Conrad Tokyo

Conventional wisdom holds that anyone hoping for a glimpse of the future need look no further than Tokyo; this is as true in the hotel business as it is in fashion, technology or anything else. Here even the big-chain luxury properties cut a stylish silhouette with the kind of good looks that used to be the sole purview of the hipster boutiques, and the kind of high-tech infrastructure and obsessive service that the boutiques never could muster.

Among the major players on the Tokyo scene is the Conrad. In modern-classic Tokyo style it occupies the top floors of an imposing skyscraper, this one in the Shiodome complex, in one of the city’s up-and-coming districts. The experience begins in a speedy elevator opening onto the 28th-floor lobby, a rather monumental space with a sweeping view of Tokyo Bay. Guest rooms are perhaps even more impressive, with novel modernist fixtures and furnishings somehow seeming utterly serious and calmingly conservative, in that way it seems only the Japanese have a handle on. The bathrooms are properly excessive, with freestanding tubs, separate rain showers and a window through which you can watch TV from the tub (or draw the blinds for privacy).

Services, too, are comprehensive, featuring a pool, spa and fitness center, and all the business facilities you could need. The Conrad is bucking the increasingly prevalent trend toward à la carte amenities: things like internet access (and even a swim in that selfsame pool) are included in the rate, by no means a given in a Tokyo luxury hotel. Meanwhile the fine-dining Collage and the more casual Cerise ensure you’re never short of dining options, and Mori-san, the Conrad’s sommelier, is possibly the best in Japan. All this in a Shiodome location that’s convenient, yet just out-of-the-way enough so as not to overwhelm.