Japan Hotel Revenue: Updated Jan. 30, 2024

 

Revenues at over 60% of hotels in Japan on the rise, highest since pandemic: poll

Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231117/p2a/00m/0bu/016000c

Article:

TOKYO -- More than 60% of hotels and Japanese-style inns nationwide said that their revenues were on the rise, the highest rate since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, according to a recent survey conducted by research company Teikoku Databank Ltd.

The results announced on Nov. 15 showed that the lodging industry, which had been hit hard by the effects of the pandemic, is rapidly recovering.

Ideas:

Japan's hotels and inns might be recovering, which is a good situation, but like the airline industry, prices at hotels might have increased as they try to makeup for lost revenue during the pandemic.

Of course, likes everywhere in Japan, energy and materials costs even for hotels have probably increased too, which means, that they have probably increased prices to maintain profit margins.

At the hotel I usually stay at in Yokohama, Toyoko Inn, on Saturdays they are always full but not so much during the rest of the week. Toyoko Inn, on the last visit, changed to an automated system, where you put in your Toyoko Inn card to a machine, while the clerk at the counter watches and makes sure all is OK, and then the hotel clerk gives your room key.

There are still two hotel clerks at the counter, in case any customer has challenges using the automated check in machine.

Article:

Teikoku Databank interviewed 863 inn and hotel operators about their business performance as of the end of October and analyzed the results. Of these, approximately 63%, or 551 companies, responded that revenues were on an upward trend, a significant increase over the 45% in October 2022. Thirty-four percent said that income remained at about the same level, while 3% said revenues declined. Demand for the lodging industry appears to have grown due to the downgrading of the legal status of COVID-19 in May and an increase in the number of foreign visitors to Japan.

Ideas:

Of the two or three different Yokohama Toyoko Inns I stay at, many of the customers might be Japanese workers and or Chinese tourists, as Yokohama China town is nearby.

Watching Toyoko Inn vacancies, on their webpage, again Saturday is the busiest day and of course holidays are always full too.

Toyoko Inn has a breakfast buffet, Viking menu is what the Japanese called a buffet, with an assortment of eggs, vegetables and so on, while free, of course you pay for it in the overall price of the hotel stay.

The prices at Toyoko Inn has increased steadily over the years, as it used to be good business hotel at a reasonable price. I guess it might still be reasonable compared to other hotel prices, that I survey on the internet.

Foreign tourists might be a positive for Japanese hotels, as it helps them recover from their losses during the pandemic.

Article:

By prefecture, rural regions showed a notable recovery, with all Japanese-style inns and hotels in Miyazaki Prefecture responding that revenues were on the rise, while 93% of lodging businesses in Okinawa Prefecture answered the same, followed by Ehime Prefecture at 89% and both Toyama and Okayama prefectures at 88%.

According to Teikoku Databank, the hotel industry market size based on sales in fiscal 2023 is expected to be about 4.9 trillion yen (approx. $33 billion), roughly 1.5 times that of fiscal 2022 at 3.4 trillion yen ($23 billion). Depending on trends during the year-end and New Year holidays, the market size may surpass the record high of 5.2 trillion yen ($35 billion) set in fiscal 2018.

Ideas:

While not advertising for Toyoko Inn, which has business hotels all over Japan, their prices seem very reasonable, with good service, compared to the 5 star or 4 star hotels in Japan. 

A business hotel, is a hotel with the basics, with good customer service, that caters to business people that travel in Japan. And of course now tourists have picked up on the value of Toyoko Inn, and many times, there are a lot of tourists staying at Toyoko Inns, and they have many languages available on their webpage.

For the most part, Japanese customer service at Japanese hotels is excellent as expected, as for example, one trip I registered for the wrong day, but Toyoko Inn was able find me a room in their hotel, even though they were full that night.

Article:

A representative at Teikoku Databank pointed out, "There are cases in which lodging facilities are unable to meet the strong demand due to staff shortages, and some hotels have been forced to reduce the number of available guest rooms. The future of the market will depend on the availability of human resources to maintain the high level of service demanded by wealthy foreigners."

Ideas:

Maybe the hotel industry in Japan is also facing labor shortages, as for example at the Toyoko Inns I stay at, the front desk clerks. seem to work 12 hour or even 24 hour shifts.

I often see the same clerk when I check in and then when I go out to run at 6 AM in the morning the same clerk is there from the previous check in time of 4 PM.

Maybe younger Japanese workers are not willing to work the long hours that might be required at some Japanese hotels.

Japanese hotels might go the way of convenience stores, or conbinis in Japan, by hiring foreign students to work at the hotels.

At one of the Toyoko Inns, the one near Yokohama China town, there has been Chinese staff working there as their name tags, in Japanese but their names are obviously Chinese.

https://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/

Have a nice day and be safe!