Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo Marunouchi

This post is part of my 2015 Japan series. For the rest, please see below.

Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo Marunouchi
Exploring Tokyo – Part One
Exploring Tokyo – Part Two
The Ritz Carlton Kyoto
Exploring Kyoto
Hiiragiya Ryokan – Kyoto
Souvenirs from Japan

Earlier in February, we took fairly spur of the moment trip to Japan. I’d been wanting to go for months and months now…I hadn’t been to Asia (not counting Australia) for over a year and was feeling antsy. Plus, Japan is always such an inspiring place…I could probably live there for years and find something new to admire every day.

I’ll be sharing some posts about the trip, starting with a hotel review. I hope you enjoy!

Our flight was a direct from San Francisco to Narita Airport, and we decided to spend the first half of our trip in Tokyo. Japan has so many nice luxury hotel options, and this time we ended up at the Four Seasons Tokyo Marunouchi. I’m usually a fan of the Four Seasons hotels, and wanted to try the Tokyo one due of its great location, and also because it has only 57 rooms. 57! That’s an incredibly low number for a hotel, especially one in one of the largest metropolitan hotel markets in the world. It was almost like a Four Seasons boutique hotel.

Our room was a Deluxe Premier, and was more than enough space for two. It could fit even a couple with a small child on a cot comfortably. There was a spacious bedroom, which opened up to an equally spacious living room and seating area.

One of the great aspects of the Four Seasons was its proximity to Tokyo Station. We took the Narita Express in from the airport (super affordable, easy to use, and no risk of being trapped in Tokyo traffic), and hotel staff were waiting to greet us as we disembarked from our exact car, to walk us over to the property.

Because of its location and also small size, the Four Seasons didn’t have the sweeping, dramatic views over Tokyo that other hotels have, like Park Hyatt or Mandarin Oriental (the other hotel we were strongly considering). What it did have though, was a city view perfect for train spotters. Mr. Feather had a great time watching the trains come and go (and there was no noise or vibration at all). We loved the views that the huge windows gave us over the city.

Besides the bedroom and living room, there was the bathroom, of course! It was huge, especially by Tokyo standards. There was a standalone shower, and large soaking tub (I couldn’t help but indulge). Plus, I wanted to point out that toiletries at this property were by Etro – a nice change of pace from the L’Occitane you usually see at Four Seasons.

A few other nice details about the room included a spacious walk in closet/dressing area…as well as uniquely Japanese details like a set of his and hers pajamas in the room. Did you know that most hotel rooms in Japan will include pajamas, robes, and slippers? I don’t know why this trend hasn’t taken off globally yet.

Some welcome fruit and two cool green tea drinks were waiting in our room. If you look at the drinks, they are totally clear on the left, and on the right is what happens when you open the bottle…the tea starts to infuse. Only in Japan!

And on the topic of food…of course I looked forward to eating breakfast each day. Since the dining room was undergoing renovations, we chose to have room service every morning (also allowing me more time to sleep in and get over jetlag). My typical breakfast/brunch items were all fantastic (my favorite order was the pancakes).

But of course we also tried the Japanese offering as well, which had some nice selections. I think the best way to have breakfast in Japan is with another person, so one can order the Western meal and the other Eastern. Perfection!

And the setup in our room. Each morning one of the hotel’s very kind staff would come and set everything up flawlessly. It was so relaxing to eat breakfast every morning as a start to our day.

Overall, I really enjoyed our stay at the Four Seasons Tokyo. The only reason why I wouldn’t return immediately is simply because there are so many amazing hotel choices in Tokyo…the temptation to try more is just too strong. But I know we’ll be back. It’s a fabulous property.

Positives: The small size of the hotel really did make it feel like a boutique, very small and intimate…we rarely saw any other guests, even though it was high season due to Chinese New Year. But we still got all the amenities that came with large Four Seasons properties…a world class concierge, great room service dining options, a very, very well maintained room. And of course the service was fantastic. I always am a little pickier when at properties based in Asia because I expect a higher level of service. But our interactions with each and every staff member were excellent. Our preferences were always remembered, we were always called by our names, and all requests were seamlessly handled.

Negatives: I had one small issue come up during our stay. I always love indulging in spa treatments on holiday, but when I tried to book a prenatal massage…I was told that the hotel’s spa didn’t offer the service. Instead, I was directed to go to almost any other luxury hotel in the area, all of which did offer the treatment. The hotel was of course very apologetic and mentioned its small size as the reason, which I understand. However I was still really surprised, especially from the Four Seasons. When I’m on holiday, the last thing I want to do is leave my hotel to go to another property for their spa. But it was a small miss which I suspect would only impact a very tiny percentage of guests.

Thank you for reading along and I am excited to share with you more from our time in Tokyo, and Japan!