Review of Park Hotel Tokyo, by Caroline Major

From the Ginza shopping strip, weave through the suspended walkways, backlit escalators and the forest of stainless steel and glass towers, which make up the new-media district of Shiodome. The signs for The Park Hotel Tokyo lead you to a rather unassuming elevator reception, made with sparsely studded pressed steel. At night, this luxury hotel gives a spectacular birds-eye view over the maze you've just walked through and the shinkansen (trains) speeding past.

The facilities

After the ride, the luxury hotel is surprising and slightly disorienting - you find yourself in the midst of a rather lively bar scene. With luck the band will be playing and you'll feel it absolutely necessary to have one (or two) of Park Hotel's very good cocktails under the soaring atrium.

Several restaurants adjoin this made-for-lounging area. Choose Japanese or French cuisine. You can also order it bento boxed for the next day. Coffee and tea is available all day from a sideboard, making a substantial contribution to what is the most convivial of luxury hotel lounges. The Park Hotel Tokyo is a contemporary take on a luxury hotel and manages to create something of a sense of community, with its crowd of internationally hip yet seemingly unpretentious guests.

The rooms

The 273 rooms at this luxury hotel have views over Ginza to the south and up to Kanda and Akihabra to the north. Each room is decorated with Monique LeHouelleur's natural-inspired artwork. Colours are bright white and beige with tinges of muted green. Premium rooms at the Park Hotel Tokyo have a lovely curved glass window stretching the width of the room and are worth the price hike.

The Park Hotel bathrooms are stacked with delicious Thann unguents (omnipresent in Japanese bathrooms) which will leave you smelling of orange and nutmeg and feeling revived. This luxury hotel is serious in its commitment to relaxing travellers. They also boast professional sleep consultants who use a mixture of special techniques, exclusive nightwear and original pillows. If you're an insomniac, this could be the clincher!