Budget hotels struggling to accommodate demanding guests

Sunday 08th November, 06:11 AM JST

TOKYO —

Budget hotels, once known as places with narrow baths and beds, are transforming themselves by installing outdoor bathtubs, high-grade furniture and other distinctive services.

The transformation reflects attempts to attract people on business trips and new tourists in the face of the recession.

Budget hotel chain Dormy Inn is popular for the large baths at 34 of its 36 hotels across the country. At the Tokyo Hacchobori hotel, there is an outdoor tub resembling a hot spa.

“It’s popular because you can soak in a bath stretching out your legs. The number of repeat visitors is increasing sharply,” said Shigeru Yamada, a director of Kyoritsu Group Co, which runs the chain.

Remm Hibiya, which the Hankyu-Hanshin-Daiichi Hotel Group opened in Tokyo in 2007, makes its appeal based on healing and good sleep. All guest rooms are equipped with floors on which guests can walk barefoot, massage chairs and high-grade beds. Showers said to be effective for relaxing have also been installed.

Even amid the economic slump, Remm Hibiya’s occupancy rate has risen from 72.8 percent in the initial fiscal year to 80.4% in fiscal 2008. A hotel representative said, “Regular customers have been increasing because we’ve made clear our objective.”

Last year, the company opened a second hotel in the Akihabara district and plans more expansion in the future.

In addition, some hotel chains are trying to attract customers by increasing the number of dishes for breakfast and allowing customers to choose their pillows.

Since the outbreak of the financial crisis last year, struggling companies have been cutting back on business trips and demand for budget hotels remains sluggish.

In some areas, there are hotels where lodgers have drastically decreased due to the closure or downsizing of factories.

But competition is intensifying in other areas. Hotels near Tokyo Station are offering packages that cost only around 3,000 yen.

Hoteliers are eagerly courting domestic tourists. Some Dormy Inn inns have created rooms where people can stay with their pets and Japanese-style rooms for seniors. “There are no empty rooms on Saturdays or Sundays,” Kyoritsu Group’s Yamada said.

Remm Hibiya has succeeded in attracting theatergoers to the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater by setting aside a floor only for women.

Hotels are also reducing costs by rationalizing a number of items. Super Hotel Inc. is giving sweets to customers who do not want toothbrushes or bring chopsticks with them for dinner.

“It’s improving our image through such energy-saving and environment-oriented measures,” said another official.

“It’s very difficult to survive in the industry unless hotels come up with some outstanding features, such as better services or cheaper rates,” said Wataru Sakakibara, a senior consultant at Nomura Research Institute.

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12 Comments

gaijintraveller at 09:35 AM JST - 8th November

Does the 3,000 yen package include a real room or just a capsule? Actually, does "budget hotel" mean "capsule hotel"?
Scrote at 11:46 AM JST - 8th November

Remm Hibiya seems to be around Y10000 per night, which isn't exactly a budget hotel. I'd say Y5000 - Y8000 is budget range. Those Y3000 deals near Tokyo station might be per person, based on two sharing, or Y6000 for a single.
seesaw at 01:33 PM JST - 8th November

A hotel is not just about facilities, it's also about human touch, which Japan lacks, but refused to admit it.
guest at 01:40 PM JST - 8th November

Dormy Inn is an excellent example of a Japanese company to be proud of, and the future looks good for Japan if more companies follow suite... The Singapore Airlines of the Japanese hotel industry.
PepinGalarga at 06:41 PM JST - 8th November

Budget hotels are struggling, but love hotels are 300% overbooked...
kview at 08:12 PM JST - 8th November

Better services, bed and breakfast and no frills will help.
sydenham at 05:17 AM JST - 9th November

seesaw, right...lol.

when have "they" even been accused of this, except by you, of course? can't have "refused to admit" something something you've never been accused of.

my buddy stayed at the Tokyustay in Yotsuya, and had a great stay with great help. cheap, quiet, clean, comfortable, friendly, helpful. those were his words.
PepinGalarga at 10:47 AM JST - 9th November

Toyoko Inn is not bad, but there is one on every streetcorner, and they may suffer from Starbucks syndrome very soon.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29030
chewbakayaro at 11:40 AM JST - 9th November

Make the rooms bigger! That goes for many of the hotels in Europe as well.
Yelnats at 02:28 PM JST - 9th November

Hotels should just be a place to sleep. But love hotels...man I love them.
dolphingirl at 02:46 PM JST - 9th November

'Rationalizing'?--I think they mean rationing. 'giving sweets to customers who don't want toothbrushes.'--Took me a minute to understand that sentence.

A budget hotel should have just the basics--a good bed, a hot shower, and some decent breakfast food.--You can't expect a lot and want cheap rates at the same time.
marushka at 12:26 AM JST - 17th November

or instead of staying in cheap hotel, you can rent an apart, cost even less expensive and has more things inside.