This was the company’s choice of accommodation for the business trip so that was that. So I was quite relieved to see that pics in most reviews showed decently modern rooms as well as the gorgeous views which I hope I would get. This property is under the IPrefer programme which I am a member but as far as I know, corporate bookings usually do not accord member benefits anyway.

Address – 4-8-1 Shibakoen Minato,Tokyo 105-8563 Japan. Website.

Contact – Tel: +81-03-5400-111. Email: prk-rsv@princehotels. co. jp.

Price – This was a corporate booking and I am not privy to the actual rate but a dummy search for my dates showed SGD500~ per night. Not cheap!

Location – Lifted from the hotel website:

“Located in the heart of Tokyo very close to the city’s landmark Tokyo Tower and within easy reach of two different subway lines, the Toei Oedo Line and Toei Mita Line. A shuttle bus is also available for transportation to and from JR Hamamatsucho Station, and our location enables direct access to many main points in Tokyo, including Shinjuku, Roppongi, Shinbashi, Asakusa, and Otemachi”.

To be honest, there was not alot of stuff happening around the hotel except for a temple and a park.

But it is a short walk to the Tokyo Tower though which looks quite cool at night based on pics I saw. In fact, we passed by it on our way from the airport.

Check In – We arrived at the hotel about 10am due to our early flight timings and came in to quite a nice modern looking lobby though a tad dark for my liking.

Expectedly no rooms were ready at this hour. I mean we all kind of knew that official check in is at 3pm and even as we headed out to while away our time, we were back at 1:00pm hoping to get lucky. No such luck as the staff were quite particular about sticking to the official 3pm. We eventually got our rooms at 2:45pm.

[I also did ask about earning IPrefer points but as expected they said I wouldn’t be eligible since on corporate booking]

Room – To be honest I didn’t know what room type I got as we were all randomly assigned – I think it was a Park Twin Room? In any case, I was actually disappointed when I saw my room as the space looked far more dated in real life than on pics. I mean the room was certainly quite clean but the space felt like it was stuck in the 80s.

I think some room types are refurbished but unfortunately it seems I got an old room which didn’t get much love from the refurbishment like the lobby did. Also no view of the Tower. Boo.

Anyways, there was the basic wardrobe stuff and mini bar to the left and right as you enter.

Further in, an ancient looking TV + console accompanied by the most jarring pink sofa ever, a set of table and chair, a work desk + chair, and 2x twin beds with bedside tables.

The bathroom was adequate with basic amenities taken care of, and I loved loved the bathtub’s jacuzzi function – it was so nice to be able to soak in bubbling hot water after a day’s work! Why don’t more hotels have this feature? Toiletries were Bigelow ones which were not bad.

What I did like was the fact that the hotel provides pajamas (a very Japanese thing) as well as skincare set which was replenished every day.

Lastly, it was odd that my room did not have body lotion and I had to go to the front desk to request for it – thought it wouldn’t hurt to include it (not to mention mitigate the volume of similar requests) as part of housekeeping SOP.

Breakfast – I did not try breakfast at the main restaurant as the hotel catered to us as a corporate booking group so we were arranged for breakfast at their Chinese restaurant, Yomeiden. The place feels like an 80s Chinese restaurant which I actually haven’t seen in a while.

But the food was great – both in terms of quantity and quality (all fruits were divine!). They even managed to arrange an egg station!

Facilities (website) – the pictures of their pool and gym looked really good but as somewhat a common practice in Japan hotels, the property charges a daily fee of JPY3,000 per use of facility (pool, natural hot springs, sauna, gym), or JPY5,000 for free use of all of the above. So of course I didn’t use it but I’ve heard it is decent from those who did.

In Summary,

Wouldn’t have been my first choice of accommodation if I had choice but happy to try it as part of a work trip.