Hotel Review: Hilton Tokyo
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Folks, I am a fancy boy. I like fancy things. Fancy coffee, fancy flights, and fancy hotels. That’s why I love Hilton, because when I stay with them, I know I’m going to be treated like the fancy boy I am.
The weeks before and after New Year’s are a big travel time in Japan. Most companies shut down for these two weeks, while everyone goes to visit family. In our case, we coupled that with a trip to the big city to have fun and (potentially) look for a place to live if we decide to move there.
Hotel rooms in Tokyo were tough to find the week prior to New Year’s, and a lot of them were really expensive. Thankfully, I have Hilton Diamond Status, so after a few nights in a budget hotel, we treated ourselves to three nights at the Hilton Tokyo, and it did not disappoint.
The Hilton Tokyo
The Hilton Tokyo is located west of Shinjuku Station. Don’t be fooled by a map that’s too zoomed out - Tokyo is big, and things that look like they’re right next to each other can be quite a ways away. This hotel is a bit of a walk from JR Shinjuku Station, which matters when it’s winter and you’re lugging suitcases. Luckily, we’d stayed at the nearby Hyatt last year, so we knew about this issue going in.
One thing the Hilton has going for it is Nishi Shinjuku Station, which is only a block from the hotel and was extremely useful for getting to and from the places we happened to be going while we were there. The Hilton also has a free shuttle bus that takes guests from the hotel to Shinjuku Station every 20 minutes during the day, so when we left, we didn’t have to walk a long way with our bags. This is a nice touch that they don’t have to offer but makes a big difference!
The area immediately surrounding the hotel is nothing special - this is an area meant more for business conferences than tourists, as evidenced by the fact that we ran into the Tokyo Governor in the lobby of our hotel one day. It’s a couple blocks to the konbini, and many of the nearby restaurants (including those at the underground “Hiltopia” that connects to the hotel) close early in the evening. This is a problem if you want to eat late, because room service at the Hilton Tokyo was juuuust expensive enough to make us choose to avoid it.
While the nearby neighborhood isn’t great for tourists, the general location is, being close to Shinjuku’s nightlife, restaurants, and coffee shops as well as trains that can take you just about anywhere. My first time in Tokyo, I opted to stay at the Conrad Tokyo because it looked like a nicer hotel, but from a location standpoint it was much worse. While the Conrad requires less of a walk to get to some trains, it will take you a long time to get to areas like Shibuya and Shinjuku, and the Ginza area is mostly a bust. Unless you’re specifically planning on spending a lot of time at Tsukiji Market and the Tokyo Disney parks, I would say that for most travelers, the Hilton Tokyo is in a better location than the Conrad.
What the Conrad did have was luxury, with fantastic breakfast and a room that included a nice view plus my very own rubber ducky. Could the Hilton Tokyo compete?
Guest rooms at the Hilton Tokyo
Because of my DIAMOND STATUS NO BIG DEAL, we were upgraded to an Executive room on the 35th floor. The front desk clerk made sure to check with my wife that it was okay that the room didn’t have a bathtub, understanding that a Japanese lady likes to take baths. It’s strange that the nicer rooms don’t have bathtubs while other rooms do, but also who needs a bathtub that’s dumb.
Our room had a big comfy bed, and when I say big comfy bed, I mean BIG COMFY BED. It was so big, so comfy, so bed. We slept great here, and it was a perfect upgrade from the MyStays in Gotanda that we’d stayed at the previous three nights (a fine hotel for single budget travelers, but a bit small for a married couple who are 38 going on 70).
Diamond Status also meant two free bottles of water, which could be put in the minifridge that was empty but for two cold coffee creamers (it used to be that the fridges in nice hotel rooms were packed full of minibar items, but thankfully that trend is over so you can put all your Pocari Sweat inside). There was not only instant coffee and tea, but a French press and some coffee grounds so you could make real coffee in the morning. And in the bathroom, so many little bottles of shampoo and body wash that we almost couldn’t steal all of them. The shower was a rain shower that also had a claw foot and - important at a luxury hotel - a door that actually closed to keep water out.
Because we were in the middle of a long trip, I used the laundry service, which was faster and more reliable than the one at the Hilton we’d stayed at in Paris, and not that expensive when compared to other nice hotels. These little details, like how our keycards always worked to activate the elevator and guest room, are what make a hotel. Having to call downstairs or go to the front desk for some little problem is not going to completely wreck your vacation, but when you DON’T have to do those things, you notice.
As stated above, I avoided room service the first night, which meant I was VERY hungry in the morning. We got up early to tackle what Hiltons do better than just about anywhere else.
