Park Hotel Tokyo

This high-rise hotel houses TV and media companies below -- the 25th through 34th floors have been hollowed out into a light-filled atrium, around which all the hotel's rooms reside. The interior atrium makes for a stunning lobby, with dark-wood and stone floors as well as different seating areas separated by exhibitions of original art. Planters with mossy beds are filled with small trees and colorful sculptures. During the day, the atrium is flooded with natural light both from above and from the 25th-floor windows (from which Mount Fuji is visible), and at night the airy space's earth tones are illuminated by the glow of gallery lights on wooden walls hung with artwork. The space is designed to tout the boutique's ART (Atrium, Restaurants, and Travel) concept, combining traditional Japanese hospitality within a stimulating aesthetic environment. 

Park Hotel Tokyo is built on the top 10 floors of a media skyscraper in the business-centered neighborhood of Shiodome. It's directly connected to the Shiodome Station via the Toei Oedo and Yurikamome subway lines, putting the entire city within reach. Shiodome is mostly centered on business pursuits: It's home to the headquarters of All Nippon Airways, Fujitsu, and Nippon Television. For leisure travelers, Hamarikyu Garden on Tokyo Bay, Tsukiji fish market, and the shopping mecca of Ginza are all within a 20-minute walk of the hotel. Haneda Airport is about a 15-minute drive to the south, while Narita International Airport is about an hour drive to the east.

All the hotel's 273 rooms and suites have great views of either the city or Tokyo Bay from the tower's upper floors. The Standard Rooms are decorated in a contemporary style, with either dark-wood furniture and neutral colors, or light wood furniture and coral color-coordinated bedspreads and curtains. There may be minor wear, though, such as carpet stains or scuff marks on the walls. All have white walls inset with windows that follow the gentle curvature of the building, with Corner and Premium Rooms making the most of the views. Rooms on the 31st floor, where the hotel is slowly transforming each into an original work of art conceived by a different artist, get more interesting. Most are covered in painted themes inspired by Japanese culture -- from the vivid Cherry Blossoms Room highlighted in gold leaf to the whimsical Geisha Goldfish Room, with a dream-like mural floating above the bed and up across the ceiling to surround a small desk on the opposite wall. Another depicts Sumo wrestlers, large and in charge of the perimeter around a king bed. Every bed gets fancy pillows by Japan's Lofty Co., and all rooms have minibars, flat-screen TVs, and tea-making facilities, but no coffeemakers. The bathrooms have  shower/tub combos and the ubiquitous electronic toilets with built-in bidet functions, and toiletries. 

With a focus on art and aesthetic spaces, the hotel lacks features offered by some of its competitors, such as a pool or modern fitness center (the one here is a tiny room with a handful of cardio machines), but it does have a full-service spa. In Thann Sanctuary's treatment rooms, therapists combine Swedish and Ayurvedic techniques with traditional Thai body work, along with the usual menu of facials and scrubs. A 24-hour business center with Macs and printing services is in a quiet room off the lobby, and the hotel has several private meeting rooms available.

As part of its "Artist in Hotel" project, the Park Hotel Tokyo has been adding several new Artist Rooms each year to its 31st floor. The project is ongoing through 2016 until each room on the floor has been given a redesign by a different artist. The Art Lounge in the lobby atrium serves drinks and  light Western fare from breakfast until late at night, and showcases changing seasonal art exhibitions. For more serious dining, there are two restaurants on the 25th floor; Tateru Yoshino Bis fashions itself after a contemporary French bistro, and Hanasanshou serves Japanese Kaiseki-style cuisine paired with a vast sake menu. The traditional restaurant uses seasonal ingredients sourced from a farm in Kyoto that has been in operation for more than four centuries.