Know Before You Go: Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo
After two outstanding recent stays at Mandarin Oriental properties in other countries, we were eager to spend the first leg of our Japan trip with the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo as our home base. Located in the upscale, quiet financial district of Nihonbashi — an elevator ride up to the 38th floor transports you to another world of futuristic design among the clouds. With excellent rooms for families, thoughtful service touches, outstanding dining, and more, our stay here exceeded our expectations in every way.
OVERALL RATING
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Exceptional
Overview
At-a-Glance
Dates of stay: November, December 2023
Length of stay: 7 nights / 8 days (2 stays)
Trip type: Family city trip
Property type: Luxury skyscraper hotel and spa
Tailor-made for: Fashionable urbanites, foodies, and families
Highlights
Incredible service experience and thoughtful touches throughout, from pre-arrival arrangements to post-departure outreach
Connecting rooms with eye-popping floor-to-ceiling views of the city
Exceedingly generous welcome amenities tailored to our travel party and interests*
Surprise in-room dinner last night from the Pizza Bar on 38th
Day trips to Disneyland and Nikko
Delicious family lunch at Sense* and adults-only dinner at L’Osier
Central, quiet location in Nihonbashi with shops, restaurants, and train station nearby — subway stop underneath hotel
Nearby family activities — shopping at Mitsukoshi, TeamLab Planets, Ghibli Museum
Generous breakfast buffet with a la carte hot items and complimentary bubbles
*gifted
Good to Know
English-friendly and kid-friendly property
There is no swimming pool or playroom here
The hotel has a somewhat formal, dressy vibe
Book activities and dining reservations months in advance, especially for Pizza Bar on 38th, Sushi Shin, and Tapas Molecular Bar
The concierge can assist with virtually any arrangements — including booking a babysitter through Poppins, a full-service nanny agency
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Location & Setting
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Set in quiet, tree-lined Nihombashi, the prestigious financial district, Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo is located steps away from shops, restaurants, and the Bank of Japan Currency Museum. Centrally located, the hotel is just a 17-minute walk away from Tokyo Station, with a subway station in the sub-level of Nihonbashi Tower which houses the hotel.
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Property & Grounds
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Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo is a Forbes 5-star hotel occupies the top nine floors of Nihonbashi Mitsui tower. Walking into the lobby, we immediately noticed the hotel’s warm and inviting signature scent wafting through the first floor. The 37th and 38th floors host the reception area and the hotel’s 11 restaurants and bars. Perhaps it’s most notable design feature, the posh hotel features multi-story windows with uninterrupted views of the Tokyo city skyline, including views of Mount Fuji on clear days. In addition to its 157 rooms and 22 suites, the hotel has a Forbes 5-star spa, fitness center, and event facilities. At check-in, we were awestruck by the expansive views surrounding us, beautifully framed by the futuristic design of the hotel. It felt like staying in a hotel in the clouds.
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Room
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We booked two deluxe rooms and were generously upgraded to a corner room configuration which created a family suite — an outer door led to a vestibule with private access to rooms 3428 and 3429. When the inside room doors were propped open, only a single keycard was needed to access the family suite. The children’s room consisted of two Queen beds, closet, a windowside settee, and an interior bathroom with shower and bath. The corner room consisted of a short hallway, a King bed, closet, a windowside settee, and a bathroom with shower and bath overlooking the city. Both bathrooms featured smart toilets. The only downside we noted with the corner room was the single sink vanity.
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Service
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Service was warm, thoughtful, and personalized at every touchpoint, from pre-arrival arrangements to post-departure follow-up. The concierge was immensely helpful at arranging all manner of activities, transportation, babysitting, and dining reservations. In addition to appreciating the concierge team, we were especially grateful to Ana from K’Shiki and the Pizza Bar on 38th, Yukiko at the front desk, Yuji from in-room dining, and the entire team at Sense. We were also blown away by the incredible touches of the housekeeping team, with twice-daily housekeeping service, and in-room dining team, whose members arranged many lovely, personalized welcome amenities for us. Two of our most memorable service experiences here included:
having all my buttons on my coat re-sewn on by housekeeping when just one came loose (and in about 1 hour), and
having pizza from The Pizza Bar on 38th delivered to our room (a rare exception), along with a complimentary bottle of one of our favorite wines, on our last night after we mentioned how we had hoped to dine there but had missed the reservations window.
