The Bulgari Hotel Tokyo officially opened on April 4, marking the hotelier’s first foray into Japan and the 8th Bulgari-branded hotel globally.
The 98 hotel rooms sit atop the recently-completed Tokyo Midtown Yaesu high-rise across the street from Tokyo Station. Nightly rates start from 250,000 Yen (US$1,900), with a 400 sqm (4,300 sq.ft) suite going for over 4 million Yen (US$30,000), making this one of the most expensive hotels in Japan.
Hotel guests can enjoy a gym, pool, and a bar on the top floor. Hōseki, a restaurant from the Bulgari Resort Dubai, will open Sushi Hōseki seating just 8 guests.
Despite being an international metropolis, Tokyo had gone relatively unnoticed by designer-hotel brands until recently. New York, London and Paris boast over 50 five-star hotels, while Tokyo has just 32 as of 2019. Barriers to entry are relatively low in Japan, with many of these luxury hotels built and owned by Japan’s top real estate companies, with the hotel operation and management carried out by the hotel brands themselves or through franchise agreements.
Other luxury hotel developments in the pipeline include the reconstruction of the Imperial Hotel in Chiyoda Ward which will take place from 2024 to 2036. In 2025, a Waldorf Astoria hotel is expected to open in Osaka, with a second one to open in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, in 2026. The Dorchester Collection will be operating an ultra-luxury 110-room hotel in the 390-meter-tall Torch Tower skyscraper under construction near Tokyo Station. The hotelier is owned by the Brunei Investment Agency and operates The Beverly Hills Hotel, Plaza Athénée in Paris, and The Dorchester in London, to name a few. In 2027, Swire Hotels is expecting to open the first of their The House Collective luxury-branded hotel in Japan. The urban hotel will be located in the Shibuya Upper West Project just a short walk from Shibuya Station.
