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HotelChatter Flickr Pool
HotelChatter Flickr Pool :: A Guest Hates on The MO Tokyo's Voyeuristic Bathrooms
October 14, 2008 at 4:33 PM | 0 Comments
Lyh1 was kind enough to drop this photo of the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo's bathroom into the HotelChatter Flickr Pool -- and the guest who snapped this shot was also kind enough to share a little bit of feedback:
The shower and tub area is fully exposed. And right pass [sic] the foyer, you see the toilet cubicle. Not a room that you want to welcome outside guests.
I hated this bathroom. It's poorly lit and small. ... The dull grey marble give the whole place a dirty look. For a 5-star premium luxury hotel, this bathroom is just awful.
We feel you, bud: we can totally see how doing your business on that toilet may make you feel like you're kinda, uh, doing something private in public. We've felt semi-exposed in bathrooms before (NYLO was particularly traumatizing because the carpetless floors in the room added a hot audio component) -- and we don't feel our sexiest while we're on the throne.
And we hear you on the speckled grey marble too. But on the flipside, it actually probably hides dirt better than straight up black or white so maybe it doesn't look as dirty as it may really be. Oh wait, no, that's gross too. Nevermind.
Thanks for sharing!
Got a pic you wanna share with us? Drop it in the pool!
Lisbon Hotels
Green in the City :: The Independent Rounds Up "Best Urban Garden Hotels"
October 8, 2008 at 4:27 PM | 0 Comments
A city stay usually means you're not getting too much in the way of trees and flowers, and we often think that's a shame. Which is why the UK Independent list of urban garden hotels got us especially interested.
We like the sound of the Hotel de Russie in Rome: eat dinner on the terrace and you're surrounded by trees: palm, pine, cypress, magnolia, lemon and orange, apparently.
A place we're surprised to hear about greenery is Tokyo, but the Hotel New Otani Tokyo is actually situated in 10 acres of gardens that belonged to some feudal lord 400 years back, and naturally the obligatory ponds full of bright orange carp are there.
And finally, in Portuguese capital Lisbon, the Pestana Palace appeals to us mainly because the guy who built it in the early 1900s was a cocoa king; but also because the gardens are grand enough to have been declared a national monument. Can't get much greener than that.
[Photo of Pestana Palace: Tones100]
New Years Eve Hotels
New Years Eve Hotels: Tokyo's Mandarin Oriental
December 19, 2007 at 9:15 AM | 0 Comments
If we had to say goodbye to 2007 with a bang, we would hop on a plane to Tokyo and spend three party-filled nights at the Mandarin Oriental. We've never actually stayed inside a Mandarin Oriental room and we are making a point of doing this in 2008.
We've also never been to Tokyo although we done plenty of reading on it. So what better way to see a new city than from the top of this Mandarin Oriental. The lobby is actually located on the top floor (the 38th) and has panoramic views of Tokyo from every inch. So if you can't splurge on a penthouse suite, sipping tea in the lobby lounge is the next best thing.
From there, things only get better. The MO has some of the largest hotel rooms in all of Japan filled with high-tech gadgetry. The hotel also has a killer-looking spa on the 36th floor and several dining options, all with amazing views of the city.
We found a Mandarin Deluxe room from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2 for $635 a night. Wowzsa. So we won't be ringing in 2008 here but we can dream right?
[Photo: General13]
Anti-View
Room With an Anti-View: Lower Floors at the Keio Plaza Hotel, Tokyo
November 1, 2007 at 10:08 AM | 0 Comments
What a difference a room allocation can make. Not so long ago, we featured the Keio Plaza Tokyo as a hotel with a killer view over the night lights of Tokyo. But that picture came from an entirely different side of the hotel to this one, which we can only include as an anti-view.
Checked in to a lower floor and with a view of modern but boring gray buildings, there's nothing inspiring about the view from this particular Keio Plaza window. Please ask for a room higher up if you stay here; only not too high if you're feeling a little on the depressed side.
[Photo: msjacoby]
Related Stories:
· Room with a Killer View: The Keio Plaza Hotel [HotelChatter]
· Two Naked Men Jump From Hotel [HotelChatter]
· Hotels in Tokyo [HotelChatter]
Japanese-Love-Hotels-Map
Get Some Love At The White Box Hotel
August 21, 2007 at 8:55 AM | 0 Comments
If you want to find a bunch of love hotels, why not try a Love Hotel Hill? That's what they call the Dogenzaka area of Shibuya, a famous part of Tokyo. And while the weird and wonderful names of other love hotel regions (remember Gang Snowman's?) might be missing here, you can still find some interesting places to stay for an hour or a night.
