Room rate and details
Room type: Deluxe Suite, 1 Bedroom with a King bed and Sofa bed, Corner room with club lounge access
Room rate: JPY 198,000 per night
Nights stayed: 3 nights
Dates stayed: 24 - 27 August 2024
Complimentary Marriott STARS benefits when you book with us
Personalized and customized amenity
Complimentary breakfast daily for two guests per room
All STARS hotels offer a hotel credit valued up to $200 USD (once per stay)
Complimentary basic Wi-Fi daily
Early check-in and late check-out (when available)
Complimentary upgrade (if available at check-in)
In-person warm welcome from hotel management, personalized note from General Manager (or hotel management) recognizing their VIP status and acknowledging your agency and advisor.
Overall Rating
Explanations can be found in the conclusion of this post
Room: 10/10
Breakfast: 8/10 Lounge: 9/10 General area: 7/10
Facilities: 8/10 Service: 6/10
Value: 8/10
Introduction
After learning that the much-loved tonkatsu ramen (aka Hakata ramen) hails from Fukuoka, we decided to plan a trip to have a taste of the original (it did not disappoint). The Ritz Carlton Fukuoka opened in late June 2023 and was one of the first 5-star luxury hotels in the area. We were first drawn to the hotel by its sleek and minimalistic design, but soon learned how convenient its location was as well. We were able to reach most of the places we planned to visit by foot and the hotel is also attached to the Fukuoka Daimyo Garden City, a mixed use center consisting of offices, shops, restaurants and a man-made garden.
Arrival and Check-In
We arrived in Fukuoka International Airport at around 9am and took a taxi to the hotel, which cost us less than USD30 - it was very convenient and easy to hail a taxi from the taxi stand outside the airport. There are also ATMs at the airport where you can withdraw cash, but we didn't have much use for it given most placed accepted credit cards.
The trip from the airport to the hotel took us less than 30 minutes and we were greeted by multiple bellboys and butlers at the hotel's entrance.
Shortly after we arrived, we were escorted to the lobby, which was on a higher level. Within a few minutes, we were escorted from the lobby to the club lounge, given we had a room with the club lounge access, which is an exclusive space for guests in club rooms (or entry can be purchased if your room doesn't come with the lounge access) where there are all-day food and drink offerings.
Check in was very smooth - we were greeted by our dedicated butler and were offered not one, not two, but three welcome drinks, as well as a cold towel - perfect for the Fukuoka summer. I opted for some water, grapefruit juice and Oolong tea. The drinks were unlimited and complimentary with the club lounge access. More on the club lounge later in this article.
Deluxe Suite, Corner room with Club Lounge access
We had a deluxe suite, with 1 King sized bed and a sofa bed, which was a corner room. The room was a generous 75 square metres (or 805 square feet) and had plenty of sunlight shining into the room. There was a living area, two toilets, one shower area with a bathtub (overlooking the beautiful Fukuoka city), a walk-in wardrobe and a separate bedroom. The room was designed in a rectangular manner, with distinct apportions of the living area, then the bedroom and then the bathroom, which made the room look even larger than it was already.
The bathroom was absolutely amazing, with sweeping views of the city and plenty of sunlight. There were two automatic blinds as well, one was a light shade if you wanted the sunlight but some privacy (even though binoculars would be needed if anyone from other buildings or ground level were to get a view of anything) or fully black out shades.
As the night fell, the room transformed to a romantic oasis (or not in this case, given we were travelling in a party of three). The talents of the lighting designer shone through, with a soft glow reflecting off the wooden tones around the room.
The third occupant had a futon set up in the living room's sofa bed, with arguably the best view in the room as you fell into the best slumber.
Welcome amenities
As part of the Marriott STARS perks (also applied to you when you book with us), we were greeted with a welcome note from the hotel and some treats. In this case it was some dorayaki baked by the hotel's bakery and some very sweet mandarins. We were also gifted a box of monaka (a wafer like Japanese sweet with Azuki bean paste inside). During the turn-down service each night, we were also provided with some sweets which were surprisingly one of the best I have had!
Breakfast
Having the club lounge access meant that we could have an intimate breakfast in the club lounge. Our stay under the Marriott STARS perks also included complimentary breakfast for two people in the general area, so we decided to explore that before heading back up to the club lounge for breakfast there.
