Starwood Hotels & Resorts has signed an agreement with Mori Trust Co Ltd to open a new-build Westin hotel in Sendai. Scheduled to open in 2010, the 287-room Westin Sendai will occupy a 37-story tower at the heart of the city’s business district in Higashi-Nibandori Street, within walking distance to the offices of several large corporations.

The hotel will anchor a highly anticipated, mixed-use development located in what will be the tallest building in the northern Kanto region. Known for its beautiful scenery, tree-lined streets and museums, the fast-growing city of Sendai also offers visitors a wide selection of world-class restaurants, sleek shopping malls, arcades and traditional markets. Leading area attractions include the many islands of Matsushima Bay, hot springs and the annual Sendai Tanabata Festival.

Starwood currently operates five Westin hotels in Japan, as well as seven Sheraton properties. The company expects to introduce new W, Westin, St Regis and Sheraton hotels in Japan in the next several years.

The hotel’s guest rooms will offer updated technology, flat-screen televisions, a well-designed work area and the signature Westin Heavenly Bed and Heavenly Bath. For further pampering, guests and residents will be able to choose among a menu of relaxing treatments at The Heavenly Spa by Westin. Additional facilities will include two restaurants and a lounge, five banquet rooms, a wedding chapel, fitness center and more than 5,000 square feet of state-of-the-art meeting and function space.

Drawing more than 57 million tourists in 2007, Sendai is the capital of the Miyagi prefecture and the largest city in Tohoku, the northeastern region of Japan. The city is approximately one hour and 40 minutes from Tokyo by Bullet train, and easily accessible via direct flights from top destinations in Asia Pacific including Beijing and Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, and Guam.

3 Comments

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  Scrote at 08:40 AM JST - 5th November

  In the past few years I have become increasingly unhappy about all the development in Sendai. The tree lined streets and parks are being destroyed to build a new subway line. Hideously ugly new developments are sprawling over former countryside at the edge of the city. Huge out of town shopping malls are killing off city centre shops. The city encourages this by building wide roads wherever it can and moving amenities such as schools, hospitals, swimming pools etc. out of the city centre to distant suburbs. They are also eager to bulldoze the "traditional markets" and build even more glass-box office buildings.

  Now the car companies are moving in and destroying even more of the countryside. Pretty soon it'll be like living in Nagoya, and who wants to visit Nagoya?

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  Samuraiiki at 11:45 AM JST - 5th November

  I was in Nagoya and it was hot as hell during the summer. Question: Do these western style hotels charge Japanese style per person? Or do they have a better system?

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  rajakumar at 07:15 PM JST - 16th November

  More hotels/Westin hotel in sendai, means more jobs in Sendai.

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