hotel review: westin tokyo on starwood points!

(Tokyo, Japan).  I was fortunate enough to have hoarded enough Starwood points to get 9 nights at the Westin Tokyo for free!  And on top of that, as a Starwood Gold member, I got free Wi-Fi (approximately $13 USD per day) and an upgrade to a larger room with a gorgeous city view.  (The lesson here is to maximize your rewards points - whatever they may be.)

The front of the hotel.

Obviously getting all this for free was AWESOME, but how was our actual experience?

The lobby which is very grand and very quiet - shhhh....

Check-In - Very efficient.  In my experience, the Japanese always provide exceptional and efficient service.  Their normal standard is way above the service levels in the U.S., and they don't even expect any tips! Apparently, it's considered "rude" to give tips, but on the other hand, gifts are happily accepted. 

Anyways, they quickly checked us in which was appreciated since I was super jetlagged.  Our room didn't include breakfast at the buffet, but as a Starwood member, I was offered a discounted price of about $20 per breakfast, which was about a $10 discount.

Our home away from home for 9 days!

Room - Most Asian hotel rooms (other than super luxury hotels) are smaller than what westerners expect.  Fortunately, this is a Westin and our room was very large with a sitting area.  I'm not sure if this was because we got upgraded, but since we were staying for 9 days, it was good to be able to spread out.  

The bathroom was standard for a western-style hotel, with lots of complimentary toiletries.  In addition to the standard shampoo, conditioner, soap and lotion, most asian hotels will offer toothbrushes and mini toothpastes, toothpicks, cotton pads, q-tips and a comb.  There are also slippers and robes available for use.

The refreshment setup was very nice - complimentary teas and coffees and ume (pickled plums).  There was also a small fridge with a selection of beverages that you can buy.

The bed was very big (King sized) and comfortable, as was the couch.  There was also a lovely vanity area where I could easily do my hair and put on makeup without competing with my husband for space in the bathroom.

Oddly enough there were 2 safes - which actually is kind of handy.  

I was happy with the room during my entire stay - super comfortable and clean.  Oh, and we got complimentary bottled water everyday which was nice.  But the best thing was coming back every night and seeing this gorgeous view!

Food - We didn't order room service but did enjoy the breakfast buffet a few times.  The selection isn't huge like some hotels I've experienced in Taiwan, but there is still a nice range of Japanese and western-style breakfast foods.  Everything was fresh and tasty, and I particularly enjoyed the fresh "green" juice and the congee.  The french toast cubes were also surprisingly tasty.  Try to get a seat near the window and enjoy the garden view. (With Starwood membership, approximately $20 per person)  

There are several restaurants at the hotel, but we never actually made it to any of them since we planned many of our meals already.  For the most part, the restaurants in high-end hotels in Tokyo seem quite expensive.  I feel like you are paying a premium for convenience and there is probably better food outside of the hotel for a more reasonable price.

Some tasty things within walking distance:

• Ippudo Ramen
• CoCo Curry (Coco Ichibanya)
• Japanese Ice Ouca - cutest teddy bear shaved ice
• Ebisu Yococho - small alley way of 21 hole-in-the-walls
• Kimikatsu - tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet on rice)

Service - The service throughout the hotel was great - refined and helpful.  In particular, the concierge desk was very helpful in getting many of my lunch/dinner reservations, as well as getting my Shinkansen (bullet) train tickets.  I was told that the Japanese didn't expect tips (and some actually felt offended by tipping), but it was culturally acceptable to give/receive gifts.  So before we arrived, I had a fruit basket delivered to the concierge desk to show my appreciation.  They were very appreciative of the gesture.  In fact, one day we returned to our room and found a lovely bottle of wine as a thank-you from the concierge desk.  Sweet, huh?

Location - The hotel isn't located in the center of Tokyo (which is actually quite spread out, but is well connected by its subway and train systems).  However, it is near the Ebisu Station (about a 7 minute walk) which has the Yamanote line and the Hibiya line, the combination of which took us to the majority of our destinations.  First time visitors may not want to be this far out and may prefer to stay in Shinjuku or Shibuya or Ginza.   However, since we were in Tokyo for 9 days and many of our dinner reservations were in Roppongi which was one stop away - we actually liked the more remote location.  Shibuya is also just one stop away.

Yebisu Garden Place (by day).

To get to the Ebisu Station, you can walk through the Yebisu Garden Place (a luxury complex of stores and restaurants, including a Mitsukoshi Department Store) or cut through an underground passage (just take the elevator from the hotel to B1).  There are so many yummy places to eat on the way to the station and at the station, that you will never go hungry.  There is also a 7-eleven and a Family Mart nearby if you want to get snacks.  The Yebisu Beer Museum and a photography museum is also at the Yebisu Garden Place, but we never had time to go.

Yebisu Garden Place (by night).

Gym - There is a small standard gym with some treadmills and weights.  I only worked out once and found it adequate.  It gets oddly crowded around 6 am because there are so many jetlagged travelers who opt to work out since they can't sleep.

Bar/Spa - There's a bar that supposedly has an amazing view but we never made it up there since we had such a nice view from our room.  There is also a spa at the hotel but I didn't try it.

Other - It was a bit rainy during our trip and the hotel offered all their hotel guests with loaner umbrellas.  There were several umbrella "lockers" where you could store the umbrellas.  In Japan, it's rude to bring a wet umbrella inside and drip everywhere.  Most places will have umbrella lockers or umbrella holders at the entrance or offer plastic sleeves for your umbrellas.

Overall - We had a wonderful time at the Westin Tokyo.  Everyone made our stay super comfortable and we would definitely come back. 

Goodbye lovely sunrise!