Hotel Gajoen Tokyo

I booked a Luxury room as a Hilton Diamond member. No upgrade however I was not aware at booking that there is an executive lounge and access was honored. This was my first experience at an SLH since the partnership with Hilton commenced. The room itself was very spacious! I did not do any pre-arrival research and was pleasantly surprised by the 70 sq meter room. I was on the south side of the building and had a view of the small nearby river and cityscape. There was a large living room area with walk-in closet and. I would consider such a room a suite at any upscale hotel in Tokyo. I was also not prepared for a private whirlpool and steam sauna in the bathroom. With about 30 minutes of preparation time I had a private sauna experience which was a first for me. While one may come to Japan looking for an onsen experience this sort of amenity goes above and beyond that. The hotel itself was also very spacious with lots of beautiful Japanese-inspired design and restaurant options. I had heard this place was often chosen for weddings and saw a couple taking pictures on the one night I was there. There was a really nice small garden with waterfall in the central area which was quite remarkable. The hotel is located southwest of Meguro Station and while it is a relatively short walk you do have to go up and down a hill which may not be great for those with luggage or those less ambulatory. The hotel actually has a free shuttle to Meguro Station and also goes to Shinagawa Station three times in the afternoon. I have included a picture of the information. The Meguro shuttle stop is actually on the east side of the station. I checked out the executive lounge on the eighth floor during cocktail hour. It was a very good sized lounge with plenty of tables to accommodate guests. The drink options were good and there were some really delicious snack options such as miso-infused cheese. That said, there was an imbalance in food offered to guest ratio as anything desirable was quickly scooped up as it was laid out. A delicious snack but nothing more than that as the seeming kitchen capacity and the other sharks in the water keep this from being a light meal. I also had breakfast at Kanade Terrace on the first floor. While other hotels tend to have a balance between Western and Japanese options, the breakfast here skewed slightly more Japanese as one might expect of this type of hotel. That said, on the morning I went they also had carved roast beef. This is quite a luxurious option that I have only seen normally offered at the Conrad Osaka. Overall I had a really pleasant and great new experience. It was nice to experience this hotel, an SLH property, and it is good to see Hilton add a lifestyle type property to its Tokyo portfolio.