YOTEL Tokyo Ginza in Japan review: Robots, SmartBeds and a secret games room
"This 14-floor stopover is seriously impressive; rain showers, Urban Jungle toiletries, a 24-hour gym and a same-day luggage delivery service are the cherries on top," writes Attitude's Jamie Tabberer, who visited last November
A breathtakingly functional transport network that doesn’t make you want to tear your hair out.
An integration of architecture and nature so beautiful, it makes you do a double take. A population of 37 million, and yet, walking to YOTEL Tokyo Ginza at rush hour, shoulder to shoulder with thousands of commuters, I can hear my own breath.
The city of Tokyo in Japan offers a new lens through which to see the world, as well as the YOTEL brand.
“Two in-house ‘delivery robots’, or Yobots, named Tomo and Aibo, fascinate visitors”
My stay at the 244-room YOTEL Tokyo Ginza is quite the departure from my previous (ironically, Japan-inspired) YOTEL experience: a snug night at the capsule hotel-style YOTELAIR Gatwick, the first in the world to open.
The almost cyberpunk-purple of its otherwise minimalist décor aside, YOTEL’s first Japanese outpost, still gleaming and box-fresh even after its December 2024 opening, is a more traditional – and comfortably appointed – hotel experience.
Apart from the futuristic presence of two in-house “delivery robots”, that is. Also known as Yobots, they are named Tomo and Aibo, and fascinate visitors with their charmingly retro, R2-D2-style appearance.
There are other high-tech flourishes throughout, from the TOTO toilets that clean your intimate areas (thrilling) to the SmartBeds™ that recline from a sofa into a bed at the touch of a button (fundamentally confusing, but that may just be me).
Contactless check-in is available via airline-style self-service kiosks, but the human beings that work here are so kind, attentive and helpful and representative of the gold-star service throughout Tokyo that you can’t help but balk at the thought of AI infiltrating the tourism industry.
“The hotel is enviably centrally located in the Shimbashi area, with the well-connected Shimbashi Station only five minutes’ walk away”
The energy in the YOTEL Tokyo Ginza’s surprisingly glam Komyuniti restaurant-bar space, with its floor-to-ceiling windows, high ceilings and funky artwork from Mio Furukawa, certainly wouldn’t be the same without real people. One evening, we sample a range of high-end sakés here before hitting the breakfast buffet hard – grilled fish and Tamagoyaki is in abundance alongside all the Western standards – for hangover cures the next morning.
The hotel is enviably centrally located in the Shimbashi area, with the well-connected Shimbashi Station only five minutes’ walk away. It also sits on the edge of the sensational neighbourhood of Ginza, which offers the mind-blowing “window-shopping” experience I assumed I’d get in New York City but didn’t. On Ginza’s jaw-dropping Chuo-dori main street – a sort of catwalk for buildings – the likes of Bvlgari and Tiffany & Co. boast huge, futuristic flagship stores that resemble giant shopping bags to tempt buyers inside.
True to its surroundings, the 14-floor YOTEL Tokyo Ginza is encased within a gleaming skyscraper and served by thrillingly fast lifts, with my spacious Premium Plus room offering the kind of five-star cityscape view you’d normally have to pay through the nose for. Rain showers, Urban Jungle toiletries, a secret games room, a 24-hour gym and a same-day luggage delivery service are the cherries on top.
For more information, visit hotel.com.
This article originally appeared in Attitude 370, the May/June 2026 issue, available in print and on digital platforms including Apple News+ and the Attitude app.