Aventine

I think 3-5 working days is ridiculously long. It really should be same or next day responses.

hailstorm

There is no excuse for not at least acknowledging the message and stating that it may take time to address the content of it within 24 hours at most.

bgriff

While I agree with you about the concierge response time, note also in the future that best practice for getting into Tokyo's top restaurants is to contact the concierge as early as possible -- even 6 months or more in advance is fine. The concierges all know the reservation acceptance policies of all the top restaurants and will know when to actually call to try to make the reservation.

The challenge is that you're not so much trying to get the concierge to call the restaurant before other concierges -- you don't have much control over that anyway. What you're trying for is to get on the request list at the PG before other guests of the PG -- the top hotels place are placing requests for many guests at the top restaurants, and the restaurants tend to allocate a certain amount of space to each hotel. So you want to have gotten to the PG early so that you're near the top of the PG's request list. If you contact the hotel late, you're going to be at the bottom of the PG's list, so even if the PG manages to get a few people booked at Jiro, likely you wouldn't be one of them.

coolfish1103

They take very long to get any responses done through e-mail. I would suggest you call them immediately after your e-mail is sent and have them read it while you are on the call.

I had a post here last August... I didn't get a response from the concierge after I think like 10+ days. Plus there were other issues, so I rated their concierge to the degree of useless. Other than that the hotel itself is great.

joakgarp

Just checked out after 4 amazing nights at the Prince Gallery in their standard deluxe room. It was right in the high peak Sakura season so the hotel was fully booked. No upgrade then for a fellow platinum but we were okay with that.
Can say I'm very impressed by how big the deluxe room felt. The isolation is incredible. We heard nada from our neighbours and surroundings. The location is also very good with closeness to Shibuya Shinjuku and Ginza so it's right in the middle of Tokyo. Asakusa-Mitsuke Station is a short walk from the hotel.

Felt a lot that it reminded me of Osaka Marriott Miyako. One of my most favourite hotels. The shower was just as strong with high water pressure. It is a rain shower from the ceiling but it's so strong that it massages your back. Perfect after a long walk around in Tokyo with sorrow feet.
Not many hotels have a strong shower so I'm extremely happy when I'm staying in one.

Breakfast we tried both. Oasis and club. Club has a little smaller variety. Oasis is the fancy one. To us we preferred the more quite and calming club lounge.
Except for on our last day when there was a loud american family there with a dad and his two sons. The father was a loud mouth and his kids wanted to poop asked for a toilet to poop, literally they said so. Ruined the breakfast moment quite heavily. But I can imagine both of these breakfast areas are very nice when it's not during high peak season in Tokyo.

Swimming pool area was nice with a bigger pool. The mens had a smaller hot pool for themselves in their dressing room along with a sauna, ice cold pool and a couple of showers. Guess it's the same for the opposite gender.

Any downsides? Sure. The restaurants don't offer any platinum discounts. Only for Japan Amex customers. Big letdown as I was having a table booked.
The Souten (japanese food) did not impress me or my partner. Had a dinner package for 15,000yen called Ginsai.
Here's their menu
​http://www.princehotels.co.jp/kioicho/assets/pdf/dining/souten/dining_dinner.pdf

Pretty expensive. Almost as much as one room cost.
Sluggish service but very welcoming from the guy at the entrance. And again no discount for platinums. Only if you hold a japanese Amex card.

Will definitely come back next time in Tokyo. My new favourite spg hotel.
But skip the hotels restaurant for dinner. If you are looking for a fun themed experience try Ninja akasaka restaurant. It's very close down the road. 1-2 min away.

hailstorm

Just used that this morning for breakfast there! I thought that was good for all SPG credit cards though, not just those offered in Japan.

FWIW, I have Platinum membership in the SEIBU PRINCE CLUB now, and that doesn't offer a discount either.

If you live outside of Japan, there's now a special Prince hotel club for foreigners called SEIBU PRINCE CLUB emi. It's free, takes about 30 seconds to get from the desk of any Prince Hotel, and you can occasionally get some discounts and little free trinkets. You might even be able to double dip on SPG and SEIBU PRINCE CLUB emi points with your purchases.

joakgarp

Did you use a japanese Amex you mean?

The part about it has to be japanese Amex I took from a poster above. But here's what they wrote in an email to me when I asked them about any discounts in their restaurants:

"For SPG platinum member, if you settle by AMEX at the restaurant directly, there is 15% discount at the restaurant"
So literally nothing about it has to be japanese in that reply. Too bad my Amex has already been cancelled then.

hailstorm

I have the Japanese SPG Amex card. It gives me the Gold status that I used to get lounge access at Prince Sakura Tower last year.

yeunganson

When I dined there in their restaurant Souten (you can see my review on this thread), I paid with my Canadian SPG AMEX and gave them the SPG Plat Card (that plastic card that finally yield some use). The waitress talked to the manager and I DID NOT get any discount on the food. They claim only Japanese SPG AMEX. I did get the SPG points for the food but not the discount. However, when I do dine in the Westin Tokyo, there is always the SPG AMEX discount applied when I eat there - mostly at the Teppanyaki restaurant.

chad75

Booked another week long stay for June (taking advantage of the very competitive "Early Summer" rate) - bit of an odd request but can any repeat guests or people familiar with the area recommend a rough idea of a good early morning jogging route? Obviously the area around the imperial palace is the prime candidate but ideally looking for something a bit different.

Milwaukee

This is such a nice hotel. Would stay here again in a heartbeat. Our climate control broke so they put us in a Designer’s Suite. The service and attention was great enough that we will probably stay here rather than the RC.

chad75 - I just threw out the sheet, but they gave us a map with several routes. Wish I had a more unconventional answer for you!

CanuckFlyHigh

Does anyone know if this hotel offers bicycle rental? I cant find any information online or get an answer from concierge.

Is the Club Rate worth an extra 12,000 JPY?

If I book one person, but have two, will there be an extra fee? (I am Gold).

Corp rate I am seeing is 36,000 JPY + tax including access to pools/spa, or 48,000 JPY for Club, which seems like a great deal.

Thanks!

hailstorm

Deleted (wrong thread)

Medved

Doesn't matter what your status is -- Japanese hotels are extremely particular about the number of people in the room. At this property, attendants in club lounge and restaurant get from the front desk the exact number of people checked-in in each room. They check each and every person who enters lounge/hotels and charge you accordingly. They may even report to the front desk that you paid for one person but two are actually staying in the room. This is a small property, access to the rooms is only through the front desk. I had to pay to extra children age 11 and 8 for the lounge/rest. Luckily, they didn't charge me extra for them staying in the room. I had to play my Lifetime Plat status firmly to avoid kids from being charged at the lounge. Reluctantly, lounge manager relented.

No bicycles at the hotel. This is a very poshy place catered for business people mostly.

Unless you drink a lot, I wouldn't suggest spending Y12K on the club. You can have breakfast elsewhere. Food is served 5 to 7PM, drinks 5 to 8 (except beer/house wine -- to 10 PM) in the lounge. Unless you are rushing back to the hotel for a bite before 7PM in Tokyo lounge is not much value... Stayed for 5 nights, were able to make appetizers at the lounge once due to a terrible weather outside.

CanuckFlyHigh

Thanks. Regarding #1 , I just wanted to know the additional charge, not be sneaky. I am not sure if I will have 2 or 1 person yet.

All very poshy hotels should have mandatory bicycle rentals. It is the way of the future to explore cities for millennial. Park Hyatt Tokyo and Four Seasons Tokyo offers it, as do almost all St Regis globally. We choose luxury hotels based on this.

Thanks for the advice on the lounge. Not worth it.