This is a short TR of our 10 days in Japan, with stops at Aman Tokyo (4N), Amanemu (4N) and St. Regis Osaka (3N)

Aman Tokyo (photos below, more pictures in the Flickr link)

A very smooth arrival experience certainly set the mood, with a bellman meeting us off the NEX train at Tokyo station to escort us to the hotel, where we were greeted by the GM Tomoko Y and FO manager Kozan H, and shown to our room, where the formalities were completed.

Of course, by it’s design Aman Tokyo certainly welcomes one with a wow-effect. The soaring lobby, the minimalistic design, the sweeping views all around. We were in a Deluxe Palace Garden View Room (as booked, no upgrade given), on the highest floor, with great views. The room layout is very smart and efficient, large for Tokyo standards, but probably the smallest Aman room I’ve ever stayed at.

In terms of facilities, we did not experience much as we spent most of our time exploring Tokyo. We had breakfast in the hotel (at Arva restaurant) every day. Interestingly, we had breakfast included and only got a little sheet of paper on the first day, listing just the 2 options of either Japanese Breakfast or American Breakfast. Only by inquiring we found out that there also is a large a-la-carte selection.

We did not experience the new Musashi restaurant or Arva for dinner, but both look very nice. Musashi does a course menu only.

Our “Secrets of Japan” package included a one hour rickshaw ride in the local area, which was quite nice, maybe a little to showy for my personal taste.

While we did enjoy Aman Tokyo, and the hard product is certainly impressive, the service was not better than any solid 5* city property. Comparing Aman Tokyo to recent stays at FS Seoul or St. Regis Osaka, where even the bell staff remembers our names, shows that there is still lots of room for improvement. Aman Tokyo was nice, but failed to leave lasting impression. On a future stay in Tokyo, we would probably stay elsewhere.

Observations/minor issues

• The most annoying one: the constant asking for the room number: every day at breakfast, in the bar, at reception, and twice even on the phone (while in the room!).
• No welcome drink offered, not even a cold/hot towel
• No turndown gift except once
• No housekeeping touch-ups during the day. Morning and evening service only.
• Missing turndown service: On our arrival evening, we got in around 7.30pm and left for dinner at around 8.30pm. Coming back around 11pm, we found the room in the same condition, dirty towels and no turndown service had been done. Upon complaining, they said turndown service had already “been done before our arrival”. Seriously? This is Aman after all, and they were fully aware of our schedule. And btw, there was no service recovery of any kind.
• Friday evening we went for drinks after dinner in the bar, meeting with friends who were also staying there; we arrived after them, and they were asked to order the “last round” shortly after 11pm. We arrived at 11.30pm and where ignored until we managed to attract attention and place a drink order after all, but they seemed rather unwilling.
• Again, they had no information about our previous Aman stays, preferences or background; no address on file means there is no CRM system in place (or it does not work). Therefore, no Amanjunkie extras of any kind.
• At checkout, we were handed one (1) luggage tag as a farewell gift. It would have been nice to give at least 2, one for each guest. We got a second one for my wife upon asking. I liked the old way of just attaching them better.
• Upon departure, the FO manager asked us if we were about to return home now. Maybe it's just high expectations, but I would expect an Aman FO manager to know that we're headed to another Aman property.