Especially for a first time visitor, Shinjuku is the best area to stay in Tokyo as it offers many of the things which makes the city so incredibly special. And I can recommend the Century Hyatt as a perfect place to stay, it has a great location and offers everything you could ask for in a hotel and all at a very reasonable price.
I booked a King View room directly on the hotel's website for 20'000 Yen (In Japan, always add 15% to the booked room rate for tax and service) The room was practically a junior suite, with the sitting area, workdesk, entrance and bath being completely seperated from the bed room. The room was really spacious in comparison with the standard Tokyo hotel room and was fit with every amenity you could hope for, namely inroom safe, huge LCD TV, minibar, robe and slippers and a huge, very hard king sized bed which me and my back absolutely loved. Internet is fast and free through a wired LAN. They also have a very neat printing service where you can upload file to be printed and then have them printed in the lobby behind the concierge desk.
As in all hotels, the staff was outstandingly polite and helpful and all spoke excellent English. With one regrettable exception, at the currency exchange counter I met up with young receptionist who even by Western standards was very impolite and unfriendly. I don't know if I did something to royally annoy her or if she just had a bad day, this type of behaviour is truly the exception in Japan.
Navigating around Tokyo can be quite challenging, especially if you leave the beaten path and not only for visitors, streets often don't have signs and the house numbering system is based on the year the house was built so don't expect #3 to be anywhere near #4. For such situations, hotels concierges are the people to turn to. And I have to say, the ladies at the Hyatt's desk were absolutely outstanding with their help. Do use their service if you need assistance in finding anything or need directions.
I didn't use any of the hotel's restaurants as the Shinjuku train station and the five departement stores it incorporates already probably have 200-300 places to eat. But I did have a few cocktails at the Eau de Vie bar which were excellent and very reasonably priced.
One of my highlights of Japan are the food halls located in the many department stores. If you love food and can only visit one, do spend a few minutes walking through the one at the Isetan Shinjuku department store. The presentation of the products is just simply amazing. Unlike a normal supermarket, there are hardly any shelves, almost everything is sold at counters which are staffed by lovely ladies wearing bonnets and aprons or kimonos. Just the food department must employ a few hundred sales staff! Walk through the counters that sell beef, fish, pastries and many things you won't know what it is and just be blown away.







Value
Value
Check in / front desk



