Grand Hyatt Hotel Roppongi: Going club class on the 40th

Transitioning from 39 to 40 made much easier with a one-night lux stay in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Roppongi, Tokyo. 

The partner and I have birthdays within just a few days of each other.  This year was my 40th (hers remains one of life's great mysteries, except to me of course) so we pooled together our resources (more of hers than mine to be fair) and headed out for a one-night stay at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Roppongi.  

Why the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Roppongi?  Because it's part of the Roppongi Hills complex which means there are opportunities for a romantic stroll, city lights, a bit of window shopping, maybe some kind of event (a Belgian beer festival at the time of visiting) and a choice of restaurants and bars should those in the hotel be too much of a stretch. 

And also the room was within the, "I'll never be 40 again and all my family are on the other side of the world so f#@k it" budget.

There are almost 400 rooms at the Grand Hyatt.  Lots to choose from then.  We went with the "1 King Bed, Club Access."  Bit of a convoluted name for a hotel room but at least it does what it says on the tin -- it has a king-size bed and guests have access to the 10th-floor Grand Club Lounge.  More on that very soon. 

What follows then is a vague flow of events during our stay at the Grand Hyatt.  For obvious reasons there will be gaps in the flow.  Oh, and be warned there will be an image of me drowning in the comfort of this hotel's dressing gowns.

Check in

It astonishes me that even the plush lobby of a 5-star hotel isn't fit for purpose for some people.  Us included, it turns out.  Grand Hyatt Roppongi guests staying in rooms with Grand Club access go straight to the 6th-floor "club," -- a kind of restaurant / lounge space with a mix of tables, chairs, and comfy seats decorated with a selection of newspapers and those coffee-table books that sell for fortune but nobody actually reads -- to check in, presumably so as they don't have to mix with the rest of the 5-star hotel riffraff. 

Anyway, more fool us, because the check-in process takes longer up here on accounts of the fact that they sit you down and take a drink order before taking the 10s of thousands of yen that it costs to stay in one of these rooms.

It was nice though.  As well as the usual coffees and teas they've got jars of cookies, nuts, chips and M&M's that you're free to nibble on.  At one point I knocked my fork off the table (Nerves -- I clearly don't belong in such rarified hotel club lounges.) which set one of the concierge dudes into a sprint to offer me another one.  I turned him down in an attempt to convince him that I wasn't worthy.

The Room

I knew that our room at the Grand Hyatt Roppongi was going to be something special because rooms were offset from the corridor almost giving them the feel of having a private lobby.

We launched into a giddy "itinerary" check as soon as we entered the room.  Now, the photos here aren't going to do it justice at all but we were both as pleased as punch with our digs for the night which included, among the hotel staples, the following .... 

Nespresso coffee machine

Full and fancy Japanese tea set

Copy of Time magazine (in English)

Imabari towels

TV in the bathroom

One of those showers with the massive heads fixed to the ceiling

A bathtub that fills in 5 minutes

A spare smartphone-type device

Shoe-polishing set

(King size bed, Grand Hyatt Hotel Roppongi, Tokyo)

(TV and desk, Grand Hyatt Hotel Roppongi, Tokyo)

(Bath that fills in 5 minutes, Grand Hyatt Hotel Roppongi, Tokyo)

The Pool

After about an hour of bouncing around the room and not knowing where to put ourselves, we readied ourselves for the swimming pool.

Guest with access to the Grand Club can make use of the Grand Hyatt's indoor swimming pool and fitness room free of charge.  There's actually a bit of a caveat here -- it costs 4,000 yen to use the locker room!  Seems like a scumbag move really but if you sign-up (at check-in) to Hyatt membership (free of charge), you don't need to pay for the locker room.  Done!

Even the locker room at the Grand Hyatt is spectacular.  Lockers lock "electronically" with a key code and scanner that you strap on your wrist when you go to the pool.  Towels and bathrobes are on tap and there is an area of massage chairs, a hot-spring bath, a selection of nibbles and all the shampoos, shaving and skin creams you could ever need.  

The pool itself is 20-m long with about 3 - 4 lanes and there is a jacuzzi off to one side along with some loungers and a counter where swimmers can get lemon-infused water. 

Unfortunately even forking out for 5-star luxury doesn't save you from the indignity of having to wear a swimming cap while in the pool.  Caps and goggles are handed out free of charge.  Swimwear can be rented.  Apparently.  It's something that's never appealed though. 

We spent about an hour in and around the pool.  The gym was skipped.  We didn't have the gear for it.  Or the inclination!

Oh, and no photos of the pool area as taking pics is not allowed.  Probably for the best!

