Tokyo Hilton and luggage service question
 

Hi everyone,

I was in the process of narrowing my search for a Tokyo hotel to either Akasaka Prince or Hotel New Otani. They seemed to be in a good area and I found great rates for both on different websites. In the meantime, my BF found out that the Hilton Tokyo that we thought was unavailable actually IS available with his Honor points, so we got 3 nights at the Hilton instead.

Questions:

1. Not planning to change hotel plans since free is good, but wonder if the Tokyo Hilton is in a convenient location for sightseeing. I've located it on a map, but it's so hard to get a sense of distance and convenience.

2. Are there places nearby to find cheap eats?

3. We arrive on 7/29 (approx 4p), but we were able to get the Hilton for 7/30, 31 and 8/1. We figured we'd try to find a cheaper hotel nearby to stay for 7/29. Is it possible to take the Limousine Bus from the airport to the Hilton and leave our big luggage there overnight? We'd just take our carry-on for the night to another hotel and come back to check in the next day.
(Yes, I know it would make the most sense to just pay for an extra night at the Hilton, but we also want to see what a less expensive room looks like if we ever come back to Tokyo again and have to pay for rooms ourselves).

4. Any suggestion for an inexpensive ($100-$140) place to stay for one night in Shinjuku?

5. I've read about people sending their luggage forward to their next hotel, but I can't seem to find any specifics about this service. Is it just something that's offered by individual hotels? What's the approximate cost? Is it priced per piece? Per distance? How long does it normally take? If we have our luggage sent from Tokyo to our Kyoto hotel on, for instance, day 3 but we aren't going to actually get to Kyoto until day 5, would the Kyoto hotel just hold our luggage for us? Of course, we'd let them know that our luggage may be arriving a day before us - (presuming the luggage is delivered that quickly).

Sorry if my questions are confusing or silly. My head is starting to swim and everything's getting very confusing.

Thanks,
Judy

We've stayed there...in Shinjuku, you mean, right, not Tokyo Bay. They run a shuttle between the hotel and Shinjuku Station, but we walked...about 10 minutes. There is subway nearer, but we didn't use it during our stay. We didn't have any trouble with the location. From Shinjuku Station you can go anywhere you like.

Restaurants are all over the place. In the area directly around the Hilton it's quiet at night b/c of lots of office buildings and such. On the way to Shinjuku station, there are quite a few places. In and around Shinjuku Station you could find everything you'd ever want. Then there's the other areas in Tokyo...you'll have no trouble finding inexpensive food.

The Hilton shouldn't be priced too badly during summer...with Hilton Honors, you pay the price for only one person, which makes a big difference in Japan, and if your BF is gold or diamond, you will likely get upgrade and breakfast....check with the Shinjuku Hilton directly about this, as lately it seems the Japan hotels are getting less forthcoming with status benefits. Anyway, I've seen the Tokyo Hilton for under 20,000 yen/night before. You might reserve that first night there anyway, and keep checking the rates, b/c they often go down. You can always cancel if you don't find something else.

You should e-mail or call the HIlton to see aobut leaving your bags there. While you have them on the phone, ask about award availability for the 29th...I've gotten awards for Tokyo Bay (Disney location) that didn't show up on hilton.com or by phone to Hilton, but the hotel released to me directly. Try it...can't hurt.

Baggage delivery is priced per item by size and general area of shipping. A suitcase is about 2000 yen average. It takes overnight, sometimes 2 nights, but usually just one overnight. Highly reliable. The hotel will do it for you and you can charge it to your room even. There are many companies that offer the service, the biggest is Kuroneko Yamato. We use delivery service all the time, for luggage, for ordering food, for sending packages within Japan...it's an everyday thing here. We even have a neighborhood Kuroneko Yamato driver, ...she delivers and picks up every day to our neighborhood only. Just ask at your hotel and you'll be all set.

