Andaz Tokyo

There’s a new skyscraper amid the frenetic neon and cool steel of Tokyo’s skyline. The second-tallest building in the city, Toranomon Hills will house offices and apartments, plus the brand-new 164-room Andaz Tokyo.

Hyatt’s Andaz line is the brand’s take on a luxury boutique hotel, with style and amenities that are always carefully tailored to the location. In the case of Andaz Tokyo, that means design by Tony Chi and Shinichiro Ogata, interiors built with washi paper and wood, sweeping city views, locally made linens, Japanese-style room partitions separating living and sleeping areas, an open-air rooftop bar on the 52nd floor, and a minimalist spa with a swimming pool that overlooks the Imperial Palace. There no ordinary concierge, but a team of Andaz Hosts to help you plan excursions into a city that easily overwhelms, or book a dinner table at the locals’ sushi joint du jour. Or you could just dine with a view at Andaz Tavern, just down the stairs from the open-air bar complete with a traditional tea counter and great views over the Tokyo Bay.

As at other Andaz locations, the little extras, like free wi-fi and minibars stocked with complimentary snacks and sparkling water, almost make you forget you’re inside a hotel run by a huge corporate chain. But this is, after all, a company with decades of hospitality experience. In the end, it’s the way things run smoothly, and the professional service — the absence of smaller problems that plague a new boutique hotel — that might make you remember you’re ultimately sleeping inside a Hyatt.

How to get there: From Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT), it’s about a 70-minute train ride to Toranomon Station on the Ginza line, and a 5-minute walk from the station to the hotel. By car, the trip from Narita to the hotel takes about 90 minutes. From Tokyo’s smaller Haneda Airport (HND), it takes about 30 minutes by train or 40 minutes by car to get the hotel.