Tokyo Design Hotels: Die 6 besten Hotels und wie man dort eincheckt

Prices and hours checked 26 September 2026

Tokyo’s best design hotels look alike in photos: timber, washi, soft light, a view. In real life they couldn’t be more different. One charges around ¥400,000 a night. One has a single bedroom. One won’t let you in unless you’re a member. And four of them will sell you a way inside for the price of tea, a drink or dinner.

This guide takes the six design hotels that keep turning up on Tokyo design lists and sorts them the practical way: what each one is really like, what a night costs, and how to get through the door if you’re not staying.

The short version: the six design hotels and the cheapest way into each

• Aman Tokyo: afternoon tea under the famous lantern atrium, ¥12,000
• HOSHINOYA Tokyo: dinner in the basement dining room, from ¥28,000 plus tax and service
• Janu Tokyo: afternoon tea, or a two-to-four-hour Spa House day
• 1 Hotel Tokyo: a Japanese gin at Spotted Stone, about ¥5,000 to ¥8,500 a head
• TRUNK (House): no way in without booking the whole house
• Soho House Tokyo: members, their guests and bedroom guests only

How Tokyo’s Design Hotels Let You In

Sort these six by the door rather than the decor and they fall into three groups.

• Book a room: Aman Tokyo, HOSHINOYA Tokyo, Janu Tokyo and 1 Hotel Tokyo. Ordinary hotels in the booking sense, with very different prices.
• Book the building: TRUNK (House) has one bedroom, so you take the whole house or you don’t go.
• Join first: Soho House Tokyo is a members’ club that happens to have bedrooms.

The good news for anyone not spending a fortune: four of the six sell something to non-guests, and all four take bookings online.

💡 Japanischer Tipp: If you care more about the architecture than the bed, don’t book a night at all. Tea at Aman and a drink at 1 Hotel come to around ¥20,000, and get you into two of the best interiors on this list.

1. Aman Tokyo: The Lantern in the Sky

Aman Tokyo is the design hotel every list starts with. Opened in 2014 as Aman’s first city hotel, it fills floors 33 to 38 of Otemachi Tower. Architect Kerry Hill built the lobby as an atrium about 30 metres high, designed to feel like the inside of a shoji paper lantern: washi, dark timber and stone, with floor-to-ceiling windows over the Imperial Palace gardens.

If you’ve seen one photo of a Tokyo design hotel, it was probably this lobby. There are 84 rooms, from 71 to 157 square metres, and a night starts at about ¥405,200 for two with breakfast, tax and service. It’s one of the most expensive stays in Tokyo, and one of the easiest here to see without staying.

The Aman Spa covers 2,500 square metres over two floors, with a 30-metre heated indoor pool, and treatments run from 10:00 to 22:00.

The Lounge by Aman, in the atrium itself, is open to non-residents when there’s space, from 11:00 to 22:00. Afternoon tea runs from 11:00 to 16:30, and the current seasonal set, made with Shine Muscat grapes, costs ¥12,000 including service and tax. Book it on TableCheck.

• Wo: Otemachi Tower, 1-5-6 Otemachi, Chiyoda. Connected to Otemachi Station, about five minutes on foot from Tokyo Station
• Rooms: 84, from about ¥405,200 a night for two with breakfast
• Way in without staying: The Lounge by Aman, afternoon tea from ¥12,000
• Offizieller Webauftritt: The Lounge by Aman

💡 Japanischer Tipp: Ask for a window table when you book. The lounge faces the palace gardens, and on a clear afternoon you can see across the whole city.

2. HOSHINOYA Tokyo: A Ryokan 17 Floors High

A few minutes’ walk from Aman is the design hotel that answers it. Opened in July 2016, HOSHINOYA Tokyo also has 84 rooms, but where Aman is a Western hotel practising restraint, HOSHINOYA is a ryokan stacked into a tower. Architect Rie Azuma wrapped the building in a lattice based on Edo komon, the fine patterns of old kimono.

Inside, each of the 14 guest floors works as its own small inn: six rooms around a shared lounge called the ochanoma, where tea and snacks are laid out. You take your shoes off at the entrance and walk on tatami from there on. At the top, on the 17th floor, is an onsen fed by the Otemachi hot spring, drawn from 1,500 metres underground. It’s for staying guests only, so for a proper soak, see our guide to the best onsen towns in Japan.

The way in for everyone else is dinner. The basement dining room takes outside bookings on TableCheck: the main dinner course is ¥28,000, plus tax and a 10% service charge, from 17:30. Sushi Otemon, an eight-seat counter in a corner of the same floor, costs ¥36,300 all in, with seatings at 17:30 and 20:00.