One of these is the Hotel White Box, which somehow makes us think of a refrigerator, but really is just a typical love hotel. The interesting features here are the waterbeds, tanning machines and spotlights, so you can really get a good look at what you're doing. It has funky urban style decor and if you don't get your kicks there, you can always move somewhere just near by on Love Hotel Hill.
By the way, we don't have a clue why the cat and dog are on the sign: is it a pet-friendly love hotel? On second thoughts, we probably really don't want to know.
[Photo: sigsy]
Related Stories:
· Japanese Love Hotels [HotelChatter]
· Gang Snowman's Got A Cadillac on the Roof [HotelChatter]
Japanese Love Hotels
The Name Says It All: The Seeds Love Hotel
August 1, 2007 at 12:59 PM | 0 Comments
Some love hotels get pretty names like Chapel Sweet, but then there's the other end of the scale: the classic example being Hotel Seeds in the Uguisudani area of Tokyo. But if you can get past the name, it seems to be a particularly good value love hotel, with huge rooms and big TVs, and movies for free rather than pay-per-view. And even parking is free if you come by car.
Apparently the highlight in room 202 is the blacklight bathroom. It's got dark tiles and a big bathtub, with a mountain scene painted in glow-in-the-dark paint--sounds weird but kinda cool. What'll the love hotel industry think of next?
Related Stories:
· Hotel Seeds [links.net]
· Hotels in Tokyo [HotelChatter]
Japanese Love Hotels
Free Playstation Rentals at the Casa Di Due Love Hotel
July 25, 2007 at 9:31 AM | 1 Comment
It's great to get an insider's view of a love hotel (since we've never been game to look ourselves), and this video of the Casa Di Due in Tokyo stops short of any raunchy stuff but does give us a lot of flashing lights.
Blogger bone gives us a blow-by-blow account of choosing the room from the menu, along with naming some of the advantages of the Casa Di Due--one being that you can check in for a full night's stay here from 10pm, unlike many which make you wait until the pay-by-the-hour traffic has gone at midnight.
Hotel News
What's In A Name at Radisson Narita?
May 8, 2007 at 10:00 AM | 1 Comment
Press releases are busily spreading the word that Japan's Radisson Hotel Narita Airport has changed its name, as of May 4, to the Radisson Hotel Narita. What's in a name, you might ask? Well, they want to be known as a big hotel "near Tokyo with off-site meeting facilities", rather than just an airport hotel.
Fair point, but there are a couple of problems. It's debatable whether the alleged "one and a half hour's distance from Tokyo" is first of all, really "near" Tokyo, and second of all, what kind of traffic conditions you need to get from this hotel to Tokyo in ninety minutes? TripAdvisor clearly ranks it in its list of Narita hotels, not Tokyo. On top of that, Radisson's own website hasn't yet changed the name, still holding onto the Airport at the end of it. Perhaps it's not so important to them as the press releases make out, or maybe they've realised that getting airport customers is actually better business.
[Photo: Lawrence Sinclair]
Related Stories:
· Radisson Hotel Narita reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Radisson Hotel Narita Announces Updated Name [eTravel]
Good Rate
Good Rate :: Park Hotel Tokyo for the Sumo Basho Festival
May 1, 2007 at 2:35 PM | 0 Comments
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quotes here were captured May 1, 2007 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
While the U.S. dollar has been pummelled by the Euro, it's actually not faring so bad against the Yen. So while Tokyo may still be one of the most expensive places on the planet, at least it's not getting worse. If you're going to be in the neighborhood between May 13 and 27, you can see the country's finest sumo wrestlers in action, at the Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo.
We pulled up the final weekend of May 25 to 27 and found a $161 per night rate (before taxes) for a double at Travelocity for the Park Hotel Tokyo. To show that you always need to shop around, the same room was $219 at Orbitz and a double wasn't even available at Expedia.
