Aman Tokyo

I've stayed at the Aman Tokyo and it's great — the city-view bath is simply in a category of its own, and if that's your priority, nothing else in Tokyo competes.

One thing I'd emphasize to anyone considering it: communicate your expectations upfront with the team. I've seen people complain about things not going their way when they never actually voiced the request — at this price point, staff can do a lot, but they're not mind readers. The soaking tub with the Tokyo skyline is a legitimate reason to choose this property over everything else on the market.

Ten minutes in the steam room and a soak in the onsen each morning genuinely restored me after walking 30,000 steps through Tokyo every day — this is where you want to stay.

The combination of onsen, steam room, and that extraordinary pool made the wellness facilities my anchor point for the whole trip. Impeccable service and breathtaking views across the board. Don't forget a swimsuit — the pool alone justifies the room rate on some days.

The service here is exceptional, but I'd characterize it as responsive rather than proactive — needs are attended to when voiced, which may not match what some guests expect from Aman.

If you're an established Aman fan, this property absolutely delivers and is worth the premium. But the service philosophy leans toward a Japanese cultural approach — elegant, attentive when called upon, not preemptively anticipating your every move the way some other luxury brands do. Whether that feels like restraint or a gap depends entirely on your preference. For context, I think the Four Seasons and Bulgari in Tokyo both offer worthy alternatives if proactive service is your primary benchmark.

I've stayed three times and each visit has exceeded the one before — the general manager personally kept the restaurant open past midnight when we arrived hungry at 2am.

We landed late and starving, and without any advance warning, the GM met us himself and insisted Arva stay open so we could eat. They let us shower and change while preparing the meal. That kind of instinctive, generous hospitality is what justifies the price for me — it's not a service script, it's a culture. The train station is literally inside the same building complex, which is a practical miracle in Tokyo. I keep coming back because the design is still the best in the city and the service, when it's on, is genuinely in a different league.

We've done top-tier omakase at least fifty times across two years, and what Master Chef Musashi does at this eight-seat hinoki counter is genuinely unparalleled — the man grows his own rice and wasabi, makes his own soy sauce, and crafts his plates by hand.

We went two nights in a row, and by the second evening we were deep in conversation with Musashi-san in Japanese about ceramics. When he learned I'm also a potter, he gifted us two signed sake cups of his own making before we left. The restaurant manager handed us his card for a private experience on our next visit — including making pottery together — and none of it felt scripted. The in-room Japanese breakfast was equally extraordinary: the presentation, the taste, the ritual of it set up beautifully each morning. This is the warmth that makes Aman Tokyo something more than an expensive hotel stay.

I'm putting this alongside Claridge's and the Ritz Paris as one of the greatest city hotels in the world — the pool alone is the most beautiful I've encountered anywhere.

The design is simultaneously jaw-dropping and serene, which is an incredibly difficult balance to achieve in an urban property. The rooms are genuinely spacious with glorious views over the Imperial Gardens. Staff member Yukari Sakamoto went well above and beyond to ensure a series of afternoon meetings I was hosting ran flawlessly. The spa is peaceful, luxurious, and immaculate. I've traveled at this level for years and this hotel belongs in a very short list of the world's finest.

My stay at Aman Tokyo has probably ruined all my future hotel experiences — every employee called me by name, and I have no idea how they did it.

The lobby stopped me cold — that scale and light, with soft music playing, genuinely feels like floating above the city. The bathroom is probably the best hotel bathroom I've ever encountered; showering with a view over Tokyo is surreal. A woman named Ro checked me in and out and was phenomenal throughout. On departure, a staff member escorted me all the way to Tokyo Station, helped with my luggage and tickets, and waited until I was settled — it made the whole transit completely stress-free. I can't wait to get back.

You're paying for the service, not the hotel itself — and when the service is this good, Aman Tokyo is a 10 out of 5.

I stayed a full week in December and booked through a luxury travel advisor who got me upgraded from the Tokyo Suite to the Garden View Suite. The room is exceptional — heated bathroom floors, outstanding blackout curtains, a genuinely excellent bed — though certain fixtures show their age compared to newer properties. What elevates it entirely is the service culture: every interaction carries a quality and care I've rarely experienced anywhere. Housekeeping kept the snacks and minibar immaculately stocked throughout. My only hesitation is that the room itself, for the money, should feel more current — some of the controls and bathroom fittings are showing their years.

I stayed over a week on a work trip and the hard product was nothing short of spectacular — but the concierge let me down badly enough that I had to DM chefs on Instagram to secure the tables I needed.

The base room is easily among the largest in Tokyo, with interior design and skyline views that genuinely make you feel anchored in the heart of a metropolis. The breakfast team noticed I liked mango by my second morning and started including a plate without prompting — that's exactly the intuitive service Aman is supposed to deliver. The gym was quiet and well-equipped, the pool equally serene. But when the concierge mishandled a reservation date and couldn't get me into high-end sushi restaurants, I ended up paying for a private concierge service anyway. At a hotel billing itself as a six-star property, that's a serious structural failure.

We came for the Tokyo Marathon and the staff hand-wrote a note wishing me luck on race day with a recovery gift bag — and that was just one of a dozen moments that made this feel like a completely different category of hospitality.

They upgraded us to a gorgeous suite with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the skyline, and the small details kept accumulating — gifts on the pillow each night, a bookmark placed in a novel I'd left open on the table. The restaurant team remembered our breakfast modifications from the first morning onward. The spa and pool flowed into everything else seamlessly. This is the kind of instinctive attention that makes you realize most 'luxury' hotels are just expensive, not actually thoughtful.