Review: Takanawa Hanakohro, an SLH Hotel [Japan]

After receiving a Free Night Award from a signup bonus of the Amex Hilton Honors Surpass Card, I was trying to figure out where to use it for a short Japan trip.

I was considering extending my 5-night stay at the Waldorf Astoria Osaka, but felt it’d be too long. In Tokyo, I could consider staying at the Conrad Tokyo again, but not trying out a new hotel wouldn’t be as fun.

I happened to see availability for Takanawa Hanakohro, an SLH Hotel, which I wasn’t familiar with since SLH integration to Hilton Honors is recent, and they’ve incrementally added new ones in. This provided a nice opportunity to check it out since I was planning to check out the JW Marriott right next to it!

Takanawa Hanakohro occupies an old space in Grand Prince Takanawa and has been repurposed to a Japanese-inn style hotel or ryokan.It’s a new thing for me to stay in a hotel within a hotel that share the same building.

Though I have to admit that the concept of staying in a ryokan in Tokyo seems out of place, and I worried that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it as much. They are very rare to find in major cities. My suspicions were somewhat correct, but this hotel certainly has nice things to it!

Takanawa Hanakohro- Booking

I booked a one night stay using my Hilton Free Night Reward from a part of the signup bonus of the Amex Hilton Honors Surpass Card. Alternatively, you may book it for 120k points per night, though standard availability (Japanese Suite) is scarce since there are only 16 suites total in Takanawa Hanakohro, and majority of them are classified under Premium Rooms.

Takanawa Hanakohro- Location

Takanawa Hanakohro shares the same building as the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa which is a part of a complex within other Prince Hotels (Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa and Prince Sakura Tower Tokyo, Autograph Collection) with a large Japanese garden in the middle. Thus, Takanawa Hanakohoro will have complimentary access to some facilities of the other 3 Prince hotels in the vicinity.

Outside of that, it’s located across Shinagawa Station which is a major station that serves JR Lines, Shinkansen, and Keikyu Line for Haneda Airport (HND). You’ll have to walk uphill through a slope if you’re getting to the hotel on foot, but it’s not too bad and I thought it’s possibly important to point out.

There’s a bus stop down the slope as well should you need them to get to certain places. It was convenient for me to get to Torisho Ishii Hina, a high-end yakitori place in Nishi-Azabu.

Though very convenient, Shinagawa is an office district so it’s not the most lively place in Tokyo. Considering you’d be using lots of trains anyway, then maybe it isn’t so bad.

Takanawa Hanakohro- Check-in

I checked-in after checking out of the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa from the prior night. I wasn’t sure where exactly to check-in, but approaching the front desk of Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa worked for me as they were already expecting me anyway when I checked in to GP Takanawa.

Because I checked out in the morning, my room was not ready yet so I dropped off my stuff and they told me they’d bring them to my room once it’s ready at 3PM. So I head out to Tokyo and got some early lunch and explored.

After returning to the hotel, I approached the front desk again, and the staff escorted me to the entry with the hotel’s signs of SLH and accolades by the lobby of Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa.

Then, I headed to the most-right elevator to get to the real lobby of Hanakohro. Takanawa Hanakohro occupies the 4th and 5th floor of a special area inside the same building as Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa.

After stepping out of the elevator the scent suddenly changed from nothing to pleasant flowery aroma that engulfed the lobby. I then saw the zen garden along with a kimono-clad staff waiting and then bowing to me right as I stepped out of the elevator.

Then, check-in began inside the Oh-Sai Lounge next to the reception counter.

A cup of matcha tea and a Japanese sweet was given in the meantime. The sweet was amazing with the red bean filling.

The process was smooth, and I was given papers that detail the facility access like lounges inside the Prince Hotels, sauna, gym, and activity.

Takanawa Hanakohro- Japanese Suite

I was assigned to the Shion Japanese Suite numbered 404 just across the reception counter.

The room is traditional with wooden floors and tatami mats. There’s a space in the entryway to take off your shoes and put on indoor slippers provided on top of the shoe cabinet.

The geta are intended for when you need to go outside the room within Hanakohro’s lobby and Oh-Sai lounge.

Across the shoe cabinet is the pantry with complimentary water, Nespresso machine, and kettle.

Below it is the minibar where all the things inside are one-time complimentary. Though having potato chips inside a fridge is surely interesting.

To the left of the minibar is the bathroom

The toilet is old-school but expectedly comes with bidet controls. It comes with bathroom slippers as well in front of the toilet room.

The wet room comes with shower and tub. There’s a wooden stool and bucket to help wash yourself and have a more traditional showering experience since there’s no rainfall shower head here.

