bhrubin

Thank for the update. Keep us posted!

Two questions:

(1) What are the issues about service and efficiency specifically? I think it might help us if we all have that perspective.
(2) I assume your Ritz Ambassador is the equivalent to the Marriott Platinum Premier Concierge/Ambassador, due to your having higher than regular Platinum status/recognition? Do share how that person may help with your situation!

Thanks!

OliverB

I do not have any special status with the Ritz-Carlton. I simply called their reservations line early this morning and was lucky to get a very responsive agent on the line who transferred me directly. I expressed my disappointment with the way things had been handled by the hotel and received immediate support from this person, who provided me with her direct tel. number and email address. I've been forwarding all communication between myself and the hotel to her and it will be shared with and reviewed by management.

As for the nature of the problem; it's long and messy. I first wrote the RC approx. 6 months ago about the nature of our trip and emphasized the importance of certain reservations; then 3 months later I followed up with updates for their team...

I sent a very organized PDF file with all of our requests months ago. Not only was it never acknowledged, it was somehow lost/misfiled.

They've since ignored/neglected numerous other requests. They don't read or respond to emails in full. Our bookings were supposed to be handled by Feb 1st but as of two days ago, they still hadn't even contacted half of the restaurants. I honestly could have done a lot better booking things on my own.

There was one really significant reservation at a restaurant we had visited years ago on our honeymoon, which was actually not a very difficult request to fill. As of two days ago, there was plenty of availability via the reliable Tableall website (40 yen p/p booking fee) yet the RC dropped the ball on it, which really makes me angry. Again, this is something I could have facilitated on my own fairly easily and up until just a few days ago, it was not a problem.

There were a number of restaurants I had requested months ago that their chief concierge just informed me over the tel. this past week that are impossible to book -- they had been sitting on these requests for months and were well aware of the fact that there was no chance for accommodating them, yet they said nothing. I want to point out that I completely understood the difficulty of booking some of these reservations, yet I am still confident that they could have been arranged through Japanese friends and acquaintances months ago, had the hotel not led me on. This is my first booking with the RC Tokyo and I had absolutely no idea what their concierge team was or was not capable of. At the very least, expectations could have been adjusted. At best, alternate arrangements could have likely been made; there are at least two reservations in which I'm certain of this. Had they responded months ago, instead of simply telling me that they would try on __ date (when they knew based on their relationship with the restaurants that reservations would not be accepted through the hotel) I would have had opportunity to either seek outside assistance, adjust plans, or offer alternate options.

Further reservations have been made at the wrong restaurant altogether, despite including all of the names in Japanese along with corresponding links for my requests.

When specific requests have been made for things like chef's counter seating at restaurants where that's offered, they've simply been ignored. Things like window seating for a lunchtime booking at a well known kaiseki restaurant which overlooks historic Japanese gardens has still never been acknowledged so while the booking was made, I highly doubt if this was ever relayed to the restaurant. These are just minor points that I mention for the benefit of folks on the forum but have not raised with the concierge as of yet, because there have been far too many bigger issues to deal with. If this sort of attention to detail is important to you (as it is to me) then I would consider booking elsewhere. The Peninsula has been excellent in the past about confirming these kind of meticulous details.

Concierge picks and chooses what they responded to from emails without any rhyme or reason. Certain requests are acknowledged while others are neglected for an entire week without follow-up; even after sending multiple email inquiries practically begging them to address earlier requests. I've had to personally call the hotel three times (long-distance on my cell phone) just to get them to respond to several requests.

I have sent along information for very specific bookings, like an acupuncture appointment for my wife at a certain place. The response from the concierge (after multiple reminders and prompts) would often ignore the information provided; asking instead where I wanted to book the appointment, or offering a random suggestion in place.

Likewise, I would specify that we've visited a certain restaurant before (often in detail and in the context of a particular request) only to receive an email asking whether we've been before. Some reservations that have been confirmed required us to pre-select a menu by price point, and the concierge would request that I do so without offering any options or links to choose from. No further help upon writing back. Every morning when I open my inbox there is some new issue like this. I've never encountered so much aggravation dealing with any hotel staff before.

Reservations that were supposed to be booked by February 1st have been completely neglected until today (Feb. 7th in Tokyo right now!) and are either presently unavailable (no surprise) or else we are stuck with 5:00 PM reservations. We are spending almost 3 full weeks in Tokyo and we offered the hotel plenty of flexibility in booking these reservations over that entire time period, so this should not have been the end result. Who wants to spend $300 p/p on a fancy meal at 5 o'clock in the afternoon?

