The best Andaz hotels include Andaz Tokyo, which is also one of the best Hyatt choices in Tokyo, and we have compared the Park Hyatt Vs Andaz. On our most recent visit to Tokyo, we were blown away by this Andaz hotel.
Location
Andaz is also very well located, a short walk or taxi hop from Ginza, one of the main shopping areas. The side streets are filled with restaurants and bars, and numerous subway stations have connections to everywhere within walking distance. Tokyo, though, is vast. Simply overwhelming if you’re not familiar with it.
With two major international airports within forty minutes of the incredibly efficient train system, it was recently rated the safest city in the world with its pedestrian-friendly walkways and low crime rate. That it is simultaneously rated the riskiest city on account of the ever-present risk of earthquakes and the likelihood of very high casualties if and when it next happens tells you a lot about Tokyo. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous place on Earth. Shinjuku Station is the busiest railway station, with over a hundred exits, all of them the wrong ones.
It is an extremely polite city. Taxi drivers drive old model Toyota Crowns and wear white gloves. The ground crew stands at the edge of the taxiway and bows to your departing plane. Yet everywhere are neon signs and Pachinko halls, and everybody has a smartphone, which they use constantly. City of contrasts and contradictions.
Style & Character
There is something of a fashion in hotel design to put the entrance at the wrong end of the building. Andaz Tokyo follows this new convention. As you enter the vestibule at ground level, having alighted from your limo (or taxi), you’ll pass a line of hosts where you’ll find it hard to hang onto your luggage.
Everyone is incredibly polite and welcoming. Then, you waft down a cool, dark corridor at the end of which the elevators whisk you up to the fifty-first floor of The Toranomon Hills Tower. You’ll be intrigued by the sculptures of shoals of fish adorning the elevators as you forget how far you’ve traveled.
Service & Facilities
Putting the reception floor above the guest room levels may increase security, but it certainly maximizes the “wow factor” when you enter and first see the view. Toranomon Hills is in one of the oldest and most prestigious districts in Tokyo, between the Imperial Palace and Tokyo Tower.
The lounge at the entry level is a meeting and relaxing place. Somewhere to work, to play, or just to people-watch. For two hours in the early evening, complimentary drinks and snacks are here for all guests, so it tends to get a little lively.
There are some nice, snug little booths where you can hide or talk discreetly or some long wooden tables for socializing. It’s very atmospheric in the evening.
Andaz occupies the 47th to 52nd floors, with Spa and leisure facilities at AO Club on the 37th. The views from AO Spa are simply stunning. Even better are the personalized treatments. Fresh herbs grow on the consultation table in reception. After discussing your aims, your therapist picks some leaves and grinds them in front of you. These are then added to your footbath, which precedes the massage. Simply delightful and unique in my experience.
Rooms
The guestrooms are all large by Tokyo standards, ranging from 50 m² to the 125 m² ANdAZ suites. Try to get one of the ANdAZ large king rooms. They are all located in the corners and are comfortable at 65 m², and the views are panoramic. Every modern convenience has been provided.
There is a spectacular rain shower as well as a deep, circular soaking tub, the curtains, blinds, and lights can all be controlled from the bedside console, and there is a large desk with two chairs so no need to fight over who gets to sit and pretend to work whilst admiring the view.
The use of irregular, heavy wooden table tops is a Tony Chi signature. He has designed many of our favorite hotel interiors.
So in the guestrooms, you will also find plentiful use of that natural material, for example, the bedside tables and washstands. There is also a nod to traditional paper-walled country houses in the white-paneled guestroom walls. The overall effect is stylish, modern, and identifiably Japanese.
Food & Drink
Service during our two-night stay was absolutely flawless. I can rarely say that, and it has certainly not been so at many much more vaunted establishments. We enjoyed breakfast at the Andaz more than at any other hotel in Japan so far.
There was plenty of fresh fruit, service was very good, and there was a wide range of main dishes, including many we haven’t seen elsewhere, including Nutella-filled brioche and baked scrambled eggs with cherry tomatoes and goat’s cheese. We were also delighted to be offered room service breakfast at no extra charge due to our early check-out from the hotel on our departure day.
For evening delights, the hotel offers a wide range, including an 8-seat sushi restaurant on the roof terrace (make sure to book in advance), ANdAZ Tavern on the 51st floor offering all-day European-style dining with a Japanese twist, the casual Bebu restaurant offering simple snacks and grill items, the pastry shop with its éclair, cookie, and chocolate menu and, lastly, the rooftop bar with its summer picnic menu and breathtaking views from the 52nd floor.
Conclusion
If you are here for business, good luck. You probably have to be here, so make the most of it. There are fabulous eateries of every kind, great and small. We prefer the small “real Japanese” Yakitori and fish restaurants where no English is spoken.
Sitting watching the grey suit-clad salarymen (and increasingly women) through a thick blue fug of cigarette smoke as they draw on their Biru late into the evening after a long day at the office is a favorite pastime.
Your choice of hotel may come down to corporate policy, but try to persuade the travel bookers to let you have The Andaz at Toranomon Hills. You won’t regret it.
If you’re here for leisure, the choice is simply bewildering, but the views of Tokyo Bay from ANdAZ are inspiring. There is a newly opened rooftop sushi bar to go with the jazz bar, which was here from the off.
It is hard to think of a better place in Tokyo to spend the evening, and yes, I’ve tried the New York Bar and Grill at Park Hyatt, Tokyo. Speak it softly, but the views are better, and so is the service at Andaz.
Copyright Luxury Travel Diary 2014 - 2024. Duplication outside of luxurytraveldiary.com is forbidden.
Image © tawatchai1990 / Adobe Stock.
Note: Benefits & upgrades subject to availability. Benefits offered correct at the time of writing. Terms & conditions apply. Enquire for more information. Posts may be sponsored by the proprietor or brand being appraised. All opinions remain our own & are in no way influenced.
