Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo

It would take more space than we have here to exhaustively enumerate the relationships between Hyatt’s various sub-brands, but the short version is that Hyatt Centric is aimed at a younger generation of traveler — which implies a traveler with no less taste, but perhaps a tighter budget than the guests who frequent the Park Hyatts of the world. In Tokyo, however, one of the world’s capitals of high-end hospitality — and in Ginza in particular, an upscale shopping district of great renown — you should expect the Hyatt Centric Ginza to have more than a touch of luxury.

The building, once a newspaper office, is tucked away on Namiki-dori, a particularly ritzy side street. And its rooms follow through on the promise: though a shade less extravagant than those in Tokyo’s top-end hotels, they’re surprisingly spacious, plush, and exceedingly well-appointed. Where it departs the most from the Park/Grand Hyatt mold is in its facilities, which are rather less encyclopedic: there’s a well-equipped gym, but no spa, and but a single restaurant: NAMIKI667, an all-day eatery that’s flexible enough to handle everything from international comfort food to local specialties like Wagyu beef and fresh fish from the Tsukiji market.