“Old but Still Strong”
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Preface
This post mainly gives a detailed introduction to my stay experience at Hilton Tokyo. The hotel is located in Shinjuku, so many people also simply call it Hilton Tokyo Shinjuku.
Since I was traveling to Japan before heading back to China, I applied for a tourist visa in the U.S. You can see how to do it in this article:
Hotel Information
- Star rating: 4.5 stars
- No. 2 hotel/ryokan in Shinjuku Ward (out of 15). Source: TripAdvisor
- Address: 6 Chome-6-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan (in Shinjuku Ward)
- Overlooks Shinjuku Central Park and the Shinjuku Skyscraper District.
- The hotel opened in 1984 and has 821 rooms. After a major room renovation in 2013, it was refurbished again in 2016.
Nearby Airports
Haneda International Airport (HND) 17.3 km / 28 minutes
Narita International Airport (NRT) 63.3 km / 1.0 hour
Since I arrived at Narita Airport, here is a transportation guide from the hotel showing how to get from the airport to the hotel.
Since LD and I had a lot of luggage, I just booked a Huangbaoche ride on Taobao.
Nearby Public Transportation
The hotel has direct access to Tochomae Subway Station, is a 5-minute walk from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, and is a 15-minute walk from Shinjuku Train Station. Guests can also take the hotel's free shuttle, which gets there in 5 minutes. The hotel is a 20-minute walk from the Kabukicho area and Isetan Department Store.
Additional Fees
The following fees and deposits are collected by the hotel when providing services, at check-in, or at check-out.
- Breakfast buffet charge: approximately JPY 3,114 for adults, approximately JPY 1,894 for children
- In-room wireless Internet fee: JPY 1,000 per night (price subject to change without notice)
- In-room wired Internet fee: JPY 1,000 (per night, price subject to change without notice)
- Airport shuttle fee: JPY 3,100 per person (one way)
- Airport shuttle fee/per child: JPY 1,550 (one way), charged for ages 6 to 12
- Self parking fee: JPY 1,500 per night
- Rollaway bed fee: JPY 7,258.0 per night
The above list may not be complete. These fees and deposits may not include tax and may change at any time.
Source: Expedia
Redemption Details
- Stay dates: 12/16/2018 - 12/22/2018
- Room type: KING Hilton Standard Room
- Redemption: 298,000 Hilton points (from AMEX credit card signup bonus + everyday spending + Hilton hotel stays)
At the time of booking, it showed JPY 28,694 per night, which is roughly US$253. Spread across the stay, that comes out to about 49,667 points per night; at 0.5 cents/point, that is roughly US$248, so the redemption seems pretty much average.
When checking in, there was no discussion at all; I had simply selected the top-floor king bed room during advance check-in. On a clear day, being able to see Mount Fuji is also pretty nice.
Before Check-in
After getting off Delta Air Lines, clearing customs, and collecting our luggage, we waited for our Huangbaoche driver at the agreed meeting point. It has to be said that Narita Airport really is far from the city center. After nearly an hour and a half on the road, we finally arrived at our hotel.
Just looking at the exterior, you immediately get a very dated vibe. This photo was taken when we were getting close to the hotel; it is still quite tall, but the surrounding buildings are also pretty tall, so it looks rather ordinary by comparison.
Hotel entrance
After we got out of the car, perhaps because there were too many people at the hotel, no staff came to help with the luggage. LD and I lugged everything to the front desk ourselves; after check-in was completed, we finally found a staff member to help with the bags. We handed the larger pieces over to the staff, who said they would arrange to have them sent up later. Check-in was very smooth because I had already selected the room in advance, so we just took the key cards and headed straight to the elevator.
The elevator instructions were very detailed, and the renovated elevators were still quite modern. However, you do not need to swipe a card to go to the corresponding floor.
Because there were so many people and our room was on the top floor, 38, the elevator stopped almost every few floors, which took a while. Fortunately, the elevator ran pretty quickly, so it did not waste too much time.
When you get out of the elevator, there is a bright waiting area with mirrored walls. It is very bright; during my stay, I saw many girls standing there taking lots of selfies.
After passing through the waiting area, our room was on the right.
