The Radisson Hotel Narita seems to be quite popular with airline crews -- judging from the ubiquitous pilots and flight attendants crowding the lobby and taking advantage of the hotel's many amenities and facilities -- but I would also judge it to be an excellent place to stay for tourists and business travelers who prefer to be near the airport.

Staying at a hotel over an hour from the city and 20+ minutes from the airport, you may feel that you're stuck in the middle of nowhere. And it is definitely off the beaten path. But you're not really stuck, since the Radisson provides frequent transportation between the hotel and (1) Narita Airport, (2) Narita City shopping, and (3) central Tokyo.

The free shuttle van between the airport and the Radisson runs about twice an hour from early morning to late evening and takes 20-30 minutes. At Narita Airport, look for it at Bus Stop 16 just outside Terminal 1.

Most layover stays at the Radisson Narita are probably overnighters, but I stuck around for two nights in order to spend a full day in Tokyo, taking advantage of the hourly Highway Bus between the Radisson and the centrally located Tokyo Station (about US$18 each way at the late December 2011 exchange rate). The bus ride to the city takes about an hour and 15 minutes. It's a good idea to first get a detailed map of the huge Tokyo rail station from the hotel concierge, since the dropoff and pickup locations are in different parts of that vast complex, and it's easy to get lost in the maze of corridors. From Tokyo Station, you can take a taxi or rapid transit to just about anywhere in the city.

As for the hotel itself, I found the Radisson Narita staff to be helpful, friendly, and efficient, and the room rate was reasonable. Also on the plus side were the presence of a business center, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a fitness room, and a decent restaurant. Guest rooms feature a comfortable bed, sufficient drawer and shelf space, a refrigerator, and a heated toilet seat, and are equipped with cable TV with several English language channels including CNN and BBC. The rooms offer a complimentary wired Ethernet connection but no in-room wireless Internet. That is a regrettable omission, but at least the hotel makes free wi-fi available to guests in areas around the main lobby. The best wi-fi hotspot I found at the Radisson -- not far from the reception desk -- is the Floral Hall, which affords comfortable seating and a strong signal that is free but unencrypted. The hotel provides the usual safe deposit boxes at the reception desk, but no in-room safes.

Overall, the Radisson Narita offers comfortable overnight lodging and a most satisfactory experience for an airport hotel -- clean, modern, friendly, and efficient, with excellent facilities and ample, frequent transportation to get you where you probably want to go. I would certainly stay there again.

Free & frequent hotel shuttle pickup and dropoff to and from Narita Terminals 1 & 2.
A free shuttle to the Narita city shopping mall.
A city bus to Tokyo station costs Yen1300 one way for 60min+ trip . Similar to train fare.
Clean & comfortable rooms on the 11th floor and great choice buffet breakfast.
Airline crews (American & European) are regular guests.
Very nice grounds and easy to walk around locally.
Easy to use shuttle to airport and connect to city trains.
Excellent place to stay for overnight transit stops or local business visits
Have stayed twice and recommend to family and business unless special need to stay in Tokyo city

We stayed overnight after landing at Narita, en route to Osaka the next day. There is a free shuttle from Narita right outside the terminal, which was very handy. Surprisingly, it took about 20-25 mins to get to the hotel from the airport. Check in was great. The room was clean and modern, the bathroom was spotless, and the size was adequate. My only complaint would be that the bed and pillows were a bit hard, but that is fairly common in Japanese hotels, so you have to get used to it anyway. This hotel is patronized by a lot of flight crew from various airlines, and there are a lot of Westerners everywhere. We ate at the sports bar on the first floor for dinner, which was okay if you don't mind the atmosphere of TGIFs or Bennigan's in Japan. It was fairly crowded, there was free popcorn and a happy hour (1000 yen for a mug of beer and a plate of decent food like yakisoba, shrimp pizza, fried rice, or gyoza). There were no Japanese customers; only tables of pilots/flight attendants talking about work very loudly and laughing heartily. If you don't mind this restaurant environment or are seeking it, it suits its purpose well. There is a pool table or two at the entrance as well, which is a nice touch if you want to shoot pool with a beer. Overall, okay place to grab a pint and a bite if you are looking for an American sports bar with an entirely foreign clientele.

There is a lobby convenience store for drinks, bottled water, and light snacks, as well as little souvenirs which I'm not sure anyone would actually buy. We didn't eat breakfast the next morning so we don't have an opinion on that. There is a handy shuttle to Tokyo station for 1400 yen that was very popular the next day. We didn't want to pay since we were validating our JR passes, so we rode the free shuttle back to the airport, validated our JR passes in Terminal 1, and took the N'ex to Shinagawa, which took about an hour, where we transferred to a Shinkansen to Osaka for a 3 1/2 hour trip. Alternatively, you can take the N'ex to Tokyo Station or Shinjuku to get into central Tokyo. It sounds more complicated than it actually is.

So, in short, I would stay in this hotel for a night if I arrived late or had to leave early from Narita. The free shuttle is extremely handy. There are no restaurants or shops in the immediate vicinity; we saw some bright lights in the distance from the hotel room window, but it wasn't close, and they were spread out, requiring a walk along a dark, tree-lined road with no sidewalk. After a long flight from LA and a Shinkansen to take the next day to Osaka, the last thing we wanted to do was try to locate a hotel in central Tokyo around rush hour (6 or 7 pm), so that is why we stayed at the Radisson and did not care about the amenities.

The hotel was a great value. The shuttle service was timely. Checkin was swift and pleasant.
Our rooms were reasonable in size, quiet, and the beds were quite comfortable. The restaurant served good to superior food with an attractive and fairly large buffet for each meal. The food was a mix of traditional Japanese offerings as well as European and American foods. The hotel has a small campus and was pleasant to walk around in. The only drawback was the somewhat greater distance from Narita Airport. However, the shuttle service makes this negligible and the price was significantly lower than hotels closer to the Airport. I would definitely stay at this hotel again at either the front or back end of my next trip to Japan.