This hotel wins raves from TripAdvisor reviewers, with it placing right behind Tokyo's Mandarin Oriental (and well above the more famous $600-per-night Park Hyatt). It won one of TripAdvisor's Traveler's Choice awards, with former guests praising its killer views, convenient location, and sparkling new interiors.
Related Stories:
· $168 for Le Meridien's 'Superior Singles' [HotelChatter]
· Park Hotel Tokyo reviews [TripAdvisor]
Bad Rate
Bad Rate :: $168 for Le Meridien Grand Pacific's 'Superior Singles'
May 1, 2007 at 2:35 PM | 0 Comments
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quotes here were captured May 1, 2007 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
We've all heard about the "capsule hotels" in Tokyo, where businessmen put themselves into a pod to sleep for cheap. But how does "the largest hotel in Japan's capital" have rooms that will only sleep one? Apparently that's the case at Le Meridien Grand Pacific. Their $168 rate on Expedia for the final weekend of the Grand Sumo Tournament didn't sound too bad until our request for a double was met with the note "Exceeds max adults."
This story gets even stranger when you look at the amenities. Apparently the bathroom is so large that it has a separate tub and shower stall. Plus there's a queen bed listed, which the last time we checked was plenty big enough for two--unless you are both sumo wrestlers.
Something weird is going on here, but the hotel's website is no help and we don't feel like phoning Tokyo to go sleuthing. We're too annoyed at a place that lists a room class as "Superior Single" anyway. (Superior to a capsule perhaps?) Tokyo rates aren't too bad on the weekends, so we suggest looking elsewhere, like this week's Good Rate at the Park Hotel Tokyo.
Related Stories:
· Good Rate :: Park Hotel Tokyo for the Sumo Bash Festival [HotelChatter]
· Le Meridien Grand Pacific reviews [TripAdvisor]
Ritz-Carlton Hotels
New in Tokyo: Stay Above the City in the Ritz-Carlton
April 9, 2007 at 9:49 AM | 2 Comments
A new luxury hotel opened last week in Tokyo's nightlife capital Roppongi. The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo is in the top nine floors and the bottom three floors of the new Midtown building, the tallest skyscraper of Tokyo.
As the first Ritz-Carlton in Tokyo (and only the second in Japan after Osaka), it's significant that they've chosen to start in the Roppongi district. While Roppongi used to be just the place to go at the end of the day to drink and dance, the Midtown development is aiming to turn it into an all hours destination, and includes shops, apartments and museums.
The new hotel is made up of 248 rooms and suites, an authentic 200-year-old Japanese teahouse, and a $20,000-a-night presidential suite. If you're not on the presidential budget, opening promotion packages including accommodation in a deluxe room, big beds and free pool and fitness access are available for 52,000 yen ($435). Views across Tokyo and (on a clear day) to Mt Fuji are free.
[Photo: Nemo's Great Uncle]
Related Stories:
· Ritz Carlton Tokyo reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Tokyo Midtown Complex Opens [Japan Times]
· Ritz Carlton Osaka Still Rocking Floral Bedspreads [HotelChatter]
Cubicle Dreamin'
Cubicle Dreamin': Spoil Me In Tokyo's Mandarin Oriental
March 26, 2007 at 11:45 AM | 0 Comments
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Amanda K picks out her first choice in Tokyo. Enjoy.
Pictures were already enough to make me want to stay at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo, which recently picked up an award for being one of the "most beautiful public spaces" in Japan's capital. Then I checked some customer reviews and found crazily positive titles littering the page: "Absolutely stunning!", "Don't stay anywhere else", "High expectations were more than met" and "Fantastic splurge". Plus a comment from a travel agent with 25 years' experience who was prompted to write her first online review ever because Tokyo's Mandarin was just so good.
Sitting right in the middle of Tokyo in the Nihonbashi district, I can just imagine dreamily staring over the city lights from the 38th floor, or popping down to the 36th to enjoy nearly 10,000 square feet of spa. Rooms are categorized according to their view: that might be to Tokyo Bay, the Palace, or even Mount Fuji, or all three if you book the presidential suite. I think that if you're going to survive a city as big and busy as Tokyo, you have to spoil yourself to have the ultimate place to come home to at night, and that sounds like the Mandarin Oriental at the moment--arigatou!
[Photo: MarkJL]
Related Stories:
· Mandarin Oriental Tokyo reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Japan's With the Style [HotelChatter]
