibly be good choices. Fewer guest served by dedicated concierge means faster response time.

bhrubin

I already have been in constant communication with the concierge team at the Prince Gallery Kioicho...for our stay in May 2018. The concierge team is extremely responsive, helpful, and thorough. We've already confirmed private samurai sword lessons with the Kill Bill Crazy 88s choreographer, and they've advised us which restaurants require introductions/referrals of those in which we had interest. They've assured us they will get reservations at the other top restaurants I've requested. We now are working on a helicopter tour over the city.

Other than a weekend break, the concierge team has responded in about a day or two to every email. Considering our stay is in May, I'd say that's top drawer and as good as any luxury hotel concierges.

Aventine

Yeah they did this for me too from a 7-11. It was brilliant to just go to Disney and go straight in!

hailstorm

Anyone ever use hotel concierge to score reservations at Club 33 (private club at Disneyland Tokyo)? Park Hyatt Tokyo said they couldn't.

scented

I don't expect Park Hyatt Tokyo to pull this off... a good Concierge isn't quite enough for this task, as the ownership of the hotel is more important. I have heard this was made possible at MO a number of years back, but I don't know if this still stands today.

I still like the PH Tokyo aesthetic by the way... it just isn't what it used to be.

helvetic

Wow, impressive.

Just had my 3rd stay completed at the Prince Gallery… amazing as always. No upgrade; but whatever.