There are similar bookings where we are rushed and forced out after one hour because the hotel took a week to make reservations that were promised to be arranged on a specific date (failed to do so) and which were requested months ago. It's just a complete mess and the only consistency has been the level of disorganization and confusion that we've experienced from every member of their team. If we weren't staying entirely on points, I would seriously consider switching hotels and I really now regret that we didn't opt to stay at the Prince Gallery instead.

I assume that this will all be resolved through management somehow, but whatever solution is offered will hardly make up for the way in which this has impacted our trip. I am fully aware of the difficulty of securing reservations at top restaurants in Tokyo and I'm not unsympathetic to the fact that it's surely one of the most strenuous cities in the world to be working as a concierge at a five-star hotel, yet their failure to follow through on requests in a timely and efficient manner is the sole reason for our disappointment. This is specifically why I had contacted the hotel so far in advance. It's why we choose to stay in Tokyo for extended lengths of time. It's why we regularly choose to stay at top hotels in the city. In fact, this is one of the main reasons that we are returning to Tokyo and I had expressed that clearly to the concierge for many months. They failed on all counts.

Again, I've stayed at The Peninsula in Tokyo before and my experience has been the complete opposite, so I know that it's not just me or the nature of my requests. There is zero pretense to any of this btw. We're just regular people with normal expectations and this is the only city in the world where I really make use of the concierge service to this extent. We haven't been out to any fancy restaurants or dinners in many months and this trip was supposed to make up for that. It had been planned for over a year and we are celebrating our 5th anniversary. To say that I'm disappointed with the RC concierge service is an understatement. In the end, Tokyo is a great food city at all levels and we've got plenty of low-key local spots in the books, so it's not like we'll go hungry or anything but it's worth noting that a very significant focus of our trip has certainly shifted. This is not the Tokyo itinerary we had planned for and we likely would have made very different travel plans. I just want to make sure that management is aware of that.

BENLEE

I can certainly understand your frustration but I hope it doesn't come across the wrong way, but is this a case of mis-match expectation? The job scope from what you describe seems more like a task for a competent personal assistant than a mere hotel concierge. I always thought hotel concierge task is just to arrange airport transfer, book train tickets, book restaurants ( when they are available ), book tours and book concert tickets, that sort of things. Many times, it is actually faster and more efficient for me to do it on line for all these task. Other than one or two cases, I have seldom encountered hotel concierge that can work miracles in my travels. They often balked at anything more complicated or difficult, even in 5 star luxury hotels.

bhrubin

Thank you, @OliverB, for sharing your very lengthy and detailed response. It does seem that the RC Tokyo concierge team dropped the ball in (1) not proactively informing you that some of the requests you made were impossible and (2) in not properly scheduling the reservation requests for the dates at which appropriate reservation windows opened.

That being said, I have a feeling that there are no concierge teams in Tokyo that might have achieved much better results. I get the feeling that concierge services in all of Tokyo are not as impressive even at the top luxury hotels as can be true in many other cities. So while I understand your frustration, you may want to consider that even those staying at the also celebrated Aman, Pen, and MO hotels have had disappointments, too. You, yourself, indicate that you don't normally dine at such places, so your previous experiences at the Peninsula don't seem so comparable?

You're absolutely entitled to call out the RC Tokyo for its obvious failures. And I applaud you for taking them to task--and making them respond. Not doing so will only enable the problem for the next guest. Just know that the failures you experienced with the RC Tokyo are shared by many others at each of the other top luxury hotels!

I think the key here in Tokyo is to not expect the luxury hotel concierges to accomplish all that everyone wants, especially when it comes to hard to get dining reservations that require spot on and very fortunate timing. That's why I sent reservation requests to the Prince Gallery concierge and also used TableAll. Covering my bases for a very tough city.

uclabruin82

I disagree here. I think it depends on the location. If in a tropical resort where most guests are relatively constrained logistically, then it makes sense that the concierge books airport transfers / tours, etc. But in urban cities like Tokyo, I would expect a concierge at a top hotel to have pull at a few restaurants, even if not the initially requested ones, and at the very least to have responded in a timely manner. It is all part of the service offering which is a large part of what we are paying for.

