Review: The Tokyo EDITION Toranomon, Japan (Great Views, But…)

For the first hotel stay of our winter ski trip to Niseko, we spent a night at the 206-room Tokyo EDITION Toranomon. We wanted to be able to compare the two Tokyo EDITION properties, so we spent the following night at the Tokyo EDITION Ginza, which I’ll be reviewing in the next installment.

I’m conflicted about the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon, and I probably wouldn’t return. That’s not because it’s a bad hotel (it’s not), but because Tokyo is a competitive hotel market, so there are endless choices, especially given the rates the EDITION is charging.

On the plus side, the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon has incredible Tokyo Tower views, and we got an amazing suite upgrade thanks to using Nightly Upgrade Awards. The hotel also has some lively food and beverage outlets.

However, most other things about the hotel just fell a bit short, in my opinion. The service wasn’t attentive (with most staff being foreigners), and the hotel largely lacks a sense of place (admittedly, “EDITION” and “sense of place” often don’t belong in the same sentence). Furthermore, while the hotel has some nice amenities like a pool and gym, they’re basically sensory deprivation tanks, with no views (unlike so many other hotels in Tokyo).

Booking the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon

Cash rates at the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon vary throughout the year, as you’d expect, and typically range from somewhere around $500 to $1,000 per night. We paid cash for our stay, and the rate was around $700, since we were traveling during the start of peak season.

We booked through the Marriott STARS program, which offers extra perks, like complimentary breakfast, a room upgrade subject to availability, a $100 property credit, and more. I find that booking through Marriott STARS is especially useful for EDITION properties, where Marriott Bonvoy elite status doesn’t offer complimentary breakfast.

When redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points for this property, rates generally seem to be around 80,000 to 120,000 points per night, and for our night, the rate would’ve been 103,000 points. Given my valuation of 0.7 cents per Marriott Bonvoy point, paying cash was the better value, especially with breakfast and the $100 credit.

Tokyo EDITION Toranomon location

As the name suggests, the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon is located in the Toranomon district of Tokyo, which is primarily a business district. This area has its pros and cons — it has the best views of Tokyo Tower, though it gets quiet in the evenings. Personally I quite like staying in Toranomon, as it doesn’t feel that touristy, and I enjoy strolling around. You also have easy access to other parts of Tokyo, thanks to the city’s great public transport.

The hotel takes up levels 31-36 of the Tokyo World Gate building, which is why it has such great views.

The one downside to this setup (which is common with hotels in Tokyo) is that you have to take two sets of elevators to get to your room. When you enter the hotel on the ground floor, there’s just a small hallway leading to a couple of elevators, and then they take you up to the lobby, on the 31st floor. A minor note, but I found the elevators to be kind of slow for a large new building, and I felt like the ride took longer than it should’ve.

If you’re being driven to or from the hotel, you have to enter via the garage level, where you enter underground, and are then brought up to the lobby by elevators. Since the hotel is in the Tokyo World Gate complex, you also have direct access to the metro via an underground walkway, at Kamiyacho Station.

Tokyo EDITION Toranomon lobby & check-in

The 31st floor of the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon is dedicated to shared spaces, from the lobby area, to the restaurants and bars, to the wellness area (including spa, pool, and gym). As you exit the elevator from the ground floor, there’s first a long hallway you walk down, and when you turn right, you’ll find yourself at reception.

The reception area is actually quite small, given the number of rooms at the hotel. The check-in desk is immediately ahead, while the concierge desk is to the right.

Then there’s a seating area with a couple of couches, surrounded by plants. In terms of sense of place, the lobby level probably has the most Japanese design elements, with the wood design of the ceilings. I also love how high the ceiling is, as it feels like quite the expansive space.

Our check-in process was efficient. We were offered a welcome drink of either water or wine, and we just had some water. It would be nice if they invited people to sit down while check-in was processed, rather than standing there, but maybe it’s just due to how busy the hotel was when we arrived.

The check-in agent confirmed that we were assigned a Tower Suite, as that upgrade had been confirmed three days before arrival, thanks to using a Nightly Upgrade Award. There were no additional mentions of any perks for being a Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador member.

