PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

If you like small, quiet hotels, this monolith is not for you. Like a city unto itself, the New Otani is so big that two information desks are needed to assist lost souls searching for a particular restaurant or one of the shops in the meandering arcade; there are even two check-in desks. The hotel's most splendid feature is its garden, the best of any Tokyo hotel -- a 400-year-old Japanese garden that once belonged to a feudal lord, with 4 hectares (10 acres) of ponds, waterfalls, bridges, bamboo groves, and manicured bushes. The large outdoor pool, flanked by greenery, is also nice. A variety of rooms, in a main building built for the 1964 Olympics and a newer tower, are available. Those in the main building are comfortable, with full-length windows to take advantage of city and garden views and sleek black and gold furniture, including a desk with a fold-down mirror that does double duty as a vanity. Tower rooms range from chic ones done in jade, black, and chrome to "fusui healing" rooms with such extras as in-room humidifier, foot bath, and compact CD/MD player. The tower offers the best views -- of the garden, the skyscrapers of Shinjuku, and, on clear days, Mount Fuji in the distance. Since rates are the same no matter which way you face, be sure to request a room overlooking the garden. Parents appreciate the 24-hour Baby Room and the fact that the outdoor pool is free for those who become Hotel Club members (membership is free). Facilities: 38 restaurants and cafes; 6 bars and lounges; outdoor pool (fee: ¥2,000/$17/£8.40; free for Hotel Club members); small exercise room; health club w/indoor pool and lighted outdoor tennis courts (fee: ¥5,000/$42/£21); day-care center for children 1 month to 5 years old (fee: ¥6,300/$52/£26 for 2 hr.); concierge; tour desk; business center; shopping arcade w/120 stores; salon; limited room service (6am-1am); in-room massage; same-day laundry/dry-cleaning service; nonsmoking rooms; executive-level rooms; medical and dental clinics; post office; tea-ceremony room; art museum (free for hotel guests).

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Tokyo, 10th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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