Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo

1. Introduction: Tokyo and Two 787s
2. The Club Lounge at SJC
3. ANA 787 Business Class SJC-NRT
4. Hotel Review: Hyatt Regency Tokyo
5. Hotel Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
6. Activities in Tokyo
7. United 787 Business Class NRT-DEN

 

Getting from the Hyatt Regency Tokyo to the Park Hyatt Tokyo

Both of these Hyatt hotels are located in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, and thankfully they’re not too far apart. I actually mentioned that I had a very good view of the Park Hyatt building when I reviewed the Hyatt Regency. I decided to pull up directions on Google Maps since I wanted to walk there, and the route mostly made sense. I figured I’d be able to figure it out as I got closer to the building.

 

Park Hyatt Tokyo Review

I haven’t stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo before, but I’d read tons of amazing reviews on it. Everyone raved about service, breakfast, views, rooms, bathrooms, and pretty much everything else about the hotel. On Trip Advisor it’s ranked #2 of 660 hotels in Tokyo, right behind the Four Seasons, and it cost me 22K Ultimate Rewards points that I transferred to Hyatt to book the room for just one night. The lowest prices for a standard room are around $450, and it’s not uncommon to see it as high as $1K for a single night. With all this in mind, I was definitely expecting  a lot from this hotel.

And you know what? It totally delivered.

I was out all day in Tokyo, so I didn’t even get to the hotel until around 8pm. It was still about 85F and humid, so carrying my luggage for the half mile walk wasn’t exactly ideal. Having never been there before, I didn’t exactly know where to enter. I took the main entrance to the building’s lobby, read the directory, and found I needed to take a staircase up from a pastry shop (called the Delicatessen) that was in the building’s lobby.

As soon as I made my way up, one of the bellman (wearing a suit, like all other hotel employees) recognized me carrying my luggage up the stairs and asked if I was checking in to the Park Hyatt. I said I was, and he asked if he could take my luggage. I usually carry my own luggage, but after a long day and a long walk I decided to let him take it for me. He asked my name, then whispered something to a colleague of his before leading us to the elevators.

The Park Hyatt Tokyo is actually located on floors 41-51 of the building, so we were taken up to the lobby on the 41st floor. When the doors opened again, you could immediately see the amazing views the hotel provides. There was a separate bar and lounge area that provided views out of 3 sides of the building, and the views of the city were spectacular.

We were led through a long hallway, and the bellman was explaining what everything was the entire time. He pointed out the bar, where breakfast would be, the library, and finally the check-in area with guest elevators. As soon as we got to the guest elevators, another suited employee immediately said “Mr. Travel Summary?” I said “that’s me”, and he took my suitcase from the bellman and asked me to follow him onto one of the elevators to my room. (He used my real name, of course)

So at this point I was wondering about the check-in, since I pretty much just walked past the lobby, but I thought I’d just go with it. I was brought to the 44th floor and led into my room, which he (I’ll call him my concierge) mentioned I was upgraded from a Standard King room to a Deluxe King room as a valued Platinum member. I just got the Chase Hyatt card about 4 weeks ago, and it looks like the mid-tier Platinum status was already paying off.

As I mentioned in a previous review, a friend decided to join me on this trip last minute, and that meant that I again preferred having a room with two beds instead of the King room. I was afraid that I would lose the upgrade to the Deluxe room, but I asked my concierge anyway. He told me that he’d have to check, but that he’d like to complete the check-in process first before he went to check. That was fine by me.

He asked me to have a seat at the desk, where he showed me my rate (I was staying on points) and asked for a credit card for incidentals. He mentioned he’d update my reservation from 1 to 2 people as well. Check-in was completed in just a couple of minutes, and he said we could wait in the room while he went to check on a room with 2 beds. While I was waiting in the room, I noticed a hand-written card with my name on it near the TV along with a box of some type of delicious cookies. My concierge returned less than 5 minutes later confirming that a Deluxe room with 2 beds was available just across the hall. Score!

We made our way down the hall and he had me sign one more paper before handing me the keys to the room. And when I say keys, I mean literal, metal keys. No key cards in this hotel – we got some fancy-looking keys with a “PHT” key chain. I thought that was pretty cool, though it might be annoying for some people to carry around.

