PRICE:
Frommer's Exceptional

Located across from the U.S. embassy and long considered one of Tokyo's most venerable hotels, the Okura is struggling to keep up with pricier -- and newer -- top-rated hotels in the city; it has added a spa and recently renovated its rooms to increase its appeal. Still, it remains a favorite home-away-from-home of visiting U.S. dignitaries, and the service is gracious and impeccable. Rich decor elegantly combines ikebana and shoji screens with an old-fashioned Western spaciousness. The atmosphere is low-key, almost Zen-like, with none of the flashiness inherent in some younger hotels. All rooms are comfortable, with clean, crisp dark wood furnishings; opaque windows designed to resemble shoji; TVs with keyboards that can access the Internet; and gold colors offset by fuchsia or other bright-colored armchairs and pillows. My favorite rooms are in the main building facing the garden; some on the fifth floor here have balconies overlooking the garden and pool. Other rooms have views of a rooftop garden or Tokyo Tower, while "Grand Comfort rooms" on the 9th and 10th floors offer free entrance to the spa. Tip: Although fees are charged for use of the health club and pools, hotel guests can use these facilities for free simply by joining Okura Club International -- there's no charge for membership, which starts immediately upon filling out an application at the guest relations desk. Facilities: 10 restaurants; 2 bars; nicely landscaped outdoor pool (fee: ¥2,100/$17/£8.80); health club w/indoor 20m pool, gym, sauna (fee: ¥5,775/$48/£24 to use everything); spa (fee: ¥12,600/$105/£53); day-care center (¥5,250/$44/£22 for 2 hr.); concierge; tour desk; free shuttle service to the nearest subways (weekends only); comprehensive business center; shopping arcade; salon; barbershop; 24-hr. room service; in-room massage; same-day laundry/dry-cleaning service; nonsmoking rooms; tea-ceremony room; private museum showcasing Japanese art (free for hotel guests); pharmacy; in-house dentist; post office; packing and shipping service.

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

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