Breakfast was a buffet plus a-la-carte, with my favourite dish being the mentaiko cream omelette, one of Fukuoka's specialty. Other aspects of the buffet were pasties and cakes, salads, a wide Japanese offering and the usual cold cut meats you would find at a luxury hotel's buffet breakfast. There were also several fridges filled with fresh fruit in small individual portions (which I appreciate as other hotels don't usually display the fruits in individual portions), juices and the most impressive to me, a milk fridge with the most delicious milk I had tasted.
Club Lounge
If you aren't familiar with the concept of a club lounge, it is an exclusive floor or area for access to select guests with rooms that provides access to the area or in this case, access can be purchased for an additional fee if not already included with the room.
The club lounge at Ritz Carlton Fukuoka is arguably the best in the market, an intimate yet warm space with food offerings that are pretty much what you'd find at fine dining restaurants. The only downside were the mocktails and cocktails which did not seem to be the best around - most which were far too sweet.
There were plenty of high quality food options (just look at the unlimited mentaiko you could have) and during afternoon tea, we were treated to a lovely seasonal high tea menu paired with artisanal tea.
Spa and Pool
All rooms in the hotel are fitted with Diptique amenities, but if you use the spa and the facilities there, amenities are by Tsubaki Nano Floral, a well known Japanese skincare brand. The downside here and perhaps a different aspect to other hotels is that you need to pay a fee to use the pool and spa facilities. The good news is, with the Marriott STARS perks you get when booking with us, you can use the free hotel credits for this. If you book a suite, entry is complimentary.
The pool is absolutely stunning, with sweeping views of the city and beautifully furnished with the same wood tones you'd find around the hotel and in hotel rooms. There are many pool beds as well as fruit and water to keep you hydrated. The pool and spa staff are quick to dry off any water surrounding the pool when guests exit the pool, making it a pleasant experience no matter what time of the day you use the facilities.
Genjyu Restaurant
We had left over hotel credit to use, so decided to try out the hotel's Japanese fine dining restaurant. The furnishings were beautiful, coupled with sweeping views of the city.
We had high expectations given all the good reviews we read online, but were not very impressed with the food. In fact, we had the lunch bento but the offerings in the bento were extremely similar to the food offered at the club lounge, but to a slightly lower quality. The food were in no way unenjoyable, but given the high standards of the club lounge and especially after coming from the club lounge and having something to compare the experience against, did not give us anything to rave about.
I did find the sencha flight exciting, it was a selected of three carefully brewed sencha from three regions in Japan, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Conclusion
Room: 10/10
The room was well designed and beautiful in every aspect. It was very well furnished and maintained, with housekeeping staff very attentive to details and making sure that every aspect is taken care of and every crevice spotless.
Breakfast: 8/10
Breakfast was everything and a little more you would expect from a luxury hotel. On one of the days however, the breakfast area at 7:45am which I would have thought is pretty early, was full. Perhaps a testament to the popularity of the hotel and not an issue for us given we could have breakfast at the club lounge, but there were a few families waiting at the sofa area for a table to have breakfast. Food was amazing and we could not find any faults.
Lounge: 9/10
The club lounge was absolutely stunning and the food offerings were the best we have had in hotels in the same tier. Cocktail and mocktails could be improved but were not very far from being perfect.
General area: 7/10
The general areas were airy and well furnished, but at high traffic times could see some build up in certain areas like the lounge area going into breakfast.
Facilities: 8/10
There were no faults to be found with the facilities other than the fact that there was an extra charge to use the spa and pool facilities which would be complimentary at other hotels.
Service: 6/10
Overall, the staff were friendly but not as personable as staff we would find at other luxury hotels. In one instance, when we raised concerns about the bed, we were brushed off and not spoken to kindly by one of the hotel's managers, which we were surprised about. During check out, it took the hotel more than an hour to bring our luggages down to the taxi area due to a lack of communication between the teams. The concierge team however, was apologetic for the incident.
Value: 7.5/10
Perhaps on the higher side of the price range, the hotel does everything right from the macro to the micro, but at this price point we would have expected a more personalised service from the staff.
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