A few years ago my wife and i stayed at the Plaza Athenee in Paris and had requested a reservation at a popup restaurant in the Palais de Tokyo. We were very happy that the concierge team was able to get it for us. On the night of the reservation, the concierge team realized they made the wrong reservation and sent a member of the hotel staff (they actually called him garcon) to come with us and to help us get in. We really appreciated the effort.

Finally, interesting that the poster mentioned he had a great experience with the Pen. I used to stay there and agreed in the 2008 - 2012 time frame. However, when we went back in 2015 I was very dissapointed and ended up changing our stay to the Aman where I felt we got better treatment.

MikeFromTokyo

I have to say I agree that expectations seem to be unrealistic.

If one wants concierge to make reservations, send a concise email with a few straightforward requests. They aren’t personal assistants, and it is not their job to execute a laundry list of intricate demands from a first time guest by a fixed “deadline.”

OliverB

Just to clarify, we have set similar expectations with The Peninsula and have never once been disappointed; in fact their concierge team has handled much more extensive and difficult bookings for us in the past. My issue isnt about whether or not we were able to secure reservations at every single restaurant requested, nor did I ever have such expectations to begin with. My issue is that these reservations were supposed to have been arranged weeks ago and planned for months ahead of time and yet they were not attended to within the timeline that the hotel itself had presented to us (and which was necessary for adequately fulfilling). I would've been fine with outsourcing all of this (although really any five star hotel in Tokyo should be up to the task) had the concierge at any point in the past six months indicated that they would not be the best suited to facilitate our requests; instead they welcomed the requests but not the responsibility of seeing them through. I shouldn't need to call long distance, for instance, to get the hotel to respond to a reservation request that they were supposed to have made four days prior and that I had reminded them about half a dozen times by email; especially when there is plenty of availablity booking online through a concierge service for a price. As far as I'm concerned, that's simply a failure of the hotel to adequately provide the service that they themselves had offered. Anyhow, my only reference point to date has been The Peninsula Tokyo so that's what I have to go by, and from my experience, the Ritz did not come close to meeting the expectations that had been set by the Peninsula. I also felt that the responses I've received were extremely unprofessional and disorganized, judging by those former standards.

OliverB

instyleprincess

Thanks for sharing and sorry to hear about your frustration OliverB.

I am shocked to hear that Ritz Tokyo was unable to fulfill the requests though. In my opinion, guests pay premium rates to stay at luxury hotels and enjoy the perks of having the concierge pull their strings scoring hard-to-get reservations.
I remembered someone mentioned StR NYC had 3 concierge team members getting ready to get a restaurant reservation for guests, I'd expect the same level from any top luxury hotels in Tokyo.

Hopefully GM can make things right for you

MikeFromTokyo

hailstorm

I feel like such a hick. I almost never use a concierge for anything. If there's a way to make a restaurant reservation for 40 yen, I would just do it myself.

gengar

As would I, and since I don't speak Japanese, nothing makes me happier than when a restaurant in Japan I want to go to has its own English reservation webpage or exclusively partners with a third-party English-language online concierge for reservations. But often times the restaurants don't, and while there are online concierge services out there, they usually charge at least JP¥3000+ fee per reservation that they handle. Especially in the context of luxury hotels, it seems pretty reasonable to expect the hotel concierge to make these reservations for their guests.

I've mentioned on this forum before that when I first starting splurging on luxury hotels overseas, my primary justification was the hotel concierge service in foreign countries where I can't speak the language.

hailstorm

That was my point. I save the concierge for things I can't do myself.

scented

I usually tend to agree with you 100% and I do think R-C is amongst Tokyo's top hotels, but surely this town is a foodie destination and if someone's primary goal is to dine at the various excellent Michelin starred restaurants, I do believe not only should the hotel identify that but also try to secure as many reservations as they possibly can. What may sound like a list of intricate demands often is the most clear, straight-forward and precise way to articulate what he/she wants.

Not really sure where the problem is, but on the other side it is sad to see a guest itinerary ruined, especially if planned so long in advance.

If I have an important stay/tough reservations I usually ask the GM to put me in touch with the hotel's Chief Concierge, which helps tremendously in these instances. FS Dubai Concierge once dropped the ball three times during a single stay and only senior management was able to rectify.

Aventine

100% agree. If the Chief concierge also doesn't listen, picks and chooses what they respond to, etc then it's a sign to choose another hotel.