The Okura Tokyo

The Okura was a 10/10 stay for my family and I. The hotel oozes luxury and elegance in every way. There was truly a sense of peace and calm as soon as you entered the lobby. However, the most appealing feature are the staff there. There is a helping hand, warm welcome or friendly smile in every interaction. It really lives up to traditional Japanese courtesy, which accompanies its spacious and luxurious rooms. Ours had amazing views of Tokyo, the Tokyo Tower and partial views of Tokyo Skytree. Location was walking distance to several Metro stations, e.g. Ginza line, Hibiya line. If you don’t mind walking then the Imperial PaIace and Gardens are not too far. I feel like I have really found our go-to sanctuary in busy Tokyo.

Beautiful property with lovely rooms. Location is quiet, so it is a little distance to main tourist sites. As the pool is part of the building (commercial) gym, no kids allowed, which was a shame.

This is not a family friendly hotel and I would not recommend to anyone with children under 13. With children aged 8 and 11 we did not have a good time and the children were left feeling unwanted at the hotel due to the following: 1) Although my booking clearly stated breakfast was included for 4 people, when I arrived I was told children under 11 were to pay £18 per child per day 2) children under 14 were unable to use the pool 3) children under 13 were not allowed onto the lounge floor I’d also clearly stated that I was bringing children aged 8 & 11 to the hotel and requested extra kids beds to our prestige room. On arrival there were no extra beds. I was told these would be added at turn down. However, when I arrived after turn down with two very tired children there were no beds. I tried to discuss this over s call down to reception but ended up having to go down due to communication challenges. I was then told that they could only supply 1 bed at an extra charge of 7k yen (£40) per night. So fir the rest of the trip my 8 year old had to sleep in our bed!!! Highly frustrating and made us, as a family, feel very much unwelcome. There are clearly some in-family friendly rules at this hotel. Which is frustrating as I booked it because it was recommended as family friendly. Some flex for families need to be considered - e.g : kids beds, and time each day in the pool for families.

The hotel was amazing. (The breakfast buffet is to die for.) My one issue is not necessarily with the hotel, but likely with hotels.com. My family of four (two adults, two young children) booked the Prestige Twin Upper Floor non-smoking because it says on this website that the rooms "Sleeps 5." There is no world where that is possible. We ended up having to get an extra rollaway bed at a cost of about 12,500 yen a night. Since we were staying a week, that is a fairly significant cost.