That Time Of The Year!

Tokyo hotels are famous for their minute sized room (unless you pay good dollar for top rated hotels) and Royal Park Shiodome is of no exception.  I made this booking via Expedia (and shopback) as the Citibank Expedia promotion has ended.  I got the room during the promotion period, hence it cost about SGD $305 per night (excluding cash back, but including tax and breakfast).

The hotel is very conveniently located near Shimbashi / Shiodome Station.  Coming from Narita (or Haneda), you can take the Keisei Main Line and it will be a direct train to Shimbashi Station.  Once there, it is just a 3 to 5 minute walk to the hotel entrance.  Being closed to these 2 stations also makes it convenient to explore Tokyo using the Toei/Tokyo Subway.  Ginza and Tsukiji Market are also within walking distance from the hotel (convenient for those who hope to catch the 5am fish auction).

As the building is not solely the hotel’s property, the lobby is located at 24^th floor.  There are few restaurants at this level and hotel rooms are from level 26 and up.  I booked the economical queen room as I only needed a room to sleep.  I figure I will be out in the city for the whole day.

What more can you expect from an economical room – the space you get is economical indeed.  The room does not even have a wardrobe, what you have is an open space for you to hang your clothes.  The room however is quite cosy and they can still put in a small table with 2 chairs.  If you have more than 1 large luggage, good luck.  The toilet is small but came well equipped with amenity kit.  As with all hotels in Japan, the toilet bowl came with a bidet.

Complimentary bottled water is provided daily and tea/coffee is available.  The room however is not equipped with a day and night curtain, only a roller blind with a wooden blind.  There is no way of blocking the sunlight from coming in hence the room will be quite bright at 430am during summer!

For those who booked the room with breakfast, you will have 2 choices for breakfast.  Harmony restaurant provides standard international buffet while Xvin serves Chinese food.   After 12 nights in North America, we decided to go for the Xvin.  It offers both ala carte made to order menu and a small buffet selection.  The food is fairly good.

If you are in Tokyo for short stay or budget is an issue, Royal Park Shiodome is not a bad option given the location and its proximity to 2 subway stations (not to mention direct connection from both Haneda and Narita).  For longer stay, you may want to consider a bigger or better hotel (which comes with a higher price tag).