At the Hilton Tokyo Odaiba

We chose the Hilton Tokyo Odaiba because of its relative proximity to HND (Tokyo Haneda Airport). The hotel-airport limousine bus is not yet back in operation - there is virtually 100% mask wearing even when outdoors - but it can be reached by several forms of transport.

In our case, we’re not old Tokyo hands, and we unashamedly popped for a $45 taxi ride that took about 20 minutes. Tokyo taxis are expensive but honest, there is no tipping, and they cheerfully accept credit cards.

Our early check-in was relatively easy, although we assume it was a language barrier causing the clerk to think we wanted an early check-in so much that we’d pay an extra US $148 for five hours. Er, no thanks, but she then assigned us a perfectly decent bayview room on the ninth floor for free.

An interesting tub and shower combination….

Lovely views from our balcony…

The building is curved to maximize views.

The Executive Lounge is open from 7 AM to 10 PM, with Happy Hour from 5-7 PM. We made a light  dinner from the hot and cold dishes. There are various hard liquors available, along with passable Spanish sparkling, red, and white wines.

The third-floor lounge also features an outdoor patio.

Diamond members are entitled to breakfast in the lobby buffet restaurant, and we dined there this morning. We’re probably making an unfair comparison to our recent stay at the Conrad Bali, but we found it no more than adequate. Kathy did enjoy the soup station, but the Japanese version of western dishes such as omelettes and Eggs Benedict weren’t all that impressive.

We went up to the Executive Lounge for a coffee later and checked breakfast there. It wasn’t a huge selection but it might be quieter.

After breakfast we went for a long stroll around the area. A lot of people were out enjoying the sunshine. From some vantage points, Tokyo resembles a movie set’s futuristic city.

Then there are locals (volunteers?) planting and tending flowers.

Beautiful tulips…

And then there’s the life-size statue in honor of Gundam’s  40th anniversary.

Gundam, you ask? We didn’t know either.

https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/Gundam:_Beyond

The hotel’s eateries have a reputation for being expensive, and for lunch we may venture over to the nearby Aqua City shopping mall, or perhaps to the nearby Grand Nikko Hotel that some travelers recommend.

All in all, this Hilton property, while not on our list of favorites, is a perfectly satisfactory place to rest up in the midst of an arduous flight itinerary.

There’s no question that the nighttime view of the Rainbow Bridge from our balcony is spectacular.