The Palace Hotel Tokyo, a hospitality landmark sitting on prime real estate in the vicinity of the Imperial Palace, is to reopen as an entirely re-imaged product on May 17.
The 290-room property – which debuted in 1947 as Hotel Teito before becoming the Palace Hotel in 1961 that was ultimately razed down to make way for the new Palace Hotel – anchors a US$1.2 billion mixed-use development and features 10 restaurants and bars as well as the first Evian spa in Japan.
There are 12 room categories, ranging from deluxe rooms at 45 sqm to 55 sqm to suites of 75 sqm to 255 sqm. Most of these showcase open-style bathrooms with separate soaking tubs and showers and more than half have open terraces and balconies revealing a priceless view of the Imperial Palace gardens. Amenities include free internet access, a sleek minibar compartment, 46-inch LCD TVs and Blue-ray DVD and CD players and specially designed iPod speakers.
Of the hotel’s original F&B outlets, its French restaurant Crown, returns as a collaboration with Patrick Henriroux, who has helmed the two-star Michelin La Pyramide in Vienne, France for the past decade. Other offerings include Wadakura Japanese restaurant with sushi, tempura and teppanyaki sections, Amber Palace serving Shanghainese and Cantonese cuisine, the all-day dining Grand Kitchen, a delicatessen and a tea corner. There are three bars: Palace Lounge and Royal Bar in the lobby and Lounge Bar Prive on the sixth floor seating 50 inside and 50 more on the terrace.
Meetings are served by a ballroom that looks out through a 7-by-22-metre window to the Imperial Palace, eight function rooms and a boardroom for 28 people.
At the country’s first Evian retreat, Vitalising Signature, a treatment specially created for the establishment, starts off with Japanese trigger-point therapy to improve the flow of qi throughout before a Swedish deep tissue massage is applied to help the body restore its own balance from within.
To mark the relaunch, opening rate promotions are available starting from JPY40,000 (US$490) without breakfast and JPY45,000 (US$552) with breakfast from May 20 to June 30, 2012.
Business Traveller was invited to tour the Palace Hotel Tokyo this week and emerged with these exclusive images.
For more details, visit www.palacehoteltokyo.com
Margie T Logarta
