InterContinental The Strings Tokyo, what an incredible spot for a family stay high above the clouds! Located right next to Shinagawa Station, you get direct access to JR trains, multiple subway lines, and the Shinkansen, making it super easy to reach pretty much anywhere in Tokyo in about 20 minutes. While the station area gets pretty busy during rush hour, the neighborhood turns surprisingly quiet in the evening.
The hotel occupies the upper floors of the Shinagawa East One Tower, which connects directly to the station via a covered pedestrian bridge. Pro tip: there is a 7-Eleven right at the elevator entrance on the ground floor for quick egg sandwich runs! Taking the elevator up to the 26th floor brings you right into the main lobby, bar, and dining area. As soon as we arrived, the front desk staff greeted us with warm towels and welcome drinks, which was a really nice way to start our stay.
For this booking, I took full advantage of my Chase Sapphire Reserve card perks. The card gives you an annual $500 credit for bookings of two nights or more at The Edit properties, split into two $250 credits. Plus, holding the Reserve automatically gets you IHG Platinum status, which unlocks extra IHG credits, bonus points, and welcome drinks. Since this was a family trip of four, I booked two separate King Rooms for the exact same dates under my name. Because benefits apply per room, every single perk got doubled! That meant double daily breakfast for two, double $100 property credits (which converted to ¥16,000 per room at check-in), early check-in, late check-out, and room upgrades. Sorting through all these stackable credits can get a little confusing, but taking advantage of them saves a ton of cash.
Both of our rooms were ready early at check-in, and the front desk staff was awesome at walking us through every single benefit. The hotel caters a bit more to business travelers, so while you won't find a pool or spa on-site, they do have a solid gym and in-room massage options. Our upgraded King Room on the 29th floor was very spacious, featuring plush beds, a massive bathroom with both a tub and separate shower, a Nespresso machine, and a lounge seating area overlooking Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow Bridge.
Breakfast is served in the main lobby restaurant and offers a solid spread of Western and traditional Japanese dishes, complete with a fresh omelet station, hot entrees, pastries, and fresh fruit. To use up our ¥32,000 in total room credits across both rooms, we decided to order room service for dinner. We ended up going all out on steaks, pastas, eel rice bowls, appetizers, and desserts. Every dish was super tasty, and it was impressive how much food we were able to get covered by the credits.
We really enjoyed our stay at the InterContinental The Strings. The quiet evening location was perfect for winding down after a long day of walking around Tokyo, which my older parents really appreciated. Combine that with great service, tasty food, and hundreds of dollars saved through card benefits, and it made the whole trip a complete win.
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