Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi

Description:

• With only 57 rooms, this property offers the ultimate in service, privacy, and exclusivity, with a well-trained staff that goes out of its way to make guests feel welcome (including special amenities and services for children). Next to Tokyo Station and within walking distance of the Ginza, it boasts the most convenient location in town. For first-timers leery of traveling between Narita Airport and Tokyo Station, the hotel offers a unique "greeting" service at the airport to assure a seamless transition all the way to the hotel (cost: ¥5,250/$44/£22). Despite its bustling location, the hotel is buffered from the outside world with triple-glazed glass and a soothing, ultra-contemporary design that employs natural woods and color schemes of ecru and charcoal or off-white and black.

  Guests are escorted to rooms by guest-relations officers, and with good reason, as rooms are so high-tech it's almost impossible to figure out even such mundane tasks as double-locking the doors or engaging the bathtub stopper. At 44 sq. m (474 sq. ft.) and larger, the attractive rooms are large by Tokyo standards, with such standouts as wall-mounted 42-inch plasma-screen TVs with Internet connections, hookups for MP3 players with surround sound, leather-covered desks, bathrooms with separate tub and shower areas, and floor-to-ceiling windows. Unfortunately, the hotel's location on the lower levels of an office high-rise affords views only of Tokyo Station and its Shinkansen bullet trains or surrounding buildings. Still, this is a great place to stay -- if you can get someone else to pay for it.

  Facilities: Restaurant; bar; lounge; 24-hr. exercise room; public bath w/imported hot springs mineral water and steam room; spa; free use of bikes; concierge; 24-hr. small business center; 24-hr. room service; in-room massage; babysitting; same-day laundry/dry-cleaning service; nonsmoking rooms; complimentary shoeshine.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Very Highly Recommended 2010