We wanted to enjoy the Park Hyatt Tokyo one last time before it closed for a year for remodeling. The hotel offers an excellent views of the city and impeccable service.

This stay occurred in April 2024.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Springing for Sakura
• Review: oneworld Qantas Business Lounge LAX
• Review: Starlux A350-900 Business Class LAX-TPE
• Review: Starlux Galactic Lounge TPE Terminal 1
• Review: Starlux A330neo Business Class TPE-NRT
• The Airport Limousine Bus is Indeed Friendly
• Quite a Grand Stay: The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
• Thoughts on Tokyo Disneyland
• Thoughts on Tokyo DisneySea
• Japan Pro Tip: Luggage Delivery Services
• Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo (this post)
• teamLab Planets: I Don’t Understand The Hype
• Cuteness Overload: A Review of the Pokémon Cafe Tokyo

Booking

For the past year or so, the Park Hyatt Tokyo has been a tough hotel to find award nights. There have been excuses from the hotel that suggest preparation work is needed and so therefore no regular rooms are available. And indeed I was unable to find award nights until I happened upon it exactly two months before our stay when it opened up.

We booked two base-level rooms for our party of five, costing us a total of 210,000 Hyatt points (35,000 points/night/room for this Category 7 hotel). While that is a high rate, it beats paying upwards of 1,000 USD per night per room under the cash rate.

Note that the hotel is currently undergoing reservations and is closed. It will reopen under the Hyatt umbrella (unlike the Park Hyatt Hamburg, which will be missed), but not until late 2025. Jenn and I have been here a decade ago, so it was our way of getting one last taste of the hotel before it transforms.

Earning Hyatt Points

An excellent option for earning Hyatt points is the Chase Ink Preferred. Currently, my refer-a-friend link offers a massive 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred into Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio for spending $8,000 in the first three months. Note this is a business credit card, but you may be eligible for your side gig and not even know it.

The personal Hyatt credit card (not a referral link) is also a good option for earning Category 1-4 free night certificates. But the current sign-up bonus is lackluster (35k points for $3k spend, and then earn at 2x on everyday spend for the next $15k within the first six months). I’d advise waiting for a better offer.

The small business version of the Hyatt credit card offers a decent 60,000 point bonus for signing up when spending $5,000 in three months. The main appeal here is the easier path towards maintaining Globalist status if you spend heavily on the card.

Arrival and First Impressions

We arrived after a long day at Tokyo DisneySea after taking the trains. After exiting Shinjuku Station, it’s a lengthy 10-15 minute walk over to the hotel. Thankfully, we didn’t need to worry about our luggage, so it was an easy journey (ignoring the kids being pretty tired). The hotel does have a shuttle that runs between the hotel and Shinjuku Station, but we didn’t want to track it down and wait around for it.

Reception is located up on the 41st floor, meaning you’ll need to take an elevator up to check in, followed by a second elevator ride up to your room. This is typical for hotels in taller buildings where offices occupy the lower floors.

We arrived past 9 PM to find no lines, though the check in process was a bit slow as the front desk wanted to be thorough with explanations. The agent expressed multiple apologies that the hotel was fully booked and unable to upgrade my room. He went over the features of the hotel, gave me a few documents describing the benefits, and then personally led us up to our rooms.

The Room

We had both rooms 4714 and 4716 for this stay. As he was giving us a tour of the rooms, the front desk agent mentioned it was his intent to give us room 4715 to make it easier for us, but that person extended their stay. In any event, to my knowledge there are no connecting rooms here.

Once you enter, you’ll find a walk-in closet on the right hand side. I certainly can appreciate the amount of space afforded here, making it easier to take off our shoes and outer gear before entering the rest of the room.

Each room had one king bed. I found the bed pretty comfortable: not as hard as a brick but also not too much give as you’re on it. It was firm but not excessively so.

On one of the nightstands next to the bed, a couple of travel adaptors are provided, along with a card showing where the outlets can be found. It’s a good thing they gave the card as I never would have guessed to look at the bottom of the nightstand.

By the window are a couple of armchairs. They were comfortable enough for Alex to showcase his sleeping ability.

Across from the bed is the entertainment unit with a modest-sized TV, some books, and a container holding ice that staff kept refilling.

Just next to the entertainment unit is a desk. It’s nice that you can get a good view of the city from here.

Waiting on the desk was a handwritten welcome letter, some cookies, and chocolate rocks.

On top of that, the hotel also gave some candies made in Japan.

The bathroom was functional though a bit simple for a hotel of this caliber. The sink faces a large mirror and has small chairs perfect for doing your hair or helping the kids reach the sink.

They also have a Dyson blow dryer, which is a nice treat.

The room features both a soaking tub and a shower. The kids enjoyed using the tub each night as it can get a bit deep if you fill it up.

The shower felt almost like a steam room as the temperatures could get pretty high.

Toiletries are from Aesop, one of my favorite brands.

They also gave some baby skin care items as they knew we had a four year old with us.

Outside, we had a nice view of the city. We were supposed to also have views of Mount Fuji, but sadly there were heavy clouds every day we were there and thus weren’t able to see it.

Girandole (Breakfast)

Thanks to my Hyatt Globalist status, and since we used a Guest of Honor award for the second room, we received breakfast daily (either at Girandole or via room service). We dined twice at Girandole and did room service once.

We arrived right at 7 AM both days and were given the private room in the corner. It was nice having some extra space for the kids without worrying about them interrupting other guests.

Globalists are able to order anything off the menu. Not only that, but we were also encouraged to grab anything we wanted off the buffet while we waited.

