Mandarin Oriental Tokyo - Dec 9, 2005

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The Main Entrance
When you walk in, a large textured scrim drapes a red wall. The effect is very dramatic at night.

The Scoop

This is a quick report on the new Mandarin Oriental Tokyo that opened last week (Dec 2, 2005). I was curious about the new hotel, so I checked into the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo for a one night stay (just to check things out) and now I'm on to the Park Hyatt Tokyo for the rest of my stay. I thought I would give a short report (based on my one-night stay) in the hotel. I will make comparisons to the Park Hyatt Tokyo (PHT) only because this is the only other hotel I am familiar with in Tokyo.

Arrival at NRT and Transfer to Hotel

We brought a good amount of luggage with us to Tokyo so I elected to take an airport limo instead of the train. Luckily, even though the hotel only opened last week, it was on the drop off schedule for the airport limo. 3000 yen and 5 minutes after exiting baggage claim we were on a bus to the MO Tokyo.

We arrived around 3:00pm and traffic was not too bad. We made the journey in about 85 minutes. When we got off the bus, the bellmen immediately took our bags from us and brought them into the hotel.

Like the Park Hyatt Tokyo, the hotel entrance is on the first floor of a large tower building and you take an elevator to the 38th floor to check-in. When you walk in, a large textured scrim drapes a red wall, the effect is very dramatic at night. The bellman whisked us up to the reception in one of four elevators that service the public areas of the hotel.

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The Elevator Entrance
The hotel has bits of dramatic lighting. Here, the floor is lit from below.

Checking In

The smooth start was interrupted by a long wait to check in. At PHT, the process is flawlessly smooth, and you are invited to sit at a desk while the staff assists you. At the MO, there are two large check-in desks in front of dramatic two-story tall windows that offer breathtaking views of the Tokyo skyline. Although these views were stunning, they didn't make up for the 10 minutes we had to wait before someone helped us to checkin. After standing for 5 minutes, the bellman eventually invited us to sit down while we waited for service.

The checkin process went smoothly enough, and surprisingly they didn't even ask to see our passports. Because I had booked under the Amex FHR program, I asked for availability of an upgrade and/or amenity. I was told they had neither available for me. They showed us to our Premier Grand-60SM-645SF "Breathtaking Imperial Palace View" room at a rate of 55000 yen/night.

The public areas of the hotel are grand, light, warm and inviting. The views rival those at the PHT and the lounge/bar areas are truly spectacular. The overall decor is modern, prolific use of dark woods on the floor and walls, textured stone on the walls, and clean lines throughout.

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The Lobby
The lobby is modern and the designers used dark woods on the floor and textured stone on the walls.

The Public Areas

The hallways to the rooms are fairly plain and ordinary, as are the elevator entrances on the residential floors.

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The Residential Elevator Entrances
The elevator entrance areas on the residential floors are rather plain.

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The Hallways
The hallways leading to the rooms are also rather plain with a dearth of artwork or dramatic lighting to make it interesting.

The fitness area is small, but adequate with basic aerobic exercise equipment overlooking fabulous city views. The do not have a pool (at least I did not see one).

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The Fitness Center
The fitness center is small and utilitarian, but has all the basic equipment. I did not see a pool.

The one "wow" factor here is the public restrooms on the lobby level. Probably the best view I have ever seen from a public bathroom.

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The Men's Bathroom on the Lobby Level
The view make's one forget why you came into the bathroom in the first place. Truly stunning, million-dollar views!

The Room

The room was fairly nice and large by Tokyo standards. The centerpiece is the view, which one can enjoy from floor to ceiling windows that run the length of the room. In this regard, the MO has PHT beat--the windows in the PHT park suite are much smaller and not floor-to-ceiling. In addition, because of the geometry of the PHT building, they put privacy screens on windows to the side so your city views are significantly obstructed in these areas. I definitely have to give it over to the MO for fantastic city views from your room! The bathroom was pretty standard and not as nice as PHT. They did install the latest TOTO toilet seat that will pretty much do everything for you. The toiletries are MO hotel brand or "Aromatherapy Associates" brand. I did not think they were anything spectacular, compared to the Aesops line of products PHT offers its guests.

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The Baggage Area
The baggage area and closet directly to the right as you walk into the door.

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The View from the Door
The view from the front door directly into the room. The bathroom is to the right and the bedroom is directly to the front. Note the floor-to-ceiling windows that span the length of the room.

