West Shinjuku

Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo

★★★★★

The Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo opened in 1971 as the first skyscraper hotel in West Shinjuku, and it remains one of the most dependable all-round hotels in the city, especially for families and first-time visitors. Its two towers hold 1,453 rooms, so availability is rarely a problem, and the range is wide: standard doubles and twins, Plaza Luxe and Premier Grand categories on high floors with sweeping views over the city, Japanese-style rooms with hinoki cypress baths, and four-bed family rooms, which are hard to find in Tokyo. The hotel was also an early pioneer of character rooms, introducing Hello Kitty rooms in 2014, so ask about current themed rooms if your children are Sanrio fans. Dining runs to some fifteen restaurants and bars covering Japanese, Chinese, French and teppanyaki cooking, with the Super Buffet Glass Court a family favorite and the Sky Lounge Aurora, 160 meters up, for cocktails with a night view. There is an outdoor pool in the summer season and a fitness center. The hotel takes Japanese culture seriously: about eighty to ninety percent of its guests come from overseas, and it runs cultural workshops, including tea-ceremony experiences with English commentary in Sho-fu-an, a tearoom that dates from the hotel's opening in 1971 and reopened in April 2026 after renovation work. The location is excellent for getting around: the west exit of Shinjuku Station, with its JR, subway and private lines and airport buses, is about five minutes on foot, and Tochomae Station on the Oedo Line is a minute from the B1 exit.

Why choose the Keio Plaza? It is the safe, comfortable middle ground in Shinjuku. Compared with the Park Hyatt, it is much less expensive and far more family-friendly; compared with the budget hotels around the station, its rooms are larger, it has real restaurants and a pool, and the staff handle international families with ease. The towers sit right next to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, so the free observatories and the nightly projection-mapping show are on your doorstep, and Shinjuku Gyoen, Omoide Yokocho and Golden Gai are an easy walk. Airport limousine buses stop at the hotel, which is a real convenience with children and luggage.

The trade-offs: the building shows its age in places, standard rooms are modest in size, and a hotel of this scale can feel busy and impersonal at check-in and breakfast peaks. West Shinjuku is a business district of towers rather than a charming neighborhood, so evenings mean walking across to the east side or taking the train. Prices rise sharply in cherry-blossom season and around Japanese holidays.

Room advice: families should book a four-bed room early, since they are limited and sell out first. Couples should choose a high-floor Plaza Luxe or Premier Grand room facing east for the city lights, or west for Mount Fuji on clear winter mornings. Book the tea-ceremony experience in advance on the dates it runs. If you want more Japanese character and are willing to give up the facilities, HOSHINOYA Tokyo or a stay in Asakusa offers a different experience; for a cheaper Shinjuku base with Godzilla on the roof, Hotel Gracery Shinjuku is the alternative.