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Dining
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Dining here is excellent and, with 11 diverse dining options, quite varied. Breakfasts and lunches at K’Shiki, the Italian restaurant, were well-prepared with high-quality ingredients (quite possibly the best fresh pears we’ve ever had and every omelet was cooked to perfection). Our lunch at Sense, generously gifted to us by the hotel, was delicious — authentic Mandarin cuisine, some of the freshest, lightest we’ve ever had. The hotel has a partnership with Krug and, with the favorable USD-JPY exchange rate at our time of travel, we were able to drink Krug by the glass for ~$30 per glass. The pizza delivered to our room from The Pizza Bar on 38th was some of the best Neapolitan style pizza we’ve ever had. Dinner at Sushi Shin was also a highlight for M. During our week staying at this hotel, we dined here for most meals and not one of them disappointed.
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Family Services & Amenities
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Kids robes and slippers are provided in the room. Welcome amenities tailored to kids’ ages and genders were also provided in the room on arrival (gifted), including a city map of Tokyo highlighting attractions for kids. Kids menus are available in K’Shiki and in-room dining. Babysitting services with Poppins — the girls absolutely loved having a night in with their sitter, Arisa — can be arranged through the concierge. However, there is no swimming pool or playroom.
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Activities
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Like most city hotels, the hotel itself is limited when it comes to activities, but the concierge holds the keys to the city. The concierge helped us arrange dining reservations onsite and offsite, a day-trip to Nikko (one of our top Japan highlights), and tickets to Ghibli Museum (initially Ghibli Park outside Nagano, but we had to shift last-minute due to a snafu). We booked tickets to Disneyland, TeamLab Planets, and Shibuya Sky independently, the former two of which were highlights from our time in Tokyo. We also enjoyed nearby restaurants (including free live jazz concerts in the courtyard across from the hotel), shopping at Mitsukoshi (don’t miss the rooftop garden) and the Pokemon Center, and exploring Tokyo Station (the Kenelestand was a highlight for the kids).
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Wellness
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The hotel has a robust fitness center and a Forbes 5-star spa. Morning complimentary spa facility hours are 6:30-9:00am daily, and include access to onsen-style baths with jaw-dropping views of the Tokyo skyline. Outside that time, you must have a spa appointment to use the spa facilities. The hotel also offers a complimentary pillow menu with an extensive selection for more restful sleep. As noted previously, there is no swimming pool here, which was pretty much the only downside.
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Wow Factor
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We were wowed at every turn here, from the service experience to the views to the dining. We loved our interconnecting room setup, which was ideal for a family our size with school-age children. Although the vibe here is certainly on the formal side, the service could not have been any warmer or more welcoming — the MO Tokyo team certainly sets a high bar for other hotels to follow.
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Value
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Because we booked our rooms using FoundersCard, our second room for the kids was effectively free relative to what we would have paid via the standard rate. With the favorable USD-JPY exchange rate at the time we stayed, everything was around 20-30% less expensive than if we would have purchased it in the United States — from dining to activities and shopping. The hotel was also generous with welcome amenities and generous little extras throughout our stay. Any place that sells Krug for ~$30 per glass gets top marks from us on value.
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Overall
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Truth be told, city hotels can sometimes be challenging with kids, especially for longer stays. But we desperately did not want to check out here and left eager to return. This luxury city hotel checked all our boxes and then some… well, except for a pool and a playroom, but we had so much to do, they were not missed. Mandarin Oriental hotels are quickly becoming one of our go-to luxury hotel brands after having outstanding experiences at three of their properties over the past year. We cannot wait to come back to Tokyo and to stay at this dreamy hotel again someday.
Rating Legend*
💛💛💛💛💛 Exceptional
💛💛💛💛 Notable
💛💛💛 Standard
💛💛 Substandard
💛 Unsatisfactory
*All ratings are relative to similar-class properties