The Hilton Tokyo breakfast buffet in the Marble Lounge
The Marble Lounge is the main buffet restaurant at the Hilton Tokyo. It’s quite expensive for dinner and lunch, but people must like it, because we always saw big lines to get in. Diamond Status got us free breakfast (are you seeing a pattern here? I’m stumping hard for Diamond Status), and there weren’t too many people there, so we got shown to our table right away. There are self-serve coffee machines, but you can also order a latte at your table.
This buffet had a lot going on - eggs, bacon, sausage, many kinds of bread and pastries, juice, cereal, Asian stuff like yakisoba and dumplings, and an omelet station. The one drawback of the omelet station was that you couldn’t order omelets at your table. I would have liked to have had one brought to me, because carrying two plates plus a smoothie was a bit much. I realize it was my choice to get two plates plus a smoothie, but still.
The big winner of the breakfast buffet was the tiny donuts, filled with some sort of… filling. They were delicious. I ate way too much.
Hilton buffets are the stuff of legend, and this one was more than adequate. It wasn’t the best we’d ever tried (that title belongs to the buffet at the Hilton Cairns or maybe the Millennium Hilton Bangkok), but had WAY more choices than any of the hotels we stayed at in Europe. We were definitely happy that we were able to take advantage of the buffet.
Having status with Hilton and an Executive-level room brought another perk that was one of the best parts of our stay, and if you get the chance to experience it, you should.
The Hilton Tokyo Executive Lounge
Many Hiltons have an Executive Lounge where those with Hilton status can relax and enjoy coffee, drinks, or breakfast without the riff-raff. They’re always different in terms of size and what they offer, and this one was quite large. It was on floor 37, two floors up from our room, and the people running it were very nice - they allowed us to check in and out from the lounge so we didn’t have to go downstairs to wait at the front desk.
It’s possible to pay to bring extra guests into the lounge, but the cost isn’t really worth it. This is something that’s really only for frequent travelers or card holders who get it for free, and many travelers may feel it’s an unnecessary benefit. I am not one of those travelers.
My favorite thing to do - my FAVORITE thing to do - is sit and drink coffee and read a book while sitting across from my wife. I did it all through Europe and had a great time. The Hilton Tokyo Executive Lounge is a perfect spot for this. They have machines that make lattes, cappuccinos, and (I’m not kidding) the absolute best cocoa I’ve had in a long, long time. There’s also snacks, orange juice, water, and beer for those who like it. They have TVs showing news, and there are plenty of seats in the afternoon. The patron even pointed out Mt. Fuji to us through the window so we could get some pictures.
If you’re planning to be go-go-go busy during your trip and won’t be at the hotel at all during the day, maybe you don’t need the Executive Lounge. But for me, coming back to the hotel around 4pm each day and sitting down to coffee and book with Eriko was one of the best parts of the trip.
That time period when we enjoyed the lounge is important, because at 5:30, the complexion of the lounge changes substantially.
Snack time at the Executive Lounge
From 5:30pm-7:30pm every evening, the Executive Lounge hosts its Snack Buffet (I believe that’s what it’s called). This name is silly, because it’s dinner. There’s tons of food, and everyone swarms the lounge at this time to eat the giant buffet as their free dinner. It’s so packed that sometimes the lounge is full - this might not be notable at another Hilton, but the lounge here is so gigantic it’s genuinely impressive when all the tables are taken. With people lined up and waiting for spots, you’re limited to an hour at your table, and it was awkward to sit there and read, so we left early after taking in the nighttime views and tasty food.
The buffet is pretty solid - there’s some Chinese options like dumplings and soup, salads, some chicken, and desserts like matcha and fruit tarts. But the real star is the ice cream machine. The soft serve machine lets you pick from three flavors (vanilla, strawberry, green tea). You pull a tub from the freezer, take the top off, stick it into the machine, and squirt out some smooth ice cream. You can add marshmallows and sprinkles as well.
The trouble with the lounge dinner (besides how crowded it is) is that it’s extensive enough to take advantage of if you want a free meal, but not quite nice enough to make for a memorable vacation-worthy meal. I can see how business travelers and families would love it, but if I’m visiting Tokyo, I’d rather go out and get something from a local restaurant I’ve never tried. The lounge also offers another meal, which we were very happy to take advantage of.