• Wo: 1-9-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda. About 10 minutes on foot from Tokyo Station’s Marunouchi North exit
• Rooms: 84, on 14 floors of six
• Way in without staying: dinner from ¥28,000 plus tax and service; book by 20:00 the day before
• Offizieller Webauftritt: HOSHINOYA Tokyo dining

💡 Japanischer Tipp: Same-day cancellations are charged in full, so only book the dinner when your plans are fixed.

3. Janu Tokyo: Aman’s Sociable Sibling

Janu is Aman’s younger sister brand, and Janu Tokyo, its first hotel, opened in Azabudai Hills in March 2024. The building is by Pelli Clarke & Partners and the interiors by Jean-Michel Gathy of Denniston. There are 122 rooms and suites and eight places to eat and drink. It’s the most sociable design hotel of the six: busier, louder and built to be used, with a garden terrace looking at Tokyo Tower.

Its real draw is the wellness centre: 4,000 square metres over four floors, with one of the largest gyms in Tokyo, a 25-metre pool, studios for spin, movement and martial arts, seven treatment rooms and two private Spa Houses.

Day visitors can book a Spa House Day Experience: three versions, two to four hours long. Prices aren’t published, so email janutokyo.wellness@janu.com. The cheaper way in is afternoon tea in the Janu Lounge, with sittings at 12:00 and 15:00, bookable on TableCheck. The current menu is chestnut, until 12 October.

• Wo: Azabudai Hills, Minato, with Tokyo Tower in view
• Rooms: 122 rooms and suites
• Way in without staying: afternoon tea, dinner, or a Spa House day
• Offizieller Webauftritt: Janu Tokyo wellness

4. 1 Hotel Tokyo: The Newest, With 100 Gins

The newest design hotel of the six opened on 5 March 2026, on floors 38 to 43 of the Akasaka Trust Tower. 1 Hotel Tokyo has 211 rooms, including 24 suites and three penthouses, with interiors by the design studio CRÈME. The brand sells nature rather than gold taps: reclaimed and local materials, Oya stone throughout (the same stone you can see quarried on a day trip to Oya), and around 1,500 potted plants.

It also holds CASBEE S, the top grade of Japan’s green building rating. Public spaces are on the 38th floor, including the lobby. There’s an indoor pool with an outdoor deck, the Bamford Wellness Spa, and a gym that never closes.

The door for non-guests is the bar. Spotted Stone pours nearly 100 Japanese craft gins and takes bookings on TableCheck, where it lists a spend of ¥5,000 to ¥8,500 a head. NiNi, the all-day restaurant on the same floor, books there too.

• Wo: 2-17-22 Akasaka, Minato. Connected to Tameike-Sanno Station
• Rooms: 211
• Way in without staying: Spotted Stone, or a meal at NiNi
• Offizieller Webauftritt: 1 Hotel Tokyo

💡 Japanischer Tipp: Go at dusk. Spotted Stone opens in the afternoon, so you can watch the city light up from the 38th floor for the price of one drink.

5. TRUNK (House): One Bedroom and a Disco

The smallest design hotel here is a 70-year-old former geisha house in the back streets of Kagurazaka, once a ryotei, a traditional restaurant for entertaining. TRUNK kept the old wooden building as it was and rebuilt the inside as a one-suite house. The MICHELIN Guide calls it Tokyo’s most exclusive one-room stay.

It’s let to one booking at a time, with a private chef, daily housekeeping and a doctor on call. There’s a tatami tea room, a hinoki bath, a karaoke room and, the reason people talk about it, a soundproofed disco with neon lights, a stocked bar and a dance floor.

There’s no way in without renting the house, and the price isn’t published. It’s bookable through Design Hotels.

• Wo: Kagurazaka, Shinjuku
• Rooms: one suite, booked as the whole house
• Way in without staying: keine
• Offizieller Webauftritt: TRUNK (HOUSE) on Design Hotels

💡 Japanischer Tipp: Want the TRUNK look without renting a house? The same company runs two hotels, TRUNK (HOTEL) Cat Street in Shibuya and TRUNK (HOTEL) Yoyogi Park.

6. Soho House Tokyo: A Club With Bedrooms

Soho House opened its first house in Japan in April 2026, in Minami-Aoyama near Omotesando. It’s big: 75,000 square feet, 42 bedrooms, two floors of club space, restaurants on the 13th and 14th floors and a 4,000-square-foot infinity-style pool on the 14th, tiled in indigo and white.

The details are why design fans care. The reception desk is Kyoto lacquer by Makino Urushi, handmade washi by KAMISM covers the walls, and the parquet follows the pattern of tatami. There’s also an Edomae sushi counter.

