A fabulous, truly fabulous hotel on the top of Tokyo. Incredible service, location and decor. Not cheap but has a better view than the Aman, which is almost twice the price in a lesser location.
We had booked a quick trip to Japan as a last-minute summer vacation. After briefly checking the weather (this was in June), Tokyo seemed temperate and we flew over from LA. Little did we know the rainy season had just began. It was pouring the day we arrived but the clouds eventually parted and we found ourselves at this swanky hotel. The weather mostly cooperated during our stay then got incredibly hot.
Initially, we booked an Imperial Palace view... which technically it was. That said, it faced south and was narrower than the better, larger rooms facing west and Shinjuku. So after some polite negotiating at the front desk, we were very kindly upgraded for the better part of our stay (we were here for 8 nights... had to cancel a few nights in Kyoto as the weather there was truly horrendous).
We ended up in a fabulous, incredible, amazing room that was pretty much twice as wide as the previous one, with a bathtub in one window. (The whole bathroom was adjacent to the bedroom area... the opposite of the railroad car plan of the first room). What a view. Stunning. I will never forget it.
A big, big thank you to Francesca, Kei and Jonna, who were instrumental in the room switch. Such nice women and so friendly and helpful, day after day.
The service here overall was just impeccable, too, all the way around. Others staff to mention, in no particular order: Claudine, a host; the conceirge-y Tux at breakfast; server Tatsuki at breakfast; Nagomi,a friendly woman on the ground floor entrance who got our bags taken care of; Annamarie, a lovely woman who gave us a tour of the fancy restaurant, which is beautiful but faces the wrong way; Ryoturo, the bellhop who moved us; server Masaki at breakfast, server Daisuke at breakfast, and Dawn the concierge.
As you can tell by that long list, we got FANTASTIC service and everyone mentioned was a delight to interact with. (So much so I think I got all their names spelled correctly... I hope). So polite, but sweet and friendly and accommodating. Service was never stuffy... always just ideal. Truly a masterfully run hotel... perhaps the best Four Seasons we've been to and we've been lucky to have been to a few. The fact that I had such a long list of people to thank is not typical... usually it's a handful who stand out but we were blown away with the service. And the hotel's decor. Incredible. And those views. Oh, and the breakfast, which was included in our rate, is a MUST. Great food, great views, great service. A wonderful experience every day. Definitely spring for it if possible. For dinner, we almost always had room service. With the best view in Tokyo 37 floors up, we needed to go no further. Food and service was excellent every time.
Not so wonderful were the European tour groups who were there for a big part of our stay. They were decidedly inelegant and not particularly upscale in behavior or appearance, trust me. On checkout day, they all dragged their bags into the lobby and sprawled around. It looked like an EasyJet or Southwest Gate for a few hours. Really brought the place down a few notches. I wish the hotel had made them check their bags downstairs while they waited the long hours for their flights. When you're spending a lot of money on a room, those groups definitely took some of the luster away. That said, I happily don't remember them now, just the wonderful aspects of this hotel.
As for location, I thought it was perfect, especially if you've been to the more obvious places in Tokyo on previous visits. The hotel takes up the top few floors of an modern glass office tower just a block from the Imperial Palace. This is the NICE new business section of Toyko, which I liked the clean-feeling energy of. The lobby takes up the top floor of the building and extends the length of the hotel along the main Palace view. The breakfast room/casual restaurant has incredible views and a beautiful outdoor patio, too, 39 floors up. The lobby itself was full of tourists and locals having tea. It also has a stunning view. The well-equipped and rather large gym has the same incredible view, too. Great place to work out, and one you won't forget easily. The indoor pool faces north... less great a view but still a nice place to relax on hot afternoons when it's not too busy with kids from that tacky tour group.
As I said, the immediate neighborhood is a little business-oriented, and I think business people are the typical guests, which I would have preferred. But hey, it was summer vacation time and I believe Japan was a deal to Europeans last summer.
As for the hotel's location, if you walk a block west, you get to the moat of the Imperial Palace. A few blocks east and south you'll find yourself at Tokyo Station. Really just a convenient, clean, modern neighborhood to stroll around in one of my favorite cities in the world.
Almost forgot to mention, in a very sweet gesture, we got monogrammed baseball caps as a parting gift. They may do it for everyone (or more guests than just us, one has to imagine), but the way they handled it made us feel really special. Kudos.
What a special hotel, what a memorable stay, what a sweet and completely excellent staff (so many more I didn't have time to mention).
Thank you, FS Otemachi. We loved every minute of our stay.