Room Information
After swiping the key card and pushing the door open, the first thing that caught my eye was the Japanese-style window inside the room. The decor was fairly standard.
Inside the room, there is first a narrow little hallway, but given that this is Shinjuku, it was understandable. On the right side of the hallway is a closet for coats, and on the left is the bathroom.
Inside the bathroom, the vanity is on the left, the toilet is in the middle, and the shower area is on the right.
At first I also thought it was the Shiseido rumor floating around online, but when I saw the familiar Crabtree & Evelyn I could only laugh. As expected of a rumor, I had gotten my hopes up for nothing.
Now for the star of the room: the bed.
I should mention one downside of the hotel: the outlets by the bed are hard to find and there are very few of them. On the side where the bedside lamp sits, the wooden panel can be lifted up, and there is an outlet there for charging; on the side with the alarm clock, I could only unplug the alarm clock and use that outlet for my phone charger.
Not long after we got into the room, a hotel staff member pushed our luggage up. Surprisingly, it was a young girl, so my partner and I quickly went to help take the luggage down and bring it into the room...
The Japanese-style windows in the room can be slid open to both sides, and outside is the busy city night view.
During the day, though, it depends on your luck. Since this stay was long, I experienced both cloudy and sunny weather; only on sunny days can you see Mount Fuji in the distance. Below are cloudy and sunny views.
These Japanese-style windows actually are not very secure; with a bit of force, they can fall off. But putting them back on is not very hard either....
Hotel Tour
Hotel Restaurants
MARBLE LOUNGE Marble Lounge / Executive Lounge
On the first floor of the hotel, in a central location. It is also where you go for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea.
We ended up having most of our breakfasts here, since there are more dishes and more seats.
We received a message from the hotel that the Executive Lounge would be renovated from January 3, 2019 through the end of April.
DYNASTY
The hotel's Chinese restaurant. Since we were about to head back to China, we just skipped it.
JUNISOH
The hotel's Japanese restaurant, where you can book a Japanese breakfast; free for Diamond members.
We only booked breakfast once. All I can say is that it looked very fancy, but the taste was average. Trying it once for the experience is enough.
METROPOLITAN GRILL
A restaurant for fancy foreign steak and seafood. After eating this kind of food in Seattle and Texas almost to the point of being tired of it, I'll skip foreign cuisine in Japan this time.
There is also the English-style ST. GEORGE'S BAR, as well as ZATTA, a bar that stays open until the early morning for DJ shows.
Fitness Center
Because I was just too tired, I wanted to go several times but never had the energy.
So I can only post the hotel information here.
- The 24-hour health club offers an indoor pool, sauna, whirlpool, and Japanese-style bath
- Two rooftop tennis courts and a modern fitness center
From the photo, that tennis court looks pretty impressive.
Hotel Exterior and Surroundings
Viewing the hotel from Shinjuku Park, the small one in the middle is the Hilton, and the one on the right is the Hyatt.
Conclusion
This stay was very satisfying. On the hardware side, after the renovation it doesn't really feel that old; you could say that apart from the exterior, everything else is very modern. On the software side, the staff in Japan were all very friendly, and housekeeping was very thoughtful. They folded our pajamas left on the bed, hung up our coats, and regardless of whether you finished the water, they would always leave two new bottles.
So next time I go to Tokyo, I would still choose Hilton.
Also, the four Hilton co-branded credit cards recently all have pretty good offers, so you can consider them:
- Hilton Honors Card (no annual fee; 75,000 welcome bonus; 7x on Hilton hotel purchases, 5x on supermarkets, restaurants, and gas)
- Hilton Ascend Card ($95 annual fee; 150,000 welcome bonus; 12x on Hilton hotel purchases, 6x on supermarkets, restaurants, and gas; Gold status)
- Hilton Aspire Card ($450 annual fee; 150,000 welcome bonus; 14x on Hilton hotel purchases, 7x on supermarkets, restaurants, and gas; Hilton Diamond status; $250 annual airline incidental credit, $250 Hilton Resort credit; one weekend free night certificate every year)
- Hilton Business Card ($95 annual fee; 125,000 welcome bonus; 12x on Hilton hotel purchases; 6x on gas, wireless phone services, shipping, airfare, dining, and car rentals; Gold status)