Aman Tokyo - Trip Report
May 25, 2015, 6:23 pm
Before I go into my comments, it should be noted that a) this is only my 2nd Aman after staying at Amanjiwo last year and b) this is my first time in Tokyo since 2008, and only my 5th time overall.
Entrance: I think this is one of the real weak spots of the hotel, and I am not sure that anything can be done. The true entrance is really through a driveway, which you are not allowed to walk on during the day. So most times, you walk through the lobby of an office building and open a basically unmarked door. Now, I can open a door by myself just fine, but when staying at nice hotels, I do enjoy having doormen to open the door for us and welcome us back after a day of sightseeing, which we did not get here. We did get a lot of "welcome home"s after entering, but there should be someone to open the door for us. Also, the elevator up to the lobby was surprisingly slow considering they do not stop anywhere other than the floor and lobby.
Room: I was in room 411, which was the basic room and really liked it. I was a bit hesitant regarding the design scheme, but think it is a lot warmer than comes off in the pictures. The views/daybed are great, internet is solid, closets were big enough for my wife and me. I really liked the shower and tub, and despite construction nearby, never heard any other noises. My complaint with the room would be that the bathroom does not have any true doors, but sliding panels. This means that in the bedroom, you can hear what is going on in the bathroom.
Service: Not sure if this is because of timing, luck, focus or something else, but in our 5 nights, we did not see the cleaning people in our rooms once. I did see them in the hall, where they would stop and bow until I passed, but never experienced them in our rooms when we were there. This may be because we used the concierge to book our sightseeing and dinner reservations so they knew when we would be out
Shoes: I thought this was pretty easy actually. There is an area at the front of each room to take off your shoes, and the cleaning people leave your slippers right there as well. For the spa, there are baskets with slippers where you take your shoes off and put on sandals before entering the spa. I do agree that of all the places within the hotel, the spa attendants probably spoke the least english, but it didn't really bother me. Other than that, I did not have any real issue with language.
Fitness Center / Spa - For comparison purposes, I would say it is better than Amanjiwo (basically none) and better than the Pen in Tokyo (where I used to stay). It is functional, clean, a good assortment of machines. The real highlight is the pool, which is a great place to relax. The steam room was nice, and the hot bath is also nice, but used the private one in my room more often.
F&B - I had booked through Amex FHR so we did receive free breakfast and a $100 F&B credit. I am not exactly sure how the free breakfast worked, but the set american and japanese meals were included and my wife ordered a la carte a few times, and they never charged us. My one complaint is that room service was not included, or rather, they charge a mark-up for it. That being said, I really liked the american breakfast. The fruit was fantastic, the soft-boiled eggs were perfectly cooked and the bacon was perfectly crispy each time (they have two bacons on the menu, "crispy bacon" is more like american bacon, and "black pepper bacon" is more like british bacon). However, something to note here in terms of "Aman" level service. The concierge knew that my wife was allergic to dairy, so presumably the rest of the hotel should know as well. However, when she ordered the american breakfast the first few days, it came with the yogurt. After the 3rd day, when she just told them, they provided extra fruit and remembered it goign forward. Again, not the end of the world, but something that would have been nice for the Hotel to pick-up on.
I cannot comment on the rest of the food since we used our credit for a glass of japanese whisky and champagne, but I will say that the lobby seemed to be a scene for local woman who lunch/tea.
Overall, of the 5 breakfasts and drinks we were asked for our room the first morning, and for drinks, but no other times.
Other - 1) We never met the GM, but the GM at Amanjiwo never introduced himeself to us either. 2) As I mentioned, we booked through FHR, but I had to bring it up, it was not mentioned upon check-in, and we were not upgraded. 3) We loved the lobby as a calming presence to come back after spending the afternoon shopping/at a baseball/sumo match / sightseeing, etc. It is certainly more calming than the Pen. 4) The area is dead at night. I would equate it to staying in the 50s between 5th & 6th ave in NYC. But it is centrally located since we explored most of the city and there is a big subway stop right there. 5) The concierge was great, and they planned a great excursion for us to Kamakura. I would highly recommend it. 6) Not sure if it is temporary or not, but the hotel does not have great connections yet with the Airport Limousine Buses, which is kind of a pain. 7) When we arrived there were two little orange fruits in our room. They were delicious and I asked the front desk person the next day what they were. She said they were loquats, and I told her how much I liked them. However, we never received them again, just other random turndown snacks. As opposed to Amanjiwo where they basically filled our pool with Mangosteens.