For a cheaper hotel, you might try an APA hotel, Toyoko Inn or Tokyu Hotel...but beware....the prices for these hotels onn booking sites like asiarooms.com and asiahotels.com and expedia.com etc...are hugely inflated. A room in these places is seldom more than 10,000 yen...and it isn't worth more. Unfortunately, their prices are also often inflated on their English language websites...so, if you decide to try this style place, ask and I'll check the Japanese price for you. It's often lots cheaper for the same room. However, I'd encourage you to just stay at the Hilton if possible. Moving hotels on your first day is just too much work for me :)

Long question.
Long answer.
:)

You can see what the inexpensive rooms look like on the web; there are pcitures all over that people have taken inside of these types of very small plain rooms. I don't think you have to stay in one to understand it. Personally, I would not do that to myself on the first night (dealing w/getting your luggage to the Hilton, leaving w/an overnight bag, sleeping somewhere else and running the risk of not sleeping well or waking at 3-4 am due to jet lag, and then having to get out of your current hotel early in the morning (many business hotels do that, check out 10 am) and not being able to get into the Hilton til later in the day if you are exhausted). I would bite it and stay at the Hilton the first night.

Shinjuku is very convenient for getting around, with a big JR station that connects to the Yamonate loop that goes completely around Tokyo.

Everything Kim said on luggage service is right-on. Don't worry about it, just ask the hotel when you get there. And yes, if the luggage gets to hotel before you do the hotel just holds it for you as long as you have a reservation.

The only time you need to be concerned is if you are sending your luggage back to the airport for departure. You should not wait til the day before to do that, you should send it two days before to be sure it gets there in time for your departure. And when I had an early morning flight out of Japan (like I did this time) I sent it ahead to the airport three days before (sent it on Thurs., departed early Sun. a.m.).

I'd bring my bags to the Hilton and ask them to store them and then for one night stay in a love hotel.

Thanks for the info on the luggage service. I can always count on KimJapan and emd to provide quick and helpful feedback.

Turns out I was wrong about the hotel. My BF just told me that he used his Hilton points for 3 nights in the "area that we want to be". I don't think he realized that there were several hotels that he could use his points and I just assumed that we were staying at the Hilton in Shinjuku since we'd talked about staying in that area. Well, I just saw the paperwork and see that we're staying at the Conrad Hotel (wow!). Needless to say, now we really can't consider paying for the extra night at the Conrad since that would be almost $500 for the one night.

I am SO excited!!

That's cool. There is nothing better than a free night at a nice expensive hotel, except several free nights.

The Conrad gets rave reviews.

In that case, why don't you try a paid night at the Hilton Narita for your first night. It's cheap, perfectly nice, and will give your BF stay credit for one night. If he has 10,000 points left, you might get that one for free too. Otherwise, the rates there vary quite a bit over time, but 10,000 to 15,000 yen should be the rate you pay including breakfast.

Then, if you have energy in the afternoon, you can visit Narita town, which is kind of nice, and different than Tokyo. Then, in the morning, move from Narita to the Conrad.

July 29 Hilton Narita Bed and Breakfast 15,800 yen (reserve for one person remember). There's a cheaper rate for pay in advance but no breakfast and no change possible. I'd book that. It's nice enough, staff is good, breakfast is nice.

Thanks for the suggestion KimJapan, but I think we're going to try to stay in Tokyo the first night. It's a thought to stay at a Hilton though to build his points back up. (Just fyi - he had 140K points and used 120K for the 3 nights at the Conrad).

I've got a question about this first night, but I think I'll post it with a different subject title.

Thanks!
Judy

Kim, FYI, I stayed at Narita Hilton on last night this time, will include it in my trip report. The hotel is getting ready to undergo a 5.6 million renovation! They had a prototype "new rm." set up in the lobby, complete w/bed, swatches of all materials, paint, wallpaper, etc. to be used in the rms. (like an interior design presentation, if you have seen one of those). It appears to me that it will look and feel like an upgraded Westin room when they are done. I bet rates will go up too.

If they are upgrading rates will surely go up. As it is, it is great for 10,000 points or 10,000 - 15,000 yen. Did you see when the upgrade will be completed?

Didn't say, but it is starting "at end of April 2006 " (I stayed there 4/23).

I shouldn't complain for the rate w/bfast that I got, but the beds were pretty soft and the TV was the size of a computer screen, way across the room from the beds. I think they can use the upgrade, esp. since the hotel was full of business people.

Your room sounds much different from ours. Our room was large, with very nice beds. The TV was a large and wide flat screen. There was a good size table and 2 chairs, as well as a nice desk. Bathroom was large as well, with great water pressure. I'm guessing we were upgraded due to our status with HHonors, but I had booked the cheapest room. Breakfast was complimentary with our status as well, but was high priced were you to pay for it.