Courtyard Tokyo Ginza Hotel

People are probably not staying at the Courtyard Marriott Tokyo Ginza Hotel for its largely impersonal ambiance. They're here for its convenient location and the reliability of the Marriott chain. The hotel, in a stretch of shops and next door to a 24-hour convenience store, is an ultra plain, gray masonry building. The lobby is vast with a huge staircase, glossy floors, upholstered furniture clustered here and there, and a long reception desk. The hotel has a Japanese restaurant, Ginza Muraki with a sushi counter, a series of rooms in serene palettes behind open work screens, and a main dining room with dark wood tables and chairs. The American restaurant, Fiore, betrays the hint of an institutional look, dominated by an enormous, perforated drum light over a massive island for buffet-style meals, including breakfast; there's also table service and the steak is cooked-to-order here. By contrast, the Oasis is a dimly lit, almost sexy lounge off the lobby with cherry-red fabric squares on the walls and dark wood tables with white upholstered chairs. There's also the Korin bar that has back-lit panels with Jackson Pollock-like sinewy images. But dining aside, the draw for many will be the 10 meeting rooms, accommodating as many as 400 in pared-down rooms with simple furnishings, strong but warm lighting, and a few, well-chosen Japanese crafts and art pieces on display. The event space, complete with frosted-glass panels and brown molding, is popular for weddings, but the individual meeting rooms have a Zen aesthetic that is less visible in the rest of the hotel. 

Amid luxury shopping like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Bulgari, the Courtyard Marriott Ginza is in an area that draws comparison to Beverly Hills. The location is also convenient to public transportation. The Higashi-Ginza subway station is a five-minute walk away. The Edo-Tokyo Museum is a 14-minute drive or a 24-minute train ride. The Meiji Jingu Shrine, a Shinto shrine dedicated the the 19th-century emperor who opened Japan to the west, is a 20-minute drive or a 39-minute train ride. The ancient Buddhist temple, Senso-ji, is a 14-minute drive or a 25-minute train ride. Tokyo Skytree, the tallest structure in Japan as of 2010, is around 20 minutes' drive or a 25-minute train ride. The Harjuku District, the center of Japanese youth culture, is a 16-minute drive or a 29-minute train ride. And the Tsuikiji Market with its famed 4 a.m. tuna auction (depicted in the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi") is a 10-minute walk from the hotel. Narita International Airport is around one hour by car or 90 minutes by train. Haneda Airport is a 20-minute drive or a 30- to 60-minute train ride. An airport shuttle bus will whisk guests to and from the airport for a fee.

There are 197 rooms and nine suites at this Courtyard. Rooms are fairly generous in size, especially by Tokyo standards, with street views, white linens with red throws and pillows, dark brown walls and side tables, and patterned carpet. The color scheme is dark brown and white with tomato-red accents. It's a design that's pleasant but fairly standard issue for hotels in this category. Each room has air-conditioning, a safe, minibar, ironing and coffee/tea facilities, flat-screen TV, and an alarm clock. The bathrooms are small with black, white, and cream tiling and porcelain sinks, and have shower/tub combos; Nervae toiletries, hairdryers, magnifying mirrors, robes, and slippers are provided. One difference from the usual Marriott property is the Japanese-style toilets with bidet functions. Wi-Fi is available but not free. 

This Courtyard Marriott has two restaurants; a lounge for lunch, drinks, or coffee and dessert; and a bar. There's a concierge desk and a foreign currency exchange counter, a safety deposit box, and valet dry cleaning for a fee. The hotel's shops include a barber, beauty, pastry (including wedding cakes), and clothing shop. There's a business center with big cubicles, and a nook with computers for rent. The 10 meeting rooms are truly kitted out: there's audio-visual equipment, Wi-Fi, and printers. For a fee, guests can use the fax, or hire an AV technician, messenger, electrician, photographer, lighting specialist, and, for those particularly fraught meetings, a security guard. If the 24-hour convenience store nearby and room service aren't enough, guests can pad down the hallways to find vending machines. The gym, windowless but well-lit, has a wide array of equipment, from stability balls to several varieties of machines. There's also a jogging trail nearby. Room service is available 24 hours.