But it isn’t a design hotel you can simply book. Since 2020, Soho House has kept the bedrooms at most of its houses for members and Soho Friends, a cheaper plan made for booking rooms. Soho Friends doesn’t get you into the club floors unless you’re staying that night or you’re a member’s guest. Full Every House membership in Tokyo starts at ¥51,667 a month, or ¥31,250 if you’re under 27.

• Wo: 3-8-35 Minami-Aoyama, Minato, near Omotesando Station
• Rooms: 42, for members and Soho Friends
• Way in without staying: only as a member’s guest
• Offizieller Webauftritt: Soho House Tokyo

💡 Japanischer Tipp: Membership isn’t something you can buy for a holiday: you apply and wait to be accepted. If you know a member, ask them to take you in as their guest.

Which Design Hotel Should You Choose?

If you’re booking a night rather than a cup of tea, match the design hotel to the trip.

• For a once-in-a-lifetime splurge: Aman Tokyo. The atrium, the palace view and the quiet are what people remember.
• For a ryokan without leaving the city: HOSHINOYA Tokyo. Tatami, an onsen and Japanese dinners, ten minutes on foot from Tokyo Station.
• For wellness: Janu Tokyo. No other design hotel here has a gym, pool and spa on this scale.
• For something new: 1 Hotel Tokyo, open since March, with a bar built for a night out.
• For a group of friends: TRUNK (House). Shared between friends, a whole house with a chef and a disco makes more sense than it sounds.
• For a longer stay: Soho House Tokyo, if you’re already a member or planning to join.

Room rates at these design hotels move with the season. They’re highest at the autumn and spring peaks, so price your dates before you fall for one.

How to See Tokyo’s Design Hotels Without Staying

Most people reading about these six aren’t booking a ¥400,000 room. Here’s the access list for all six design hotels in one place.

Design hotel	Way in without staying	Cost	Book on
Aman Tokyo	Afternoon tea in The Lounge by Aman	¥12,000 including service and tax	TableCheck
HOSHINOYA Tokyo	Dinner, or the Sushi Otemon counter	From ¥28,000 plus tax and service; sushi ¥36,300 all in	TableCheck, by 20:00 the day before
Janu Tokyo	Afternoon tea, dinner or a Spa House day	Tea on TableCheck; spa on request	TableCheck; spa by email
1 Hotel Tokyo	A drink at Spotted Stone, or a meal at NiNi	About ¥5,000 to ¥8,500 a head at Spotted Stone	TableCheck
TRUNK (House)	None: you rent the whole house	On request	Design Hotels
Soho House Tokyo	As a member’s guest	Membership from ¥51,667 a month	Soho House

If you have one free afternoon, this is the order that works. Have tea in the Aman atrium or at Janu, whichever suits your day. Take a gin at Spotted Stone in Akasaka as it gets dark. Then, if you booked it by 20:00 the day before, finish with the 20:00 sushi seating at HOSHINOYA.

Book all of it ahead. Each of these design hotels takes outside guests only when there’s space, and weekends fill first.

Getting Between Tokyo’s Design Hotels

The six are spread across central Tokyo, but four of them sit close enough to link in an afternoon. For the sights around them, our Tokyo bucket list groups the city into five walkable routes.

• Otemachi: Aman Tokyo and HOSHINOYA Tokyo, a few minutes’ walk apart, next to Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace
• Azabudai Hills: Janu Tokyo, a short walk from Kamiyacho Station on the Hibiya Line
• Akasaka: 1 Hotel Tokyo, connected to Tameike-Sanno Station
• Kagurazaka: TRUNK (House), in the old lanes near Kagurazaka and Iidabashi stations
• Minami-Aoyama: Soho House Tokyo, near Omotesando Station

Janu and 1 Hotel are close too: Azabudai Hills to Akasaka is a short taxi ride, which makes tea at Janu followed by a gin at Spotted Stone an easy evening between two design hotels.

Tokyo Design Hotel FAQ

Wir aktualisieren diese Seite

We checked every price, time and rule here on 26 September 2026, against each hotel’s own website and booking pages. Afternoon tea menus and prices change with the seasons, and room rates change daily, so treat the numbers as a guide. We update this page when one of these design hotels changes how outsiders can get in.

For more of Tokyo’s new architecture, see our guide to Shibuya Marui 2026, Tokyo’s new timber landmark, and Beautiful Libraries in Japan. If you’re near Soho House, THE HYUNDAI Omotesando is a short walk away. And for when to go, our Bester Zeitpunkt für einen Besuch in Japan guide goes month by month.