Breakfast at the Hilton Tokyo Executive Lounge
As I mentioned, my status allowed us to choose between free breakfast in the lobby and breakfast upstairs at the Executive Lounge. The buffet at the lounge is a little bit smaller (no mini-donuts), but offers some advantages: first of all, there will likely be fewer people here than downstairs, meaning fewer logjams at the choice buffet items. Second, the omelet station is done by table service, so you don’t have to stand there while someone makes your omelet - you tell the staff and the omelet is brought to you. Third, you can sit much closer to the food and coffee, and don’t have to deal with the same level of noise at those close seats.
And finally, the fourth thing that made the lounge great: a few specific breakfast options that we loved. One of these was a big pile of tasty prosciutto. I love prosciutto, and putting it on top of my omelet was exactly how I wanted to start my day. Eriko was also able to get natto our last day there. If you’ve never had natto, congratulations, you have won, because it’s disgusting. But my wife loves it, and was able to have it at the lounge.
We appreciated the special treatment and peace and quiet of the lounge, so we ate there the second two mornings of our stay. Again, I love this lounge, and everybody working there was fantastic and super attentive. We never had difficulty finding someone to help us.
The Hilton Tokyo also has several restaurants in addition to the Marble Lounge and Executive Lounge. There’s a pastry shop in the lobby that looked delicious, and on the second floor, you’ll find three restaurants: one Japanese, one Chinese, and one American grill. Eriko and I had already decided our New Years’ Resolution was going to be to start eating healthier, which meant we had only a few days left to pig out. This was the place to do it.
The Metropolitan Grill at the Hilton Tokyo
The second floor restaurant setup can be a bit confusing, because all three restaurants are in the same basic area, with a huge open seating floor that doesn’t really distinguish between the eateries. We found someone to seat for lunch, where they had a great set menu. We wanted to have fun, so we chose the option that gave us each a main + access to the Strawberry Room.
What is the Strawberry Room, you ask?
Why, it’s a room where you can eat UNLIMITED DESSERTS.
The room is filled with cakes, pies, macarons, and several other things - about a dozen in all - all of them flavored with strawberry. We ran through and piled stuff onto plates, going for dessert before our mains because the Strawberry Room was going to close at 2pm.
I had read that you got unlimited desserts with this lunch deal, and I heard our server mention that it was called the Strawberry Room, but somehow it didn’t dawn on me until I got in there that everything would be strawberry flavored. This isn’t a problem if you like strawberry, but for me, it was a bit much. The macarons and milkshake were good, but everything mostly tasted the same: a little too sweet. I tried a little of everything, but didn’t feel too much desire to keep shoveling these desserts in my face. My favorite was the strawberry and pistachio parfait.
As for our mains, Eriko got duck confit, which was pretty good, and I got a steak, which was merely okay. My only complaint was the potatoes: don’t promise me fries and then bring me wedges. It’s bad form. The meal was worth it, especially because we were given 25% off for reasons that were mysterious to us (maybe I get this with Diamond Status?). All in all, pigging out was a fine way to end our stay.
Conclusion: should you stay at the Hilton Tokyo?
Would we stay at the Hilton Tokyo again? Hells and yeah. The service was immaculate. We didn’t have a single unpleasant interaction, which I honestly thought was impossible after some of the debacles we had in Europe. The lounge and food options were great, the bed was soooooo comfy, and the hotel is a perfect spot for doing stuff in Tokyo. We highly recommend the Hilton Tokyo, one of the best Hiltons we’ve stayed at and one of the best hotels we’ve been to in Tokyo. They made us feel so welcome that the next time we visit, we’ll definitely go back, and recommend it to all our friends. It’s not the cheapest hotel you’ll find, or the fanciest, but they treat you like royalty. 15/10 good job, Hilton.
Hilton Diamond Status
Part of why we had such a great experience was the special perks provided by Hilton Diamond Status. Earning it isn’t easy and requires a lot of stays, so if you’re not a business traveler, it would be tough to get it that way. You can get it the way I did, by gaining Gold status through the Hilton Honors Business Card from American Express and then earning Diamond through additional stays, but again, you have to travel a lot to get that.
The easiest way to earn Diamond Status is from the Hilton Aspire Card from American Express. It has a hefty annual fee, but comes with a lot of bonus points. If you travel with a big family, make frequent trips, or are planning to visit a location with a once-in-a-lifetime Hilton like the Conrad Koh Samui (where we’ve stayed and which is unsurpassed in our experience), the Aspire may be worth it to you.
This trip cemented my status as a full-on Hilton stan. I’m not a hostel-dwelling budget traveler anymore - I’m an old man who likes comfort, and when my wife and I travel, the first thing we check is whether there are vacancies at the nearest Hilton. They’re nice, consistent, and (occasionally) reasonably-priced, which is exactly what we need when we’re on the road.