So all-in, i am glad we stayed there, and we had a great time. I do not think this hotel will be the one to convert people to Aman lovers (like Amanjiwo was for us), but not sure it can be. I would also comment that, at least when I was booking, the rates in Tokyo are much closer to other high end hotels in Tokyo, as opposed to areas in SE Asia where they are so much more that the hotel really does need to be perfect, to justify those rates.
Anyways, we just got back today from Korea so I may be a little out of it, but these are my rambling thoughts.
May 27, 2015, 2:49 pm
I guess I should clarify that the room basically has two closets, so my wife had a closet to store her suitcase and hang her clothes and I had my own closet to do the same with no fighting over hangers
May 27, 2015, 4:30 pm
May 27, 2015, 7:37 pm
Sep 12, 2015, 4:12 pm
Aman Tokyo
?100-0004 Tokyo, Chiyoda, ???1-5-6 ,
Aman Tokyo (21 Photos)
Aman Tokyo
As Aventine asked so nicely, here's another trip report for Aman Tokyo.
Aman Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Room type: Deluxe Room
Duration: 8th -> 11th September
Booked with: AMEX FHR
Aman Tokyo welcome sign
Getting there
An Aman that is easy to get to, you say? Well, I just did and yes, it is easy. Cheap however is up for discussion, but it will be a short discussion. As it’s our first time to Japan I decided to have Aman waiting for us at Haneda airport to collect us, in case there were any language issues. Once through customs our driver was waiting for us with the Aman Tokyo sign, which must count for half of the 220 cost for this 30 minute transfer. It must rank as the most expensive per mile ride I’ve ever been on. Whilst I wouldn’t recommend anyone does it and simply takes a taxi/Uber instead, I cannot fault theperson greeting us, as he was fluent in English and very helpful.
Our flight was due to arrive at 7:20am and before arriving Aman did make it clear that our room may not be available, but we would be able to use the spa etc. Our flight was delayed by 90 minutes as someone managed to check their bags in and then somehow not make the flight, to which I spent a good 5 minutes trying to suss out how you can even achieve that. In reality this was about 10 seconds, as the other 4 minutes 50 seconds was spent realising that BA’s F product is the equivalent of staying in an outdated, grubby Hilton. We ended up arriving to the airportsometime after 9am –I don’t thinkI’ve ever seen an airport so empty before. It would have made for a perfect set for a Scooby Doo episode, although the sheer efficiency of getting through customs would have made for a terrible ending. Before 10am we were at Aman Tokyo and had the room free. It was greatly appreciated that they would do this for us, as of course they had no obligation to and some hotels would charge for an extra night.
Lobby view
Rooms
Aman doesn’t like me. There, I’ve said it. It’s out of the way now. That felt good. Whilst several staff made a note to mention that we were Amanjunkies (if you include repeat visits, as we’ve been to Amazoe 4 times, this is our 14th visit to an Aman since October 2013) and even the GM thanked us for our repeat visit, I’ve not once received an upgrade. Not once, Aman! Now I’m taking it personally, as every single room category was available during our stay. Due to never having previously had an upgrade I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have AMEX phone up in advance to ask for one. Still a no go. I’m going to try poems, roses and chocolates next time. Maybe a balaclava the time after that.
Oh, so back to the rooms. Even for the standard room, sorry, the “deluxe room”, Aman have done a fantastic job. Very spacious, beautiful views, easy to use controls, quiet and aestheticallypleasing. Lots of ticks. The rooms are really beautiful and well thought out, whilst keeping in line with their apparent room design across recent properties – Amangiri and Amansara come to mind, with the bed in the middle, desk area behind you and part of the bed design and the overall minimalism of it. The bath area offers a Japanese bath, shower, twin vanity areas and the mandatory Toto. Unlike at Amangiri where going into the bathroom would wake up most people in a coma, Aman Tokyo has made the doors using actual material made in this century. Gotta love those geniuses in the design department. I was full of praise, until the Internet kept cutting off on me and I forgot all the other nice things I was going to say.