 

 

I was also asked if I wanted to make use of my 2pm checkout perk as a Platinum guest, and I said I did. He then asked if I needed transportation to the airport, and I said I was flying out of Narita at 5pm the next day. He told me I’d need to be at the airport by 3pm, so I’d need to leave the hotel no later than 2pm. He asked if I wanted to take the limousine bus (the same one I took to the Hyatt Regency), and I said I did. He had the schedule with him and said the latest bus I could take was the one leaving at 1:05PM, and that was pretty much my only choice. He asked if he should reserve seats for us for the same rate of ¥3,000 per person, and again I agreed. He asked if it would be alright to charge it to the credit card I provided earlier, and I said that would be perfect. I barely had to say anything – this guy was on top of it.

That was the easiest and best check-in process I’ve ever received at a hotel. This guy took care of everything I could have asked for, without me having to ask!

 

 

I spent the next few minutes admiring the view, because this room had an even better view than the last one did. I explored the room a bit more and proceeded to take pictures of the room and bathroom. The only thing I could find that was not absolutely perfect was that the ice in the ice bucket was half melted. That was literally the only thing wrong with the room.

The beds were nice and had firm mattresses just as the Hyatt Regency did. The curtains were controlled electronically by switches next to one of the beds, and there was a mini alarm clock available in case you needed it. WiFi is free to everyone in the hotel, and is also available in all common areas throughout the hotel. The TV was about 37″, and the minibar was stocked with colorful drinks.

 

 

The bathroom was impressive. It was very large with a separate tub and shower. There was only a single sink, but that’s really not a big deal to me. Like the Hyatt Regency, there were plenty of amenities including toothbrushes, shaving razors, a comb, sewing kit, and tons of other items. The shower amenities were from Aesop, and they were amazing – possibly my favorite I’ve had at any hotel. There were no less than 8 full-size towels in the bathroom, and there was some nice artwork hung above the bathtub. There was also a mini TV above the sink area, right in front of the tub. The toilet was as fancy as you’d expect from a top-end Japanese hotel, and the toilet seat was heated. The shower itself was also nice, with a main shower head plus two body-spray nozzles that I’ve come to love. It would have been perfect if there was a rain shower head also, but I think I’m being too greedy.

 

 

There was a knock at the door just after I finished taking my pictures. I opened it up and it was someone from housekeeping, asking if I wanted nightly room service. Uhm…I didn’t exactly know what that entailed, especially since we just got to the room about 30 minutes earlier. But hey…I paid 22K points for this night, so I said “sure, come on in!” I opened the door and swear the lady multiplied, because 3 of them walked in from out of nowhere. I sat down in front of the window to watch what was going on, and each took a different task. One went to the TV and minibar area, one to the beds, and one to the bathroom. If everything wasn’t already perfectly clean, they would have cleaned it, but otherwise they left my room pretty much untouched after checking everything. That was fun!

I hooked up my computer and my friend and I started thinking about where to go for dinner, while also talking about the amazing service that we’d already received. Eventually I found the in-room dining menu and took a look at that. Prices weren’t terrible, but the selection could have been better. But then I had a thought – if I’m receiving such amazing service at this hotel while paying so many points, why the heck should I leave? I’m just going to eat here in my room and enjoy the great view! So that’s what we did.

I know eating at your hotel is a cardinal sin while traveling in a city where there’s actually decent food around, but it seemed like a reasonable idea given the circumstances. We ordered and were told that it would take 30 minutes. Our food arrived about 35 minutes later, and was brought with an entire table for my friend an I to eat at. I won’t do a food review here, but I will say that I ordered a steak sandwich, my friend ordered a burger, we both got fries, and I had a Coke Zero in my backpack from earlier in the day.

I found an empty glass for my Coke Zero, but really wanted some ice since the soda was warm by this time. My friend reminded me there was melting ice in the ice bucket next to the TV, so I went to grab some and was shocked at what I saw – the housekeepers had replaced my melting ice with brand new ice! Clearly I wasn’t able to keep my eye on all 3 of the housekeepers while they were in the room, but I have no idea how I missed seeing or hearing this exchange. The melting ice was the only thing that wasn’t perfect about the room before, and even that was fixed without me saying a word (or even noticing). That was pretty amazing.

