Tokyo - Hotel

We had less than 24 hours in Tokyo. Needless to say it was a whirlwind. We changed our plans not long before we left on our trip to include an overnight stopover in Tokyo between a long flight from Bangkok to Tokyo and an even longer flight from Tokyo back to the US.

We had the pleasure of having a delayed flight while leaving Phuket. Which meant we got to stay in the airport overnight instead of being able to steal a few hours in a bed. So we sat in some awkward plastic chairs for a while. Amazingly there were lots of other people staying in the airport overnight.

At the Tokyo airport, we stored all our bags and threw a change of clothes and pajamas into a backpack. We weren't messing around with taking time to lug our bags and to check-in to our hotel, with only 24 hours we were on a sightseeing mission.

We finally arrived after a day of sightseeing to our hotel at 10 pm. Tokyo is a notoriously expensive city. Especially if you consider we were just in Thailand and Cambodia. We were able to book a room at The Prince Park Tower Tokyo for about $175 a night. The Prince Park Tower was highly rated on Trip Advisor and received a Travelers' Choice 2010 Award.

We showed up at the front desk a little worse for the wear. We hadn't showered in a while, we'd been on a ferry and 2 airplanes since then, and we'd run around the city all day. Yet the front desk couldn't have been more hospitable. They insisted on placing our 2 small backpacks on a luggage cart and taking them up to our room for us.

The lobby was really nice.

I was excited to stay in a Japanese hotel room. The Japanese are known for their gadgets and they did not disappoint. I insisted on using every setting on the toilet. I particularly liked the warming toilet seat after coming in from a cold day of walking around. The lights had gadgets, the bath tub had gadgets. Yet they didn't even have WiFi, you had to hook up with a cord.

While the room was pefectly nice and adequate, it wasn't what I'd call a top ranked hotel in a major city as Trip Advisor seemed to indicate.  Our decor was a little oudated.  We decided to go with the room with 2 double beds since it was $100 cheaper than the room with a queen or king-sized bed.  I'm wondering if the more expensive rooms were better. 

The hotel does seem to have several amenities that we didn't get to check out since we were there all of 8 hours including a spa, pool, and restaurants.

Overall I'd say it was worth the $175 price tag since most lower level hotels in town seemed to be at least $130/night.  However, if rooms are at their $400/night rack rate, I would either upgrade to a hotel that's truly stunning or pick a more budget friendly hotel.