If you’re going on vacation but can’t splurge on a pricey hotel for the whole trip, a good tip is to treat yourself to a nicer hotel at the very end, even it’s one night. There’s no better luxury hotel brand than the Peninsula Hotel, and that’s where I stayed for the last night of my trip to Tokyo, Japan in May 2016. You might not think that the service at a hotel justifies the higher price, but if you’re going on a true vacation (from your everyday life), you should go for an incredible experience.

You can tell this will be a different experience when you walk in because the bellhops/bellmen are actually all “bell-women”. I’ve never seen so many petite women responsible for luggage in any other hotel I’ve ever been to. They’re also decked out in a full bellhop uniform with the little pillbox hat too. How quaint!

Why I’m obsessed with the Peninsula Tokyo:

• A fancy toilet in the bathroom that says hello when you walk in. Okay, it didn’t really say the word “hello.” But every time I walked into the stall, the light turned on and the toilet lid lifted up by itself. It’s also heated and has all the bidet-type water settings for men and women, including a dryer! The downside: when you go home, your toilet seems practically medieval. Having to sit on a cold toilet seat with a lid you have to lift all by yourself seems just so…pedestrian. 😉
• Walk-in closet with separate dressing area. You’ll never be fighting for closet space in here.

  

  Spacious bathroom, separate shower stall, toilet room and a huge bathtub!

  

  

• It’s the little service details that matter. They left us a delicate origami crane, which you can see in my photo above. The friendly room service waiter was also so committed to perfectly presenting our dinner and he took great pains to set the table.

  

Room Amenities:

• Of course they provide the standard robes and slippers that were common in Japanese hotels. BUT–they also give you a Japanese style robe, called a yukata, with a belt called an obi.

  

• Traditional tea set, and green teas including sencha and hojicha
• Fancy Lavazza coffee machine
• Printer, fax machine, cables
• Beyond shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and cotton swabs, they have soft cotton pads (better than cotton balls for putting toner on your face) a nail file, scale and even stretchy headbands (to keep your hair off your face when you wash it).

Booking Tip:

• If you want to go for the full luxury experience, if you have a Chase credit card, you may be eligible to book hotel rooms with your Chase credit card on the Luxury Hotel Resort & Collection site. If you do, you will receive:
  • Free breakfast for two every day
  • Seasonal welcome gift (we got the largest green apples I’ve ever seen)
  • Room upgrade
  • 10,000 Yen credit (almost $100 USD), which we used at the lobby restaurant and for room service. Make sure to mention this at the front desk, as it wasn’t clear that they were going to mention the credit and seemed to need more time to prepare for the upgrade and welcome gift.
  • Early check-in
  • Late check-out
• Depending on the days of the week, you can find lower prices for rooms on weekdays or in the winter.
• You can also use a combination of United miles and money to book.
• The cost might be more palatable if you split it with a friend and only stay one night.

Address:

1-8-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku

Tokyo, 100-0006, Japan

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