Park Hyatt Tokyo Sets December Reopening After Landmark Redesign
After an 18-month closure, the Shinjuku landmark reopens leaner in rooms, richer in dining, and refreshed for Tokyo’s crowded luxury landscape.
Photos: Courtesy of Park Hyatt Tokyo
When Park Hyatt Tokyo reopens on Dec. 9, it won’t simply be returning to its perch above Shinjuku. The hotel that defined discreet luxury in Asia for three decades is positioning itself for another 30 years of relevance after an 18-month, property-wide reimagining led by Paris design studio Jouin Manku.
Park Hyatt Tokyo has long been one of the city’s most influential hotels—cemented in global consciousness through its role in Lost in Translation and revered for introducing the Park Hyatt brand to Asia in 1994. Its return will likely recalibrate the competitive landscape in Tokyo, a city with an increasingly crowded luxury pipeline that includes openings from Aman, Bulgari, Janu, and Edition in the past five years.
The overhaul trims the room count from 177 to 171, while also introducing a new Park Suite category with views over Harajuku, Shibuya, and Yoyogi Park. Bathrooms adopt a contemporary take on Japanese wet-room traditions, with marble and wood detailing anchoring the design in cultural authenticity. Amenities, too, have been elevated—think Frette linens, Aesop toiletries, Dyson hairdryers. Studio Jouin Manku’s approach, by its own description, is closer to a “film remake” than a radical rewrite, retaining John Morford’s original DNA while layering in warmer palettes and softened spatial connections. Returning guests will notice the continuity of character coupled with enough freshness to meet today’s standards of comfort and personalization.
Perhaps the boldest shift is culinary. Girandole, long the hotel’s brasserie, reopens as Girandole by Alain Ducasse. It marks Ducasse’s first restaurant in Tokyo outside his fine-dining strongholds and positions the property within the orbit of one of France’s most decorated chefs. Meanwhile, Kozue returns as a showcase for modern Japanese cuisine, and the famed New York Grill & Bar remains intact, preserving its skyline views. The Peak Lounge & Bar, wrapped in bamboo and glass, has been rethought as a more flexible social hub, transitioning from afternoon tea to live acoustic performances at night.
Tokyo has been pacing for record international arrivals since reopening post-pandemic, with luxury supply on a rapid rise. By reopening at the end of 2025, Park Hyatt Tokyo re-enters the market not just refurbished but repositioned—leaner in inventory, more ambitious in dining, and more attuned to wellness and design trends. For Hyatt, the reopening also restores one of its most iconic Asian flagships at a moment when brand recognition in the region is critical to growth.
“Refreshed yet familiar” was how general manager Fredrik Harfors framed the project. For the luxury sector, that sentiment underscores a strategy: deepen the emotional resonance of a property already considered a classic, while sharpening its competitive edge in a city where discerning travelers have never had more choice.