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The Power Control
The room is highly automated as usual for a Mandarin Oriental room. This panel controls the main power and lights up with the valet or butler makes a delivery.

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The Butler Closet
The bellman called this the "butler closet" and it is located right next to the front door. Basically, it is a way for someone to deliver newspapers, pressed garmets, etc. to your room without disturbing you. When they make a delivery, a light comes on indicated so on the main power panel.

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The Bathroom Divider
Like the PHT and others, the MO seems to think people enjoy being watched while they are in the bathroom. The divider is made of clear glass, and thankfully they have put a blind in between the glass panels that can be adjusted for privacy. Actually, in this case, the glass is there so you can probably enjoy the gorgeous views from your bathroom.

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The Bedroom
The bedroom is configured for two single beds. Note the floor-to-ceiling windows that span the length of the room.

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The LCD TV
The bedroom has a 42 or 50 inch Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV. Very nice!

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The Bedroom
The bedroom is configured for two single beds. Here is a photo of the bedroom looking back into the room from the windows.

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The Chaise
A view out the window from the chaise.

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The Bathroom
The bathroom has a large soaking tube. The bath salts were nice, but turned the water an unfortunate yellow color.

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The Bathroom Television
No bathroom would be complete without a flat-panel TV right? This one is easily viewed while soaking in the tub.

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The Bathroom Shower
The shower has three water jets. One is a "rain" jet that falls directly from the ceiling, one comes from the wall and the last is from a handheld jet.

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The Bathroom Toilet
The TOTO toilet is the latest and greatest model. It is heated, and has autodeodorizing, bidet, flush, wash, you name it! I think this might even be the $5000 model I have seen in catalogs!

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The Bathroom Toilet
The wall mounted electronic controller for the TOTO toilet.

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The Amenities
These amenities are contained in a lacquer box on the bathroom sink. Everything you could want is included within: shaving kit, tooth brushes, sewing kit, comb, etc.

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Toiletries
The toiletries are in-house MO brand or "Aromatherapy Associates" brand. Good enough, but no comparison to the Aesops products PHT provides.

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The Bedroom Amenities
The bedroom has a chest that contains lightweight robes and slippers. Heavier terry cotton bathrobes can be found in the front closet.

Finally, here is a view from our room. Honestly a "snapshot" and not retouched at all. Simply stunning, in my book.

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The VIEW!
The view from our 34th floor bedroom is simply STUNNING!

Food -- Molecular Tapas

One very novel culinary offering is the molecular tapas dinner. It is very pricy (17500 yen per person) and may be worth it to you if you seek a certain type of culinary experience. There are only 6 diners served at one of two seatings for the evening. The chef and his sous chef prepare the food for you at a bar area so you can ask lots of questions and interact with the chef throughout the evening. We were served 25 courses over a period of 2.5 hours (yes you read correctly, TWENTY-FIVE!). The chef is inspired by the likes of Ferran Adria (Chef of the renown El Bulli and inventor of famed "AIR" and "FOAM") and Heston Blumenthal (Chef of Fat Duck, inventor of scrambled egg and bacon ice cream). The cuisine is what many would call "avant garde" and "experimental".

The portions at molecular tapas were also fairly molecular, however the food was definitely an experience. We had novel items such as foie gras wrapped in cotton candy and linguine and clams where the linguine was made entirely of cheese. The meal was capped off with a pill sized fruit called "miracle" fruit which the chef instructed us to place in our mouth and chew for one minute. The effect of the fruit is to make you unable to taste anything sour for about 1 hour. The chef subsequently served us a plate of sour fruit (lemons, sour oranges) and I tell you the experience was out of this world! The lemons tasted gorgeously flavorful and sweet (not sour) almost as if you were eating lemonade. Everything seem to float off your tongue--truly a mind-boggling experience.

Surroundings

The MO is right next to a Mitsukoshi department store and we enjoyed browsing the large food halls. I can't claim to know this area of Tokyo well, but it is much more convenient to the subway than PHT. There is a subway exit right in the basement of the building (Mitsukoshimae stop of the Orange (Ginza) line.

Overall

I liked the MO and might return again in the future if the price were right. I always upgrade to a suite with Hyatt points at the PHT, so for me PHT is a much better value. However, if you are not paying out of pocket or traveling for business, MO is probably worth checking out. I know the views definitely are! I will post the picts soon.

Ether

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