I just finished my stay at the Shangri-la Tokyo ( Premier City View corner room ) and am happy to report that I am very impressed ( and I am NOT easily impressed! ).

First, any preconception of what makes up Shangri-la chain hotels in rest of Asia does not apply to this property. It's actually rather boutique and feels exclusive. The rooms are beautiful and very luxurious, and the actual room do looks and feel much better than what's conveyed by the website photos. The bed is the best hotel bed I have slept in so far. The bathroom is divine, with a gigantic rainforest shower head and a platform bath by the window. Fabulous views of Tokyo Marunouchi skyline throughout the entire room with floor to ceiling window. The room is also whisper quiet which is very important to me. And all the usual amenities and up-to-date in-room tech.

Service is also excellent with all the staff having the best English profiency I have encountered so far in all the Tokyo hotels I've tried. This for me is a real blessing as I do not need to resort to explaining my request slowly or using sign language. And they are very efficient in attending to requests. I am not sure how they do it, but one call to the service centre and the staff will appear at my door step almost instantly with the things I want. F&B is also excellent. The Japanese restaurant served one of the best Teppanyaki meal I had for years.

If I have to nitpick, I can find some things to complain like the lobby is kind of small or no 220v power supply in the room but these are all very minor issues.

I did a back to back stay between Shangri-la and Peninsula this time. I am surprised nobody say more about this fabulous hotel in this forum. Perhaps Shangri-la is not often associated with top-end luxury but rather names like Pen, MO or FS. But in my opinion, this Shangri-la Tokyo surpasses all of them, including the Pen. In fact, Peninsula's service has dropped a notch or two during my stay this time, perhaps due to high occupancy. No point to compare with MO Tokyo ( which in my opinion is awful ) and FS Marounchi as these two are way below.

The Shangri-la is now my #1 hotel in Tokyo. I will post a more detail review in TA and photos on my flickr site later on.