Which Shibuya hotel to stay at

Will be in Shibuya for 5 days and am tossing up between 2 hotels. I'm sure I'd be satisfied with both of them, but since this will be my first trip to Japan, I want it to be as enjoyable as possible.

Shibuya Granbell Hotel vs Tokyu Inn (now called Tokyu Rei). Which hotel would you recommend and why? It's pretty much location (Tokyu Inn) vs service + comfortability (Granbell). They're both equal in price.

Thanks in advance!

It's pretty much location (Tokyu Inn) vs service + comfortability (Granbell).

I'm not really sure why you thought it that way. Tokyu Rei is closer to Harajuku and Sendagaya while Grandbell is closer to Daikanyama and Ebisu, and both hotels are equally accessible to Shibuya station that can get you to places like Shimokitazawa.

Meanwhile, Rei belongs to the huge Tokyu Group and has banquette rooms, so it's a bit more of an established hotel than Grandbell.

I would say that Rei is more of a older-big-chain hotel while Grandbell is a newer hotel aiming for stylishness. And locationwise, it depends on whether you prefer Daikanyama or Harajuku. In fact, both hotels are equally close to Aoyama/Omotesando area, if you're walking.

The only downside of Grandbell is that you need to use either an elevator or the stairs to get to/from Shibuya station, because of the wide Route 246. The elevator is located at the Eastern side of Shibuya Station, just below the stairs of the 246 crossing bridge. I hope it's not out of order, since they're doing a lot of construction at the station.

Thanks for the reply!

Tokyu Inn is closer to Shibuya crossing and most of Shibuya main shopping centers, which is why I think its location is better than Granbell's location.

Thanks for the response. So are you planning to go back and forth between your hotel and the Seibu Shibuya area every day? If so, that makes sense.

But shoppers would usually go out shopping to one town (for example Shibuya), buy everything without going back to their hotels, and then the next day they would go to another town (such as Daikanyama) to buy everything there.

Also, once you come to Shibuya, you will notice that Granbell doesn't feel to far from the main malls at all. This is because the Hachiko crossing area is extremely busy all day, while you can avoid that crowd by going directly to 109 without crossing Hachiko.

But still you do have the 246 to climb across if you stay at Granbell, so if you feel comfortable with the Tokyu location, I see no reason to avoid it. Anyway, I'm sure you will be equally pleased at either hotel, and you can still walk to both areas.