Aman Tokyo Deluxe Room bed
Bath
View from bath
View from bath with TV
Living room area
View from room
Amenities
Unfortunately my poor photography skills make a mockery of the lobby, as it is simply stunning. It is the centrepiece for the entire hotel and once again like Amangiri everything is based around it. From here you will have direct access to every facility available, except the spa, which is on the next floor.
Lobby alternative view
Aman Tokyo has a selection of available amenities.
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Heated swimming pool
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Spa
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Library
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Meeting rooms
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Bar
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Public seating areas
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Restaurant
Library
It is acity hotel, which should never be forgotten when you stay there. This isn’t an excuse for them to fall down in some areas where they do, but it is accepting the reality to not expect the same Aman product you would elsewhere. The biggest issue with this is similar to The Shangri-La in London, whereby it’s a tourist trap and therefore a lot of people there will likely not be staying there. Add in the larger amount of rooms and it does feel very busy around lunch times and evenings. Due to the size of the lobby this is not as big a problem as you may expect, but it certainly removes the serene feeling that you would want.
Lobby area
Pool view
Pool view
Pool view
View from pool
Pool beds
Excuse the poor photos once again, but you should get jist that the pool is a remarkable area. It is a great area to spend time to relax, even if you’re just reading a book by the side of the pool.
Food
I feel somewhat harsh reviewing this, as Tokyo offers so many good restaurants that we spent most of our time eating out. So with only 2 breakfasts and 1 lunch to comment on, it may not be the best sample size. Regardless of your view on quantitive vs qualitative statistical analysis, I’d rate Aman Tokyo amongst the worst Aman’s for food. Sure it may look nice, but that’s where it ends. The French toast was almost inedible, the American breakfast was perhaps the strangest interpretation I’ve ever seen and we found ourselves not eating most of what we were given. If you are staying here you would be well advised to eat elsewhere.
Australian lamb rack
An “American” breakfast
I can’t remember, but it was actually pretty good
Drink
To sound repetitive here, but as we don’t drink alcohol I can’t make any comment on this, other than to say that the Apple juice in the mini bar tastes like it’s been there since Evestole it off the tree.
Service
I love Aman. I love their service, I love how they make me feel and I love their entire philosophy. What I don’t love are the following things that took place whilst we were there:
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As we wanted to visit so many restaurants as part of our stay, I started contacting their concierge back in March. Sometimes responses took almost a week to come back and it wasn’t clear what was being communicated. This got significantly better in recent months and when all the bookings were confirmed, so I’m ok with this. I do feel though that their concierge needs to be able to communicate in English better. At the Mandarin it seemed English was near perfect for all the staff, yet at Aman Tokyo you were not sure if you were being understood. We also had some ideas of places we wanted to go, only to go there and find they were quite frankly rubbish and would have appreciated the concierge just being honest about this.
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Our room was being cleaned when we came back from lunch at 2:30pm, even though we left the hotel at 11:30 and the concierge knew we were gone for lunch. Aman normally has some paranormal sense when you are not around and will be in and out of your room before you can even blink.
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Room service calling at 2pm to ask when to service the room, even though do not disturb was on, due to the fact that we wanted to sleep. They kindly woke us up.
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The GM called at 1:45 on the day we arrived, as he could not meet us when we arrived. Whilst this is appreciated, once again the Do Not Disturb sign was on and we were woken up. I would have thought at times some common sense should be used that if someone has spent 12 hours traveling and is in a timezone 8 hours ahead, that they may not be sleeping in the same patterns as you expect. A simple note under the door would have done, especially if that note mentioned something about my upgrade.
