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

I really do think location matters. I get why hotels are popping up here but I didn't love it. I just stayed at the Andaz and the location does kind of suck. Yes you can jump on a train, but it is nice for a hotel to be immersed in an area that is vaguely interesting to walk around.

Thank you for your detailed review. A property I have now removed from my list of possible candidates for my visit to Tokyo later this year.

Nice report and photos. The few snacks should be free, not sold. Such a cheapskate. I know of some hotels that give it away for free.

Thank you for the thoughtful review, Ben.

Don't you hate how the new (iPhone 15 and later gen) cameras capture blurry text everywhere outside a small circle in the center of the image? It's not motion blur. I'm told it's a sensor size issue. Still I don't care for excuses and it's unlike Apple to have to rely on them. iPhone 14 and earlier gens take much more crisp pics of text.

Ben have you seen this story on Tokyo hotel price fixing?

https://soranews24.com/2025/04/19/15-famous-hotels-in-tokyo-investigated-by-fair-trade-commission-over-possible-price-fixing/

Hi Ben. I know this isn't relevant to the article, but I'm not sure of the best way to get messages to you.

AeroB13a is clearly Tim Dunn. Same writing style, same obsession with DL in UA stories that aren't relevant to DL, same insults to other posters. Even if it isn't, he's insulting other commenters and doing the same things that got Tim banned in the first place.

His comments can be seen in the UA A321XLR article. Looks like he changed his IP address to avoid detection.

I kind of hate to say it, but for the western hotels the more new ones I see in Tokyo the more I just want to go back to Kimpton Shinjuku, Andaz Tokyo, and Conrad Tokyo.

There actually are a lot of restaurants and bars if you walk east down Karasumori street towards Shimbashi station. That area is only about a 1/4 mile walk from the Andaz, similar to walking from the Kimpton or Hyatt Regency Shinjuku to the area around Shinjuku station. If you always walked to Toranomon station or the new Toranomon Hills station they built, you'd never see it since you're going the opposite direction. I didn't know it was there my first time visiting, I found it by accident on my last day hoofing it back to the Andaz to pick up luggage and run to the airport because I figured it'd be quicker to walk the direct route than transfer to the Ginza line and still walk from Toranomon station.

The decor feels so 2010-2016.

Is hanging any sort of artwork on the walls or putting plants or any decorative items illegal in this hotel? lol

That's very Gustapo, trying to harm him. He is bad but let him go.

Right. Ben - I don't get the strategy and implementation of EDITION hotels. They're positioned as next-gen five star style forward luxury, but the design implementation is often derivative and the service is below that of W hotels. As a cusp millennial/genz traveler, I am by definition their target market. However, I'm turned off by the lack of service and half-baked style over substance vibes.

Seems like EDITION as a brand has a target demo, but they've half-@$$ed the followthrough. So who are these hotels really for?

I like the decor of the suite, but the hallways definitely have an air of 1970s psychiatric hospital about them.

Just scroll past, Mark. That's what I did whenever I saw his name. Feeding trolls only encourages their bad behaviour.

@ Mark -- Thanks for the message! I've gotta be honest, AeroB13a is, ummm, a certain kind of commenter, but I don't actually get the sense that it's Tim Dunn. Is there something obvious I'm missing? For example, his comments often use British English ("minimise"), which Tim has never done. I don't find the writing styles similar, but maybe I'm missing something...

@ EDITION is Perplexing -- Maybe it's a good topic for a separate post, thanks. Very much agree with many of your conclusions.

@ NFSF -- Post coming shortly, thank you! 🙂

The hallways are stupidly wide and long. What a waste of space, especially in a city like Tokyo where space is highly valuable.

Could not agree more. I've stayed in quite a few of them now and only 2 have been legitimately good stays (Bodrum and NoMad). The rest have ranged from downright awful (Times Square) to mediocre at best. Your comparison to the W (or at least the revamped version of W) is spot on, but the problem is the rates they charge rival the top hotels in any given city. Meanwhile their rooms are tiny and/or laid out horribly, service is a mixed bag, and it's like they are trying way too hard to be trendy. Just a very confusing brand all around and I do tend to avoid them when I can.

I agree. They want to command the high-end five star prices without any of the true service elements of a five star property. The entire process should be seamless.

Marriott thinks if they have some nice views and facilities, they can call it a day. By Japan standards, this hotel is garbage. I don't see any curated elements you should expect in from a place that charges $1k/night

Aero is most definitely not Tim Dunn, and everyone needs to stop thinking about Tim. In a Japan hotel article, you still can't keep him out of your mouths.

This all happened because certain commenters on this site like to accuse anyone they disagree with as being Tim Dunn instead of engaging in any type of substantive discussion.

Aero is a weirdo in his own right, but almost certainly not Tim.

At least Tim Dunn has a basic knowledge that anyone would achieve by the end of an elementary school, which AeroB13a doesn't.

Yes, it does seem like a waste of space that could have been better utilised to make the rooms bigger.

@Ben - Wicked - I'll be delighted if I see that post

@yoloswag420 - solid argument, well put

@pstm91 - this! My observations echo yours - unimaginative generic design, poor build quality, close to non-existent service. Try-hard vibes without actually trying hard

Agreed stayed here once on business
Doubt I will ever stay again
A disappointingly generic experience unfortunately

Yes there’s no “proof” but it’s a pretty big coincidence that Aero started posting right when Tim stopped. They both bring DL into stories that have nothing to do with DL, and they disparage posters that point out what he does while repeating the same questionable “facts”.

Just curious Ben, what in your opinion is the best hotel in Tokyo you've stayed at.

The lap pool at the Conrad Tokyo is one of my favorites. I forget what floor but it's high enough to see beyond other buildings. It's never busy and it's maintained nicely. I would not enjoy that Edition pool with no windows.

I've stayed at the Bodrum Edition, too, and it was a wonderful stay. But the city Editions somehow turn me off.

“I agree. They want to command the high-end five star prices without any of the true service elements of a five star property. The entire process should be seamless.

Marriott thinks if they have some nice views and facilities, they can call it a day.”

I mean this is Marriott’s entire hotel strategy in a nutshell, no? EDITION is just the brand where this is currently expressed in its purest form, but almost all five star Marriott properties are quite overpriced for what they provide these days. It’s a factor of the size of Marriott and the sheer number of elites who will only look for Marriott properties as a result and don’t realise they’re paying for most of the ‘benefits’ in the rate upfront. Particularly in major global cities (Tokyo, London, Paris, Bangkok, New York) you have to mad now to stay at a Marriott on a cash rate unless you’re getting value from a suite upgrade award like this. I bet Palace Hotel Tokyo was not much more than the rate here and is on a whole different planet to this.

"76th in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars rankings"

Pardon my ignorance, but how can you end up 76th out of 50?

Thanks for this review. I’d vaguely considered staying there but it looks frankly horrid. The interiors look straight out of early 00s scandi-jap-nothing. What is one paying $1000 a night for?! Even Ws with their OOT decor look much better.