With keys in hand, we headed down a hall toward the elevators, which is also in the same direction as the wellness area.

There are three elevators leading to guest rooms, which are all located on levels 32-36.

Tokyo EDITION Toranomon suite

We were assigned room 3425. The first thing that stuck out to me was how massive the hallways were, as this really is a huge building. The second thing that stood out to me was how ugly the walls were. There are no wall treatments, but instead they have cheap white paint, which is largely scratched and peeling. Not exactly a great look (funny enough, before our stay, a friend pointed out specifically how ugly the hallway walls were, so I guess I’m not the only one who noticed it).

Our Tower Suite was awesome, though. These suites are marketed as being 108-124 square meters (1,163-1,335 square feet), so they’re massive, especially by Tokyo standards. The suite had a long entryway with the minibar and a half bathroom to the right.

The minibar was well stocked, with a variety of items for purchase. There was also complimentary coffee and tea, with a Nespresso machine and tea kettle. I was frustrated by the lack of any sort of milk or creamer in the room, to enjoy with coffee. Instead, there was just that weird sugar syrup, which I find to be “bleh.”

Next up was the living room, which was spacious. It featured a dining table with six chairs, an L-shaped couch, and a wall-mounted TV.

I loved how one of the walls had similar wood paneling to the lobby. There were sliding doors on both sides of the TV, leading to the bedroom.

On the living room table was a welcome amenity of matcha ganache. It was tasty, but honestly, it felt like a bit of a cheap welcome amenity, especially when booking through Marriott STARS.

The bedroom had a comfortable king size bed (with large but flat pillows), a seating area with two chairs and a coffee table, and a table with a chair by the far wall, right by the TV.

Lastly, there was the large bathroom, with double sinks, a soaking tub, a walk-in shower, and a toilet. I couldn’t decide whether the bathroom design felt sterile and boring, or just clean and in line with the typical EDITION design philosophy (which perhaps is sterile and boring?).

The walk-in shower had excellent water pressure, and Le Labo amenities (which I love), in reusable containers.

The toilet had a bidet feature, but it seemed to be a budget version of the concept, as the seat didn’t automatically open (first world problems, I know!).

The room also had a large closet space off to the side of the bedroom.

The highlight of the room, no doubt, was the view. I’ve been in quite a few hotel rooms that have a Tokyo Tower view, but this might be the most spectacular one I’ve had yet, and I found it to be pretty magical. I could see merit to staying here one night in a Tokyo Tower view room, especially if you can use a Nightly Upgrade Award for the suite I was in.

I was hoping to get good pictures during the day as well, but unfortunately the weather was not cooperating.

All-in-all, I thought the suite was awesome. While EDITION decor is a bit more sterile than I prefer, this suite was huge, the views were incredible, and I found the overall design to be functional and quite comfortable.

Tokyo EDITION Toranomon spa, pool, and gym

All of the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon wellness facilities are located on the 31st floor, next to the elevator banks leading to the rooms.

I didn’t get any spa treatments, but the EDITION has a full service spa, with six treatment rooms (including one room for couples), and you can find the spa menu here.

The hotel also has an indoor pool, which is open daily from 7AM until 10PM. Guests have to make reservations to use this, though they’re complimentary, and that’s just done to manage capacity.

The lap pool is 45 feet (14 meters), and has four loungers and four chairs. There’s also a hot tub. I think this is the perfect example of where the hotel falls short a bit. There are absolutely no views from here, and there’s nothing about the design of the pool area that reflects the destination.

Of course it’s nice to have an indoor pool in a high-rise building, but so many other Tokyo hotels have pools with panoramic views of the city, which makes this so much cooler of an amenity.

There’s a small locker room next to the pool so that guests can change. Note that the steam room and sauna are located in the spa area, so they’re separate from this.

The property also has a 24/7 gym, immediately next to the pool. The equipment is quite good, with a particularly large selection of cardio machines. While the strength training is decent, having only two benches isn’t ideal, given the size of the hotel. For example, even during our 5AM workout, we had to share a bench area with someone else.

