Back to the Andaz after a year of absence

100   Recommended
Room 5020 , Tower View King
August 13, 2018 by

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Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills - a concept by Hyatt
 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended

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Room 5020

Tower View King

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
Tower View King

Intro

I find the Andaz to be one of the nicest designed hotels around. I unabashedly love the Park Hyatt Tokyo, but the type of interior design at the Andaz thrills the designer in me to no end. Perfectly spaced controls in the elevator, matched wood colors and perfect lines everywhere. Mmmmh. Satisfying. Even the small, custom control boxes next to the hotel beds have a perfected darkened brass look with clicky control switches, zero plastic and a hefty, handmade wooden enclosure. They do design well in Japan, and the Andaz showcases that beautifully. When I first visited the property, I was only there for a few days, but I left impressed. I vowed to return for a longer stay, which I did... in the heat of summer, during a heatwave.

 

Changes

The Andaz has made a few small changes, all of which I find great. The breakfast now features a choice of 2 hot dishes to choose from a menu including an excellent benedict and a 'croissant waffle' that looks a bit more like a croissant that had a tragic run-in with a truck tire but tastes light and great. The menubar is more fully stocked and more regularly refilled (in my experience) and a seasonal scent is present at all times in the hotel.

Check In


I arrived with friend in tow from the Park Hyatt Tokyo around 3 PM. We had Privé reservations (and I had Globalist status on top of that) but despite all that we couldn't secure upgrades; the hotel was completely sold out. The online inventory and generally busy grounds backed this up, and they were apologetic about not being able to offer an upgrade. The summer Privé special rate included a 4th night free, $100 F&B credit, and full breakfast daily (perhaps more--?). The 'hosts' checked us in near the large desk they all seem to spawn from when it is host spawning season (I call it 'the hive'); my friend went to check in at the lounge area with the large wood-slab tables adjacent to the entry area instead. We were both taken to our rooms by the helpful staff member who asked if I needed assistance with my luggage. I assumed she meant they'd send my luggage, so I nodded which prompted the tiny Japanese lady to try to lift my (heavy) bags with camera gear as well as my friends' duffle. I instantly felt bad and insisted I carry it to the room.

Room

The room was a standard Tokyo Tower View King, which I think is a fantastic room. I have a profile preference for a high floor; they gave me the highest floor they had, which was a nice touch. Room 5020: 





A welcome amenity of ~$10 wine and some mochi as well as a nice note. The only issue I had with the room was a slight smell of mold in the shower / bath area. 
 

Service

The stay itself was great. Nothing to remark on. Housekeeping was frequent and efficient. Ever-present hosts and staffers in the lobby area making you feel like you are never far away from help. 

Dining

Got a lot of drinks at the Tavern, visited the Rooftop once (it isn't very happening; we're a young crowd and we wanted to hit it up one night only to find it was closed after midnight on a weekend day. Hum...) and they're both nice bars. The food at the Tavern was subpar outside of the katsu and kara-age; the curry that came with the katsu was close to inedible, and the katsu sandwich was a sad meal altogether. We had lunch and dinner elsewhere during the stay.

Location

The area near the Andaz (Toranomon) is seeing a lot of construction: there'll be a new Hibiya line stop here at some point. I think the neighborhood still has a ways to go before it can be considered interesting or even welcoming; perhaps it's different to Japanese-fluent guests, but we found businesses around Toranomon Hills entirely uninterested in catering to us (even with attempts at Japanese), often sending us away when we tried to come in for lunch with a 'No English' and a dismissive gesture.



 

There's not a ton to do around the tower itself, and it's still a healthy hike to the station from the Andaz tower itself. In the summer, not so great; during a heatwave in the summer, it meant we had to change shirts by the time we were at the station. People might complain about the location of the Park Hyatt, but the Andaz might be worse in my opinion. At least it was a short cab ride from both Ginza and Roppongi.

(from others in this thread, it seems I might have to explore the area more — I leave that as literal exercise to the reader) 

Overall

Great

The design is still spectacular 
New breakfast a la carte option is good, and buffet is varied enough for a 5 day stay
The pool and spa are a highlight
Great, well appointed base rooms 
Did I mention the design? 

Good

Two bars with good bartenders
Thoughtful service throughout the property
The views! 
The internet was fast: perhaps 3-5 Mbps (300-500Mbit) on wifi
They offer a box of candy when you check out

Bad

The high tea nonsense in the Tavern is insane. Come 1-2 PM, the entire Tavern is flooded with ladies visiting for high tea. Not a big issue, fun for them, but we came down several afternoons hoping to grab a quick bite and a drink only to be unceremoniously told off stating that the tables were all 'taken'. Half the tables would be empty, but apparently reserved for non-guest high tea? This wasn't made clear to us, and was just off-putting. Why not offer us either a restaurant table or, indeed, use the actual restaurant for the high tea as well? It made the lounge / bar area completely unusable from 2 PM to 5 PM. Well monetized hotel bar, terrible guest experience. 

The location still leaves a lot to be desired, and it'd do them well to at least signage which way to go for metro lines. Local businesses are at times unfriendly to foreigners. Not really much to do around Toranomon. 

The rooftop bar needs extended hours on weekends perhaps events to bring in people? and shouldn't close at midnight. Someone also needs to tell the bar staff at both bars that negronis are not made with Aperol. 

Food at the Tavern Bar varies between OK and bad. A re-do of the menu might be in order.

 

 

Concluding


In all, I'll definitely be back at the Andaz. There's room for improvement (and I'd love to come back to try a suite) but they're doing wonderful, and as Toranomon as an area grows and fills in I suspect it'll see bigger crowds visiting, more businesses pop up and the area will become more compelling. In the meantime, a good value for money.

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