November 2026
Ritz-Carlton Tokyo vs The Prince Gallery: Which Property Is Better?
The Prince Gallery is the better hotel for most trips, with the better room and the best window in Tokyo, usually at a slightly lower price. The Ritz-Carlton wins on service, food and the club lounge. Here's how they compare, category by category.
Better overall hotel: The Prince Gallery
The room is where you spend most of your time, and The Prince Gallery's is the better room. Every one has a huge picture window with a long daybed built along it, the corner rooms add a freestanding tub right at the glass, and it's usually a little cheaper. The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo's rooms are dark and dated, and they feel about ten years behind the city. I've stayed at both, and for a couple or anyone on a second trip to Tokyo, I'd book The Prince Gallery.
The caveat… if the people looking after you matter more than the room, book the Ritz. Its staff are the warmest of any big hotel I know in Tokyo. And with children, the Ritz is the easier choice, because most of The Prince Gallery's spa floor is for teenagers and up.
Better rooms: The Prince Gallery
Our Grand Deluxe Corner King at The Prince Gallery was 58 square metres with two walls of glass, bright, modern and very quiet, and I spent the first hour on the daybed doing absolutely nothing. Our Skyline king at the Ritz was about 52 square metres, which is big for Tokyo, but it was all brown wood, beige and checked carpet, and on a grey afternoon it felt dim with every lamp on. The window there is great, but the room around it isn't.
One thing to watch… The Prince Gallery's entry Deluxe King is only 42 square metres and faces one way, so at the cheapest rate the Ritz gives you more space.
Better bathroom: The Prince Gallery, in a corner room
A bath in The Prince Gallery's corner room, with Tokyo Tower lit up right beside the tub, is the thing I still think about from that trip. In its entry rooms, though, the bathroom is only average-sized, and there the Ritz wins easily, with one of the biggest bathrooms I've had in Tokyo (two granite basins, a deep tub in its own alcove and big bottles of Diptyque).
Better service: The Ritz-Carlton
This one isn't close. At the Ritz everyone knew our names by the second day, the lift doors were open before we reached them, and the concierge got us into a sushi counter we'd been told was impossible. The Prince Gallery's team are lovely too, but check-in can be slow when it's busy, and the lounge rules catch people out.
Better bar: The Prince Gallery
Levita is the more striking room, two storeys high with a wall of green glass rippling down beside the stairs and Tokyo Tower in the window. The Bar at the Ritz runs it close, with a band playing by the windows after dark and around 120 whiskies, so if you want a proper night out, go there.
Better food: The Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz's Japanese breakfast set, ordered the night before, arrives as a beautiful bento with grilled fish and a row of little dishes, and Héritage, its French restaurant, has a Michelin star. Breakfast at The Prince Gallery's Oasis Garden is the letdown, slow when it's busy and nothing I remember (since May 2026, Grand Deluxe, club and suite guests eat at Washoku Souten instead), and for dinner I'd go out to Akasaka.
Better pool and spa: The Prince Gallery
Both have a 20-metre pool with the city outside the glass, but The Prince Gallery's 30th floor is the calmer place to spend an afternoon, and its bath hall of hot and cold baths over Tokyo is the nicest spa space in either hotel. The baths come with corner, club and suite rooms only, though, while at the Ritz the pool, saunas and gym are free for every guest.
Better club lounge: The Ritz-Carlton
The Ritz's Club Lounge on the 53rd floor faces Mount Fuji and puts food out five times a day, with a harpist in the afternoon. The Prince Gallery's lounge is small and hushed, and I loved it, but it's a few hot and cold dishes and a glass of something, nothing more. At both, Marriott status won't get you in, so book the right room.
Better location: The Prince Gallery
The Prince Gallery is easier for getting around, with Akasaka-mitsuke and Nagatacho stations underneath and Shibuya three stops away, though the streets outside are very quiet at night. The Ritz has more on the doorstep, with Tokyo Midtown's food hall and garden right below, but Roppongi Station is a maze and there's no JR line nearby.
Better value: The Prince Gallery
The Prince Gallery is usually the slightly cheaper of the two, so for about the same money you can often have its corner room instead of an entry room at the Ritz. (The Ritz closes from 20 to 25 November 2026 for building works, so check your dates.)
Both are in Marriott STARS, so when you book either one with us you get breakfast for two every day, a hotel credit and a priority upgrade on arrival. And if neither is quite right, the Palace Hotel has the best location in Tokyo at about the same price. Every hotel I've reviewed in the city is on my Japan page.