Moving on to the main bedroom area, it’s very spacious! The living space is covered in tatami mats.

The beds in this hotel are all two twins, but they’re merged together to make a bed size larger than a King. They’re very comfortable! They’re softer than any of the beds I’ve experienced in Japan which tend to be firm.

The zaisu chairs can actually swivel so you don’t have to move it back and forth! It’d be handy if you want to watch TV from the table as well.

By the TV, in the left closet, there are hangers for your clothes.

The closet to the right has ironing board and cabinets for yukatas, including instructions for them, and pyjamas. You may wear the yukatas outside your room in the Hanakohro lobby or Oh-Sai lounge.

Behind the shoji, there’s the tokonoma alcove adorned with the ikebana. It’s a Japanese way of flower arrangement with emphasis on simplicity.

To the left of the ikebana is where my luggage was stored.

Unfortunately, the view is uninspiring with constructions nearby and that you could see the guest rooms of Grand Prince Takanawa. Other rooms may have the Japanese garden view instead which I bet is much nicer than this.

Takanawa Hanakohro– Breakfast

Breakfast can take place in the Grand Prince Takanawa lounge or inside the comfort of your suite. I chose in-room breakfast and have them delivered at the time of my choosing (8AM in my case). Hilton Gold and Diamond will be able to choose either for free.

It’s an elaborate Japanese breakfast set with good variety of meat, fish, vegetables, and Japanese drinks I haven’t tried before like the amazake, a delicious sweet drink made from fermented rice. The rice is also generous, but at a balanced ratio with all the side dishes. This reminded me so much of the in-room breakfast I had in Ritz-Carlton Nikko earlier in the year.

Overall, I enjoyed the breakfast, and it filled me up pretty well. It’s one of the better breakfast experiences you can get in a points hotel in Japan in my opinion.

A pamphlet is also handed out that listed all the breakfast items, and the menu is seasonal so you’d be getting different things depending on when you stay.

Takanawa Hanakohro– Lounge Hopping

Guests of Takanawa Hankohro get complimentary access to three different lounges in each of the neighboring Prince Hotels.

First lounge is the Oh-Sai Lounge located just behind Hanakohro’s reception desk. This is where check-in and hotel activities happen.

There are snacks and drinks you can help yourselves with, but it’s smaller compared to other lounges. Though, it’s possibly the quietest lounge of them all.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to visit the last lounge inside the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa, but I figured they’d be similar. I was told they’d have American food and snacks over there.

Takanawa Hanakohro– Matcha Grinding Activity

The hotel has two complimentary activities guests can partake in the Oh-Sai lounge. You could do matcha grinding in the morning or sake tasting in the evening. Appointments are required for both, and I was able to set it up for matcha grinding during check-in.

The matcha grind set is pretty neat with the grooved stone mill to make fine powder out of the matcha leaves given.

All you have to do is put the lid on and rotate counter-clockwise. Eventually the gap will have green hues and you can then check your progress. After that, you can open the lid once the powder is fine enough and brush them down the wide plate and then direct them down to the hole into the small bowl underneath it.

You’re also given sweets that you can put matcha powder on. The sweets in this hotel have been nothing but amazing, especially anything gelatinous. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll really like what the hotel has to offer!

Pretty cool and unique experience overall!

Takanawa Hanakhoro- Japanese Garden

In the middle of all the Prince Hotels, there’s a massive Japanese garden with a large koi pond, traditional architectures, bell tower, and various ornaments.

At night, there’s illuminations that change the mood!

Takanawa Hanakohoro- Other Facilities

There were some facilities I missed due to being short on time from my one night stay here like the spa and gym that you can access for free in The Prince Sakura Tower Tokyo, Autograph Collection. You can book a massage treatment in the spa facility too.

Supposedly there’s an outdoor pool in one of the Prince Hotels as well, but they’re only open during the summer.

Conclusion

Takanawa Hanakohro is a good hotel with some unfortunate circumstances holding it back just simply because of its location.First, I’d like to say that I think it’s cool and creative that an old space is repurposed to make a new hotel section. The service was very attentive and food offerings were splendid too.

For me personally, I think the ryokan experience is much more suitable for locations with surrounding nature or hot springs source. It felt jarring at times seeing construction and skyscrapers outside, and have very little ground coverage in what’s allowed with wearing yukatas and geta.

Not only that, because Hanakohoro is in Tokyo, it results in increased premium. If you’re looking for a ryokan experience, you should get out of major cities which will demand much more reasonable pricing for a comparable experience.

After trying it out, I still prefer high-rise hotels when it comes to luxury hotels in a Japanese major city.