 

 

Dinner was good, but not spectacular. I was craving french fries and they really hit the spot, especially since I was really hungry by this point of the night. I didn’t bother calling to have the table taken away since we were so exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

We got up a bit early the next day to finish some last-minute shopping since we had to be back at the hotel by 1pm for our bus to the airport. We were greeted with a hello by every single hotel employee that we walked by on our way out. I took a quick look at the breakfast buffet area and it looked good, and was priced around ¥3,900 per person (that’s roughly $40). Note that breakfast for two is free if you’re a Hyatt Diamond member.

We asked the bellman downstairs for directions to the Shinjuku Train Station, which is one of the busiest train stations in Tokyo, and he handed us a card that had directions pre-written on it. It was a 10-15 minute walk, and I’d say this is the only real negative about the hotel: it’s just not convenient to any metro stations. The walk wasn’t a big deal and the directions on the card were perfect.

We got back to the hotel around 12:40pm, just in time to grab our stuff from the room and head down to the lobby to check out. I waited for a couple of minutes before my check out was processed. My in-room dining charge and my airport limousine bus charges were confirmed, and I signed the final bill. I received my receipt in a Park Hyatt Tokyo envelope and was thanked for my stay.

My friend and I got down to the hotel driveway/entrance just before the bus was supposed to arrive at 1:05pm. Again, the bellman knew who I was as I walked up. He asked “Mr. Summary, how was your stay?” I told him it was great, and then he offered me and my friend a cold bottle of Park Hyatt water. The bus then arrived at exactly 1:05pm. The driver loaded my luggage and gave me a luggage tag, and as I stepped on to the bus, I swear I shed a tear. Do you know how hard it was to leave this hotel? It was top-notch and 5-Star in every aspect. I wish I was a Hyatt Diamond member just so I could have experienced that extra level of service, because I have a hard time believing there is one.

So, Should I Stay at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo or the Park Hyatt Tokyo?

I’m glad you asked! Keep in mind that this is solely my opinion. Now that I’ve stayed at and reviewed both the Hyatt Regency Tokyo and the Park Hyatt Tokyo, which would I recommend? In my mind, the choice is very simple: If you’re stinking rich in either cash or points, or if it’s being paid for by work or someone else, then stay at the Park Hyatt. Everyone else should stay at the Hyatt Regency, but I would recommend just one night (near the end of your trip) at the Park Hyatt…just to experience it.

The reason is simple in my eyes: Tokyo is a big city, and in big cities I’m generally not spending much time in the hotel. I’m out sight-seeing, eating, or just wandering around. That means I’m not going to be at the hotel very much, except to sleep and shower – and it would truly be a waste of all your money or points to spend just 6-10 hours a day at a hotel as wonderful as the Park Hyatt Tokyo. That’s part of the reason I had dinner at the hotel instead of eating something local. My loss.

If I’m using my points for a top-tier hotel, I’d like to make sure I’m spending a huge majority of my time at that hotel. The perfect example of this is at beach resorts, like the Park Hyatt Maldives. You’re literally on the hotel property the entire time, so it’s much easier for me to justify spending 22K points a night out there. But to me, it doesn’t make sense in a city like Tokyo or Paris, locations where there are amazingly fantastic Park Hyatt hotels, but where you’d also want to spend most of your time away from the hotel.

Also take into account that there’s a metro station directly underneath the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, whereas the Park Hyatt Tokyo isn’t very convenient to any metro station. That’s kind of a big deal in Tokyo, especially since both hotels are farther away from most of the attractions in the city.

Let’s say you were going to spend 4 nights in Tokyo like I did. All four nights at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo would cost you just 48K points – attainable from just one Ink Bold sign-up. The same 4 nights at the Park Hyatt Tokyo would cost 88K points, nearly double the amount. Those points can be used for a lot of other things, particularly flights, so just make sure you make an informed decision before burning that many points at a hotel, even one as great as the Park Hyatt Tokyo.

 

Final Thoughts

I’ve already discussed the location and many other items, so I’ll just give some final thoughts. This hotel is absolutely spectacular. You have to pay a premium in money or points to stay here, but you get a lot for that extra payment. The people, the service, the rooms…everything is fantastic, except the location. I think this hotel is worth trying for at least one night, just so you can re-set your “best service ever” bar in your head. But with that being said, I’m not sure it’s the best hotel for someone that’s in Tokyo to tour the city. The Hyatt Regency Tokyo is a perfectly fine hotel, and much more convenient to the metro. Still, I can’t deny that the Park Hyatt Tokyo was one of my favorite hotel stays ever.