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On our last day we left the room at 12, handed the key over and told them they could have the room back whilst we just had a quick lunch. I asked if they could collect our luggage and we discussed how many bags were there. As we left at 1:30, we arrived downstairs only to be told our luggage was not available. At this stage we were receiving a lot of apologies and told it would take 5 minutes for them to get it. 10 minutes later there were 3 people rushing to our car with our luggage to hand it to us. Ok, not really a big issue, but I cannot understand how they just forgot about it and then at no stage between paying the bill and getting into the elevator that no one thought of it.
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I could tell I was at an Aman as the food took so long to arrive that I could have hand raised the animalsquicker.
Spa entrance
Worth knowing
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Do not mention you know me, as your room upgrade will be denied.
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The mini bar is free, but only some of it, and I didn’t find it clear at what point it wasn’t free. I couldn’t find a price list either.
Spa waiting area
The Good
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Some of the bestrooms in a city hotel I’ve everbeen in.
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Even though it can get busy in the lobby in the evenings, it does still have an Aman calmness around the place, mostly due to the visuals of the lobby and how large it is.
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There are some wonderful staff at the resort who truly cared about making sure we were happy. I’ve read other reports of people being asked room numbers constantly and asked if they were staying in the hotel, but we had no such issue at any stage. Not having to wait for the bill is something I always appreciate.
The Bad
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The hallway smelt like a cow had died giving birth.
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The service is definitely not up to the best-of-the-best Aman service, such as Amanzoe, Aman-i-khas, Amabagh or Amanpulo.
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The GM was conspicuouslyabsent for most of the time. I saw him once on our first day and cannot recall the last time an Aman GM didn’t at least say goodbye.
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I would consider this over priced for a city hotel.
The Luxurious
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Breathtaking swimming pool, lobby and views.
Conclusion
I would stay here again, but only at the right price. It seems that unlike other Aman’s that are priced per season, Aman is taking a city approach and charging based on availability. If it was at the higher end of their prices I simply don’t think it’s worth it. There are definitely issues here that need to be addressed and I’d like to believe they will get fixed, but the hotel has been open 9 months nowso it should be past the teething stage.
Sep 12, 2015, 5:18 pm
Brilliant TR , thanks .
Since we've had to postpone Ruya yet again & haven't made it to Zoe either , those will be priority
This should give Tokyo time to get their act together . Somewhat strange as they are supposed to be efficient even if cold ( fish ) ..Also hopefully , London HQ / Marketing team get the Aman ethos too , at least some hang of it ??
Last edited by FlyerEC; Sep 13, 2015 at 12:38 am
Sep 12, 2015, 7:33 pm
I'm surprised they still don't have their act together (almost 1 year in) and I put it on the non-seasoned, non Aman raised GM they have.
Sep 12, 2015, 9:56 pm
The GM called at 1:45 on the day we arrived, as he could not meet us when we arrived. Whilst this is appreciated, once again the Do Not Disturb sign was on and we were woken up. I would have thought at times some common sense should be used that if someone has spent 12 hours traveling and is in a timezone 8 hours ahead, that they may not be sleeping in the same patterns as you expect.
base room runs Y75K to Y140K
mar 19 - apr 5 blocked out
may 20-31 blocked out
highs (for smaller rooms etc) >
Y140K RC
Y115K+ SL
Y110K+ PH
Y100K+ MO (entry price Y85K)
Y98K pen (grand deluxe from Y63K)
Y80K+ andaz
Y71K+ GH
FS >
12/30/15 ____ ____ Y133K
01/03/16 Y85K Y90K Y97K
tokyo hotel comparison >
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...l#post23790111
Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Sep 12, 2015 at 10:21 pm
Sep 13, 2015, 5:40 pm
9 months on from your review on it, this was one of the things that really annoyed Mrs. MacMyDay as after 3 days they still failed to remember the right type of milk and to ever ask about a refill.
Sep 13, 2015, 6:08 pm
I just read your review. Very nicely done...and very accurate. It is a very nice hotel...definitely not up to Aman standards, but by measure of any typical high end city hotel, really quite nice.
Has anyone shared this thread with the GM? I have been in touch once since my stay and would be happy to share it on a constructive basis. Thoughts?