Given we arrived so late to the hotel the first night, we went to sleep without pre-ordering the Japanese breakfast. Given the high demand for the Japanese breakfast, it’s supposed to be ordered the night before to ensure there are enough prepared for everyone. We did nicely ask if there were any extras, and they did have a small number prepared just in case someone forgets to reserve. The wait staff encouraged us to place an order for the next day’s Japanese breakfast while we were there.

The buffet had plenty of goodies. I’ll let the pictures below speak for themselves.

The children ordered eggs, pancakes, fresh mango, and French toast.

Each day, the chef would show up with some freshly baked treats and ask us how everything is. Everything was simply おいしい (delicious).

The Japanese breakfast is an absolute feast. You’re given fish, rice, miso soup, tofu, fruit, vegetables, and more. I’d recommend not loading up on the buffet, but it’s hard to resist. You will not go hungry here. For those wondering, there was no check to sign at the end of breakfast.

Room Service Breakfast

Our last morning, we ordered room service as our limousine bus was departing before 9 AM and I didn’t want to rush. Between the two rooms, we ordered a Japanese breakfast, an American breakfast, a Continental breakfast (my dad insisted he didn’t need anything more than that), and two Kid’s American Breakfasts.

Right at the time requested and not a minute more, the food arrived at our room. I always find it impressive how punctual Japanese service is in every line of business.

Aside from the comfort of dining in our room and feeling no rush as we got packed up to leave the hotel, I’d still prefer to dine in the main restaurant. The food there is a bit warmer, a bit fresher, and you can choose exactly what it is you want to eat. On the flip side, there’s lower risk of overeating if you’re not able to get seconds (or thirds). Again, there was nothing to sign as it was all complimentary.

New York Grill

One evening we dined at the famous New York Grill, near where Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson met in the movie Lost in Translation. In fact, the table we were assigned had excellent views of the New York Bar, where we could easily enjoy the live entertainment taking place the whole time we were there.

Getting to the New York Grill required us to pass around the showplace kitchen.

We were hoping for some views of the city, but similar to the daylight hours, nighttime views were also blocked by the clouds.

We ordered a variety of items off the menu, with the intention to share. We started with the New York Grill Appetizer Plate for Two (which was more than enough for the three adults). We followed that up with the USDA Prime Ribeye, the Hyogo Kobe Sirloin, and the Bluefin Tuna Chutoro, with mushrooms and lobster macaroni and cheese on the side.

The kids both had the New York Grill Wagyu Burger. It was more than enough for both the kids.

Dinner started with some drinks and delicious warm bread. The hotel provided some drink coupons and I was able to thus get five free drinks here (one for each registered guest, and no I didn’t drink all five).

Shortly afterwards, the appetizer arrived, along with some fresh potato chips for the little ones.

The main courses for the kids came out next, which was good because fatigue was starting to hit for them around 7 PM. It was a tasty burger but not the style of bun that I prefer.

Moments later, out came the courses for the adults. In a word, delicious. It felt almost a requirement to eat Kobe beef in Japan and it didn’t disappoint here. Each dish was cooked to perfection and we were quite stuffed afterwards.

Naturally, the wait staff brought out a dessert menu and we went with the New York cheesecake. I honestly don’t know how we packed it all down.

The staff also brought out a small surprise dessert of vanilla ice cream as a thank you for dining. When making the reservation, I did mention we are coming for spring break, hence the personalized note in chocolate.

Service

Quite honestly, service here is well-polished. I found everyone on the team made it their responsibility to take care of us our whole time on property. Everyone seemed to take a lot of pride in their jobs and I wish that service everywhere was at this level.

That being said, I do have to compare it to how the service was during our prior visit a decade earlier. Service during that trip was impossibly good:

• On our first arrival, there was a train of people ushering us from the hotel entrance, up the elevators, through the lobby, and directly into our room. It was a very VIP type of experience that I’ve never received before that moment. On this trip, there was no equivalent “wow” moment.
• On our trip a decade ago, the hotel proactively printed a copy of the LA Times as there was a full-page spread of UCLA football beating USC, along with a handwritten message of “Go Bruins” on the printout. I never communicated to the hotel prior to that trip that I was a football fan or a UCLA fan, but they clearly did their research on me prior to arriving. There wasn’t any similar experience on this trip.
• There was no acknowledgement of us visiting the hotel before. I don’t expect to be thanked for returning, but for a hotel that seemed to take note of small details, it was a small miss.

So while service is excellent at this hotel, it is a step down from the impossibly good service we received in the past.

Odds and Ends

The hotel still provides printed newspapers in the morning. It’s nice still finding a touch of yesteryear here with the morning deliveries.

There is an indoor pool here, though pictures are not allowed inside. The area is impressive and we did spend some time with the kids here one day. It’s not intended to be a children’s pool but there were plenty of floatation devices to keep them afloat. Everyone is required to wear a swimming cap inside the pool.

Recommendation: Yes, it will be missed

The Park Hyatt Tokyo is closed for renovations, scheduled to open later in 2025. In its prior iteration, it was a fantastic hotel. A Category 7 with Hyatt, it was often possible to get excellent value using points compared to cash stays. The hotel has polished service and dining on property is a real treat. The one thing it lacked was ease for tourists, but as with all things in a large city, it all depends on what you plan to do while here. Don’t use this as a base to explore things that are far away.

When the hotel reopens, I expect it to be a Category 8 hotel, in line with the Park Hyatt Kyoto. I’m not sure I’ll be able to experience the refreshed hotel in the near future, but I hope to visit more often than just once every decade.

Do you have any memories of the Park Hyatt Tokyo?