InterContinental Yokohama Pier 8 by IHG — Hotel in Yokohama

Intercontinental Yokohama Pier 8 Review: Data point: Hotel status: Diamond Ambassador Hotel points: 50,000 Original booked room: 2 single classic This hotel is one the newer intercontinental hotels in Japan and the second intercontinental hotel made in Yokohama. I heard it was top 3 intercontinental hotels in Japan so I was excited to stay.

Pros: Location: It is located inside Hammerhead mall which is a fancy shopping area but not a big mall like the ones surrounding the area. The hotel very close to the Akarenga building which is a landmark and the view of the harbour is great.

Room: It is very similar to the room at Conrad Tokyo which to gives context is a $500+ hotel room compared to INC pier 8 which is a $300+ which you are getting good quality for the money. I've stayed at several Intercontinental hotels and this room was by far the best. I can see why the hotel has great reviews. One of the cool features of the room is that it has a bath that you can watch the TV through the glass and the TV sound has speakers inside the bath stall as well. If you want privacy, you can turn on a switch to make the glass tinted. Another great service was that the softdrinks in the minibar was free. Just for the room, I would want to keep staying at this hotel.

Cons: Hotel facility: No business center or many sitting areas in the lobby so you have to do work or studying in your room. There are other things that can be pointed out such as lack of vending machine or laundry room but that is common among luxury hotels so it wasn't expected. The biggest led down was the gym though. It was a small room with only cardio machines. Not even a single dumbbell. Even budget hotels have gyms with at least dumbbells. I was looking forward to working out at the gym but I went back to my room after seeing the gym. My friends went to the local gym instead.

Food options: There is only 2 restaurants and 1 one of them is dinner only on weekdays. There is also in-room dining but the TV only showed very limited menu options and you have to go read a blogger's post to see the full menu. If you have extended checkout you won't be able to see the in-room dining menu because you have to select your delivery time slot before looking at the menu and it assumes you will check out at 12 so after 12 you can't pick a time slot and therefore can't see the menu. I ended up ordering the burger and it was slightly better than mos burger and not worth the 3500 yen price.

The breakfast at the hotel is 5000 yen and I would say it isn't worth it in my opinion. It wasn't buffet style so you can only get a finite amount of food. I chose the rise and shine option and it came with steak. None of the food was warm. Especially the soup was cold and it was obvious it came straight from the refrigerator which I never had soup that way before. The breakfast at INC yokohama grand is 10x better.

Hotel service: Not many taxis come by which is strange for a luxury hotel so you have to call for one. But the hotel charges 300 yen extra to call one for you which I never heard of a surcharge like that before. So I end up calling the taxi myself. There is also a lot of "technically no" and for what I mean, the examples are below.

I can't use my hotel credit for breakfast because it can only be used for restaurants and in room dining and they decided to have the club lounge host breakfast instead of the usual restaurant. Therefore I technically couldn't use the credit there. Seems like they created this loophole just so you can't use your hotel credit.

The hotel listed the option to trade in my breakfast option for a picnic set that you can enjoy at the rooftop. I was told I can't use my diamond status breakfast to swap to the picnic option because according to the terms it can only be used at the restaurant and not in room dining. The picnic was categorized as in room dining.

I never had to be careful about terms and conditions so much before until this hotel. It felt like they kept trying to create a loop hole in what they offered.

Overall consensus is 3/5...

The room and service were top notch. I booked 3 nights at the hotel and informed the hotel ahead of time of expected arrival as my flight arrived around 4/5 am. I arrived at the hotel around 7 am. I was a little confused as the 1st floor is not where the check-in desk is. Since it was before 9 am, the doors didn't open automatically. So I looked around the building for another entrance to realize I had to ring the bell. The rest of the stay was smooth sailing. I was checked in and addressed by name before I even offered it to the front desk agent. ||The room itself is large and gorgeous. With a spacious sitting area and large dining table, my guest and I spent a lot of time in this room due to the July heat and jet lag. It allowed each of us to have our own space and relax. There were Japanese treats upon arrival, and I love that non-alcoholic drinks in the fridge were free. There is a wet room for shower and bath. The bathtub is deep enough if you want to have a relaxing soak. The toilet was separate and had a short and small sink to wash your hands. ||There is a 7-11 within the complex, part of the Hammerhead mall. It was nice to have that a few steps away as it was convenient to grab a bite to eat as it was way too hot to venture far. The complex is also connected via a skybridge (5 minute walk) to the World Porters mall. ||The staff and service were very helpful and accommodating. I inquired with the front desk about booking a last minute room for a friend. Some staff have limited English proficiency, but I was able to communicate via Google Translate. My friend did end up booking a room the day of check-in. Because she was traveling alone with a baby, she asked to be booked on the same floor as me. Initially one desk agent said that wouldn't be possible, but another agent stepped in to move some guests around to make it happen. ||I did not get to try the onsite restaurants. I did visit the gym. It just had cardio equipment and no weights. They do keep the hallways a little too warm for my liking, but a lot of public spaces in Japan like airports tend to be too warm for my liking. But I would 1000%...

Intercontinental Pier 8 is one of a kind property that exceeded my expectations. We arrived late at night, and the hotel was already ready for us. The staff here were amazing and took great care of us. When arriving by taxi downstairs they immediate took our bags and sent them off to our room while we checked in.

I was able to apply a suite upgrade certificate here to get the One Bedroom Suite. It was beautiful, the room was perfectly clean and the bed was extremely comfortable.

Our room came with a balcony that we could sit outside and watch the pier. (Unfortunately it was too hot to be outside for very long)

The room also came with a rain shower along with a body jet sprayer in the shower, and a separate bathtub with jets to make it like a Jacuzzi. Another great benefit of the room was it came with a microwave thats also a small oven. This came in handy when heating our food up in the oven.

When staying here as a diamond elite member I used my benefit to enjoy breakfast at the restaurant. The restaurant has a wonderful selection for breakfast for small bites, along with you can order 1 item off the menu for your main dish. They offered a variety of western dishes along with the Japanese breakfast. Since we were there I got a chance to try both the western dishes and the Japanese meal. Both are excellent, although my person preference is the Japanese one.

The hotel has a small gym here with some treadmill's and bikes, perfect for anyone that just wanted to get a quick run or bike session in when staying here.

Another big benefit of this place is that there is a 7/11 connected to the hotel. So anytime we needed anything while staying here, we made a stop to the 7/11.

Overall a amazing experience staying here. Will definitely be coming back if we need to make a stop at this property.

One small thing id like to put, is that if you get dropped off at the other intercontinental grand Yokohama, there is a shuttle that goes between that hotel and here the...