TOKYO—The Peninsula Tokyo has received some major international attention since its September opening, and for good reason. The 314-key, 5-star hotel in Tokyo’s prestigious Marunouchi district is among the most luxurious and technologically advanced in the world, with bathrooms that convert into spas, bedside guestroom control panels, and guestroom phones that link up with mobile telecommunications systems. But it is perhaps the most low-tech guestroom amenity that has seemingly drawn the most attention—nail dryers in every room.

Even Fraser Hickox, The Peninsula Hotels’ general manager of research and technology, is amazed at the global press coverage the simple dryers have garnered. Like just about everything in the company’s latest hotel, the nail dryers were designed from scratch by Peninsula’s own 20-person Electronic Services Department, the hotel industry’s only dedicated team of inventors.

Hickox came up with the idea while in the lobby of The Peninsula Chicago, watching as a hurried woman was wildly waving her hands trying to get her nail polish to dry. Turns out she had tried to use a hair dryer for that purpose, but it did not work out so well. So Hickox challenged his Hong Kong-based electronics team with finding a solution to the problem, and they came up with a vent of sorts. “It’s a simple thing,” he says, “but simple things are important.”

As an example, international travelers of both genders no doubt appreciate The Peninsula Tokyo’s dual-voltage multi-pin sockets, another simple thing, which eliminate the need for outlet adapters.

The most cutting-edge features at this hotel, however, come in the form of several telecommunications innovations from the Electronic Services Department. Wired guestroom phones (at right) can be synchronized with guests’ personal mobile phones to enable the automatic transfer of an incoming call to any handset in the room (most rooms have six). “When the phone rings, you shouldn’t have to get out of your chair to answer,” Hickox says. “It should be right there.”

Each room also has a portable phone that functions anywhere within the hotel as an in-room phone and, upon leaving the property, converts to a mobile phone for outgoing calls within the Tokyo metropolitan area. Additionally, phone calls that arrive at night automatically activate the wall sconce lights, bathing the telephone in gentle light for the duration of the call.

Guestroom bathrooms also incorporate some proprietary integrated technology. The bathrooms offer ambient spa-like lighting and soothing music at the touch of a button, plus a “Do Not Disturb” command for the phone and doorbell. Meanwhile, a television with a steam-resistant screen and remote-control function sits above the bathtub, and a digital clock set into the mirror disappears when the lighting is turned to the lowest setting. The three telephones in the bathroom are programmed to automatically mute the television or radio for the duration of a call and to digitally filter the sound of running water and bathroom echo.

The Peninsula Group prides itself on embracing modernity, but Hickox is careful not to let innovation trump intuitiveness or aesthetics. His litmus test for new technology is whether his mother would feel relatively comfortable operating it. “Anything that sort of sticks out or knocks you in the face is a little too much,” Hickox says. “It has to be akin to what you’re expecting in your own home, and not all of us live among super technology.” l

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Of all the high-tech innovations offered by The Peninsula Tokyo, it has been the simple wall-mounted nail dryers that have garnered the most attention.