We moved to the Sheraton Miyako Hotel a little over halfway through our trip because we had used up our Hilton points and stayed here for 3 nighs. We also got a pretty great deal for this hotel through booking.com. We opted not to go to a traditional hotel such as a ryokan because of the kids and instead felt a bit more comfortable staying in a Western type hotel with familiar amenities. Maybe the next time we go back to Japan. There were only 12 floors and so the Sheraton was not as big as some of the skyscraper hotels in central Tokyo.
Location
This was located in a very quiet residential neighborhood. It wasn’t as lively as staying at the Shinjuku or Ginza area. Having spent the first few days in the busy Shinjuku area, it was such a big contrast. We had gotten used to and liked being at the center of practically everything. The hotel was a 5-10 minute walk to two subway stops. Shirokanedai was an uphill walk while Shirokane-takanawa was an easier walk past a fire station with views of Tokyo Tower along the way.
It was a safe neighborhood and we didn’t encounter anything walking to the subway station at 6 AM and coming back from the subway at 11 PM. There were a few restaurants around the neighborhood and the hotel gave us a map of areas to eat depending on the type of food. We visited the two grocery stores nearby, Maruetsu and Tokyu Mart. Tokyu Mart was a little bit bigger with a little bit more variety. These were great places to stock up on water, breakfast and snacks.
The nearest JR station was Meguro which was on the Yamanote loop. The hotel offered a complimentary shuttle to Meguro after 10AM and to Shinagawa from 8-10AM. They had 3 shuttle buses that seemed to go on rotation. It was convenient and so timely and was a very quick drive (about 5 minutes) to the stations.
There was a beautiful park behind the hotel which was accessible from the basement area where the shops were located. Our kids were entertained by a little water feature with some ducks. It was a wonderful place for a relaxing walk in the morning.
Service
The overall service was excellent. All the hotel staff we encountered from the shuttle bus driver to the reception area was all polite and friendly. The concierge staff was more than willing to help us with maps and all our other questions. Our flight back to the US was at midnight and they allowed us to store our luggage with them from check-out at 11 AM until we came back at 9PM.
Room and Amenities
The rooms were very clean and beautifully decorated in dark wood furniture with attractive Asian influences. It was a bit smaller in size compared to a typical US hotel size but it provided enough space for our family of four. There was a mini-refrigerator which came in handy with storing liquids. The beds were comfortable too though a bit small for being double size.
Our kids were provided with a slipper, toothbrush and washcloth. We were also provided with plenty of amenities and a whole lot more than we’ve ever been given compared to U.S., Canadian and European hotels.
The flat-screen TV was a bit small with a limited amount of English stations. Yes, I realize we weren’t in the room much to watch TV except for late at night but all we had was CNN, BBC, some sort of MTV channel and a children’s channel showing mostly Japanese cartoons though it still entertained our kids. The toilet with bidet controls was of course a big hit with our family enough that my husband has started looking into getting it for one of our bathrooms. Our kids have proclaimed that “Japan has the coolest toilets EVER”.
Needing to iron our clothes, we found an ironing board/steamer contraption in the closet. We assumed you put the clothes in between and let it steam? It didn’t work out as well as we had hoped but an interesting piece of equipment.
Wi-fi was not free in the rooms since we weren’t part of the Sheraton elite program to get privileges. We did manage to get free wi-fi in the lobby area through a connection from what looked like a neighboring bank. The lobby area was pretty spacious with plenty of comfortable seats. We didn’t check out the in-house restaurants which included an upscale Chinese restaurant and a restaurant right when you enter the hotel.
My opinion of this hotel may have been a bit tainted by the fact that we had spent 4 nights with Executive privileges at the Hilton earlier in the week. It really was hard not to compare it to the Hilton. But, it was still an overall wonderful hotel with great service and amenities. We would absolutely stay here again and if the price was right. However, this area wouldn’t be our first preference in location.
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