As we were travelling on the overnight flight from Heathrow, our itinerary included ‘an early check in’ at the “Park Hotel”:http://en.parkhoteltokyo.com/, in Ginza, the south eastern part of Tokyo. It also included a private transfer which took around 30 minutes. The location was central and next to the Shimbashi subway station and we stayed for three nights..
We were delighted to find on arrival at 9am, ‘early check-in’ meant our rooms had been booked the previous night, so we were able to get straight into them. Our rooms were next to each other on the 32nd floor with excellent views over the city.
Reception, on the 25th floor, was extremely helpful and whilst we were completing paperwork, we found the British Airways luggage labels had been removed from our bags. English was widely spoken in the hotel.
Our rooms were clean, modern and compact (this tends to be a feature in Japan) but had everything we needed: TV, desk and chair, easy chair and footstool, good lighting, tea and coffee making facilities, safe, robes and mini bar. The room walls were individually decorated – ours had huge tulips painted on two walls whilst our friends had martini glasses.
There was a TV with English channels although we didn’t switch it on and wi-fi was fast and complimentary.
The bathroom was small with a Japanese style bath – small but deep. It was ideal for a good soak, as on our first day we walked over 12,000 steps. The hot water gushed so the bath filled quickly. There was a good supply of toiletries: not just the usual soap and shower gel but also cotton wool pads, ear buds, comb, toothbrush and paste, razor and shaving gel. The hairdryer plug was next to the mirror (a non steam one) – always a winner for me.
This was our first experience of a Japanese loo, which we came to know and love – a heated seat (which at first was a little disconcerting) with a range of ‘bottom washing’ options.
The buffet breakfasts on the 25th floor were good with both western and Japanese options (hot and cold available). There was something to suit everyone. The food was also beautifully presented.
We didn’t eat in the hotel as, although there were a number of restaurants (French and Japanese), as is often the case, they were expensive. We had beers in the bar one night – a small one was £6.
We were very pleased with our hotel and would certainly recommend both it and the area. We returned to Tokyo later in our trip and decided to stay in a different hotel, but only to experience a contrasting area.
