Tokyo for the New Year: Hilton Narita

Austrian Airlines Business Class Chicago to Vienna
Austrian Airlines Business Class Schengen Lounge Vienna
Austrian Airlines Regional Business Class Vienna to Prague
Turkish Airlines Regional Business Class Prague to Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul to Tokyo Narita
Park Hyatt Tokyo
Shinjuku Kuyakushomae Capsule Hotel
Ushigoro
Hilton Narita
Narita-san Shinsho-ji
Swiss Business Class Tokyo Narita to Zurich
Park Hyatt Zurich
Oneworld Lounge Zurich Airport
Swiss Business Lounge Zurich Airport
Austrian Airlines Regional Business Class Zurich to Vienna
Austrian Airlines Business Class Vienna to Chicago

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I decided to spend my last night in Tokyo not in Tokyo at all but in Narita. My flight wasn’t so early that I had to stay near the airport, but I had read that one of the most traditional new year’s activities in Japan is to go to a temple, and Narita has one of the largest temples and most-visited temples. Since I had a small stash of Hilton points, I chose to redeem 20k Hilton points for one night at the hotel.

To get to the hotel, I took a JR train to Narita station, and then took the hotel shuttle from Narita station to the hotel. The shuttle wasn’t particularly convenient as it didn’t run very often, was shared with two other hotels, and often made stops at the Aeon mall.

Check-in was relatively quick, and I received a voucher for breakfast and a pass for the gym and pool. I received a room on one of the top floors, and I believe it was an upgraded room as it was quite large. The bed was comfortable, the room temperature could be controlled, and it was simple yet functional.

The hotel isn’t far away from the airport at all, so I could occasionally hear planes arriving and departing. It also made for some good plane watching, as I even saw the Turkish flight that I had arrived on.

I decided to check out the gym and pool, and while the gym was quite large, I didn’t see a squat rack or any other place to lift heavy free weights, so I didn’t work out.

The most interesting feature about the hotel is that it seems like every single airline’s crew stays here. I remember seeing crew from United, Air Canada, Swiss, and Emirates, and that’s not even half of them. Definitely the place to stay if you want to socialize with/get to “know” airline crew.

Breakfast the next morning had a decent spread but was quite crowded. I enjoyed squeezing chocolate and peanut butter out of tubes, and all of the buffet items were replaced regularly. There was plenty of western breakfast items as well as Asian foods like congee.

Overall, it’s a decent hotel near the airport and a good use of Hilton points since you’re not going to get much else out of them since the devaluation. While the hotel shuttle isn’t that convenient to/from the town of Narita, it’s passable, and Narita is an interesting place to walk around for an afternoon or night.