Once again, there are so many Tokyo hotels with amazing gym views, and here you get no views. Just as an example, contrast this to the gym and pool area at the nearby Tokyo Andaz Toranomon, where both facilities have views.

Tokyo EDITION Toranomon restaurants & bars

EDITION properties are known for their popular dining outlets, which are often even popular with locals. In the case of the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon, there are several options.

For one, there’s the Lobby Bar, which is the hotel’s all-day bar and lounge, with drinks and snacks. It’s quite a large space, between the seats at the bar, the communal tables, and the sofa areas. It’s an inviting and cozy space.

Next, the hotel has The Blue Room, which is the all-day dining restaurant, and it’s also where breakfast is served. For lunch and dinner, the restaurant serves international favorites.

The hotel has two other dining outlets, which we didn’t have the chance to check out:

• The Jade Room + Garden Terrace is the EDITION’s signature restaurant, with creative direction from British chef Tom Aikens, and an eclectic menu; the restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, though sadly is closed on Mondays, which is when we were going to check it out (we had plans for Sunday evening)
• Gold Bar at EDITION is located on the ground level, and is a cocktail bar, which was in 2024 voted as 76th in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars rankings; however, we were staying on a Sunday night, and the bar is closed on Sundays and Mondays, so we couldn’t check it out

So I’d say the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon has a decent selection of trendy bar and dining options. However, Tokyo is a city with so many amazing restaurants, so I can’t say that any struck me as being particularly appealing, or worth going out of your way to visit.

Tokyo EDITION Toranomon breakfast

Since we booked through Marriott STARS, our rate included breakfast, which was served in The Blue Room between 7AM and 10:30AM. The breakfast consists of a buffet, plus the option to order an item off a menu.

The buffet was pretty high quality, but not terribly extensive. There were pastries, bread, croissants, yogurt, smoothies, cold cuts, cheese, and salad, among other things.

That was then complemented by the breakfast menu, which you can find below, and where you can order one item (you can also find the drink list below).

Coffee was provided by the servers, and I had an americano, while Ford had tea. The coffee was okay, but clearly came out of one of those machines where you just push a button.

From the menu, I selected the Japanese breakfast set, with salmon, brown rice, simmered vegetables, and miso soup. It was delicious.

Ford kept it simple, and had scrambled eggs.

The breakfast was perfectly decent, but hardly the most extravagant that I’ve had a hotel in Japan.

Tokyo EDITION Toranomon service

Across the board, service at the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon was well intentioned, though I can’t say it was to the caliber of what one would expect at a luxury property. A few thoughts:

• One of the issues is simply that the hotel has 200+ rooms and a lot of outside guests as well, so that limits the ability to have personalized service
• A majority of the hotel staff are foreigners; there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but you might almost forget that you’re in Japan, which isn’t ideal
• Admittedly it was really busy at breakfast, but service was downright chaotic, and it felt like it took an eternity to get a coffee, and like you had to beg for service
• Just as an example of the lack of service culture, at 9AM I tried to ask the concierge a question, but I was told that he’d only arrive at 10AM (which seems rather late, no?); there wasn’t any offer to take down my request or to have him reach out to me, but rather, I was just told to return

While I’ll review the Tokyo EDITION Ginza in the next installment, the thing that stood out to me the most was the massive contrast in service culture. Service at the Tokyo EDITION Ginza was in a completely different league than at the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon, and that probably partly comes down to it being a much smaller property.

Bottom line

The Tokyo EDITION Toranomon has incredible views of Tokyo Tower, and we got a great suite, thanks to using a Nightly Upgrade Award. However, the view and the size of the suite are about the only reason I could see myself staying here again.

It’s not that it’s a bad hotel — it isn’t at all. It’s just that Tokyo is a pretty amazing hotel market, and there are lots of other hotels that are much better. It’s all little things that detracted from our stay, like the lackluster service, and the complete lack of views from the pool and gym.

In the next installment I’ll review the Tokyo EDITION Ginza, which I enjoyed a lot more, despite its lack of views and amenities.

What’s your take on the Tokyo EDITION Toranomon?