Chillin'

We had our eyes on the free booze ("evening cocktail") that kicks off in the Grand Club Lounge from 17:30 until 19:30 so it was back to the room for a chill, a Nespresso, and a flick through the copy of Time.  

(Nespresso?)

(Or maybe a tea?) 

(Gratuitous chill shot!)

It was about at this point that my mum sent me a pic of the family dog, Ben, to wish me a happy birthday.

Ben is a retired racing greyhound who mum and dad got from a dog shelter.  He melts our hearts on a daily basis (even from afar for me) but I feel he could be a little more enthusiastic about my 40th year!

Drinks in the Grand Club Lounge

The Grand Hyatt Roppongi's Grand Club Lounge is abuzz between the hours of 17:30 and 19:30 with guests getting their money's worth from the free booze.  What we hadn't been aware would be the case was the number of guests also making a dinner out of it!

We had expected some nibbles but not a dinner buffet.  Actually, as dinner buffets go, you'd be disappointed by the offerings here.  But the food he isn't really intended for dinner.  It's supposed to be something to soak up a bit of the booze.  Still, we could have filled up had we not already made reservations for a birthday dinner at ... 

Steakhouse The Oak Door

The two beers I poured down in quick time at the Grand Club Lounge proved to be a mistake as you need to leave as much room as possible to tackle The Oak Door Set dinner menu.  Still, it was proper tasty and included the largest pork chop I've ever seen -- a Cenyth Cabernet Franc 2011 Magnum, whatever that means!

(The Oak Door Set dinner menu - Steakhouse The Oak Door, Grand Hyatt Hotel Roppongi)

I was probably too liquidated (the dinner set included a couple of bevvies) and stuffed to really appreciate the vibe at Steakhouse The Oak Door (one of the restaurants in the Hyatt) but as much as possible I enjoyed the rich, "oaky" vibe about the place.

Roppongi Hills Walk

As I mentioned earlier the Grand Hyatt Roppongi was chosen in part because of its location in Roppongi Hills.

I've long been an admirer of "Hills" as a date spot and it's also a nice place to walk off a heavy dinner. 

(View to Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Hills)

Bed

When we got back to the room we found that room service had been in and set glasses of water on our bedside tables.  Apparently when you're staying "club access" at the Hyatt, room service comes around twice a day.

Breakfast

After an evening and morning bath, and a pathetic contemplation of hitting the swimming pool again, we headed back to the Grand Club Lounge for breakfast.

Now, I may be one of the hardest critics of Japan's attempts at putting together a decent breakfast but I can say that the breakfast at the Grand Hyatt Roppongi is a belter.  At least at "club access" level.

Not that it was extensive, but it did things right -- nice bacon, scrambled eggs that don't resemble sloppy poo, and real sausages instead of Wieners.  (What is it with this country and soddin' Wieners?!)

(Breakfast at the Grand Hyatt Roppongi)

Best of all, they had quality granola and fresh fruit, and baked beens!!  (The irony of having to go 5-star in order to be served baked beans hasn't been lost on me!)

Check-out Prep

It was with heavy hearts that we headed back to the room to prepare for check-out.  Of course, part of those preparations included stocking up on the amenities and my copy of Time magazine.

(Amenity haul, Grand Hyatt Roppongi)

Check Out

Just as we checked in, we checked out of the Grand Hyatt in grand style at the Grand Club Lounge and settled into another 30 minutes of coffee, M&M's and a peruse of the New York Times, before readying ourselves for the cold slap in the face that would constitute going back out into the real world!

If you've ever been to Disneyland you'll perhaps know how this feels -- the gut-wrenching horror that comes with the realization that what you've just experienced isn't real.  What makes it worse in the case of a 5-star hotel stay is that, while nobody I know lives in a permanent state of Disenyfication, there are people out there for whom life is pretty much a solid state of 5-star luxury.  Perhaps I need to work harder!

I'm not going to get into how much our stay at the Grand Hyatt Roppongi cost, and you can look it up anyway.  A part of me doesn't want to think about it too much as it would likely make me wince despite the special occasion.

I will say it was worth it though.  We had a belter of a time and the room, the hotel was beautiful. 

Where the Grand Hyatt Roppongi might lose points is with the views.  The building isn't that tall, and our room, while it did look out to Tokyo Tower also looked almost directly into the offices of the Mori Tower.  But I was too distracted by all the kit and amenities to be worried about that!

A nice touch at the hotel was that, as the booking was made in my family name, almost everything was prepared in English without our asking.  I mean, the copy of Time magazine was the English-language version, not Japanese.  When we dialed reception / room service from the room phone, staff answered in English (switching to Japanese after they realized they were speaking to my Japanese partner).

(View to Tokyo Tower from one of the guest rooms at Grand Hyatt Hotel Roppongi, Tokyo)