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Tokyo is one of the world’s best cities. But where to stay? MESM Tokyo is on another level of design and luxury compared to stuff like the Moxy Tokyo Kinshicho, the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay, or especially the Four Points Flex.
This is a genuinely beautiful hotel.
There are pianos in every room. There is this crazy, almost string-art-looking design on the walls, and when I walked in there were violinists playing with a pianist. There are juice shots at breakfast and a Balmuda toaster. There are views of Tokyo Bay. The bar at night is quiet and elegant.
It’s luxury, but not in an over-the-top sense. It’s luxury in a quiet, but truly beautiful, sense.
It’s a great hotel.
We also did a brief video review of MESM Tokyo on YouTube here.
The rooms at MESM
One of the coolest things about MESM is that there is a digital piano in every room.
The piano is so tasteful that it will make you want to learn.
I think that’s part of what MESM does better than most hotels. A lot of expensive hotels just give you more marble, more space and more expensive furniture. MESM actually gives you things you remember.
The piano is one of them.
The hotel also featured the best amenity set I’ve ever seen when I stayed there. It was like a hardcover book, and you opened it up to see perfectly wrapped toothbrushes and combs and stuff.
It sounds like such a minor thing, but it’s insanely good design.
Here’s a video of me unboxing it.
MESM has since stopped automatically providing disposable toothbrushes, but the amenity presentation itself was one of the most memorable little details from my stay.
The bed is also very comfortable, although I’ll be honest: I couldn’t tell a huge difference between sleeping here and sleeping in the much cheaper bed at the Moxy Kinshicho.
That is one of the funny things about luxury hotels. Sometimes paying twice as much makes the room much more beautiful without making you sleep twice as well.
Breakfast at MESM
Breakfast is excellent. There are little juice shots, a Balmuda toaster, and all the small details you would expect from a hotel like this.
They also made me a custom vegetable plate at breakfast, which was nice. Again, none of these things individually matter that much. But together they make the hotel feel thoughtful.
The bar
The bar at night is quiet and elegant.
This is not the Moxy, where the lobby is intentionally trying to be energetic and social.
MESM feels much calmer.
You can sit down, have a drink, look out over Tokyo and actually feel like you’re staying somewhere special.
That is probably the biggest difference between MESM and the cheaper Tokyo Marriotts. The hotel itself is part of the experience.
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The gym
I didn’t use the gym, but MESM does have a surprisingly substantial one.
It is on the 17th floor, open 24 hours, and has Technogym equipment with cardio machines, weights and strength equipment. There isn’t a swimming pool at the hotel, which is slightly surprising for somewhere this luxurious.
But the gym itself looks more than good enough for an actual workout rather than just technically allowing the hotel to say it has a fitness center.
The only real problem is the location
The only problem with MESM is the location.
It is just off of Ginza and Tokyo, in Takeshiba, and you are close to Hamamatsucho and the Tokyo Monorail.
It isn’t badly located.
But it is sort of in its own world.
That means it isn’t as convenient as somewhere like the Courtyard Tokyo Ginza, AC Hotel Ginza or Tokyo Edition if your goal is to walk outside and immediately be somewhere you wanted to visit anyway.
The flip side is that the location is genuinely beautiful. You have views of Tokyo Bay and Hamarikyu Gardens, and being close to Hamamatsucho and the monorail is useful if you are going to Haneda.
So I wouldn’t call the location bad.
It is just less convenient than Ginza.
MESM vs the cheaper Tokyo Marriott hotels
MESM is considerably more luxurious than the affordable Marriott hotels I stayed at in Tokyo.
The Four Points Flex Higashi Kanda is basically a clean, tiny room where you sleep and then leave.
The Moxy Kinshicho gives you substantially more space, a fun lounge, a good breakfast and a genuinely good hotel for the money.
The Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay gives you huge rooms and resort facilities, but puts you all the way out near Disneyland.
MESM is different.
You might actually want to spend time at MESM because MESM itself is beautiful.
I said in my Moxy review that the AC Hotel and Courtyard Ginza can cost two or three times as much as the Moxy without being two or three times better.
MESM is the expensive Tokyo Marriott where I think you can at least understand what you are paying for.
I don’t know if any hotel is literally twice as good as another hotel. But MESM feels like a completely different category of experience.
Is MESM Tokyo worth it?
MESM is a great hotel. When I checked in there was a violin performance. The whole place is so tasteful.
If you care mainly about price, obviously stay at the Four Points Flex.
If you want a relatively affordable hotel that is still fun to hang out in, stay at the Moxy Kinshicho.
If you have kids, are going to Disney, or want huge rooms and a resort, stay at the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay.
But if you want somewhere that actually feels special, MESM is the best of these hotels by far.
The piano, the views, the breakfast, the bar, the strange little design details—it all feels considered.
The location is the compromise.
The hotel itself isn’t.
More Tokyo hotel reviews
Read our Moxy Tokyo Kinshicho review, Four Points Flex Tokyo Higashi Kanda review, and Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay review.
If you’re trying to choose between Tokyo’s cheaper Marriott options, we also have a full Moxy Kinshicho vs. Four Points Flex comparison.
And you can watch our short MESM Tokyo video review on YouTube here.
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