Japan’s first hotel-condominium* to be built in Hakone

On April 8, The Sankei Building Company, Tokyu Land Corporation, and Relo Vacations announced a hotel-condominium project for the Sengokuhara district in Hakone. This is the first hotel-condominium project in Japan to utilize the Home-Sharing Business Act (aka the Minpaku law) introduced in June 2018.

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Overseas buyers seeking hot spring ryokans

Offshore buyers are on the hunt for hot spring resorts and traditional ryokans in Shizuoka’s Izu Peninsula, according to a recent article in Diamond Online. The article quotes an onsen and hotel broker that received over 200 inquiries in May alone from buyers looking to acquire accommodation facilities across the country, with 70% of those looking for luxury hot spring ryokans around Izu, Hakone, and Mt. Fuji.

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Odakyu opens new hot spring hotel in Hakone

On August 11, Odakyu Electric Railway Co. opened their latest hotel in Hakone. Hakone Yutowa was originally built during the bubble as a corporate retreat but has been fully refurbished and converted into a hot spring hotel. It sits in a prime position just across the street from Gora Kadan - a hotel on the grounds of a former Imperial Villa.

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Orix to open 70-room hot spring resort in Hakone

On August 7, Orix Hotels & Resorts announced that they are opening a 70-room hot spring resort near Gora Station, Hakone, in late 2020.

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Foreign hotel guests in Hakone reach record high in 2018

In 2018, 21.26 million tourists visited the hot spring resort town of Hakone, down 1.2% from 2017. According to the town, the drop was attributed to a particularly harsh summer between July and September which saw people limiting day trips. 

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Hakone to restrict short-term accommodation in holiday home areas

Kanagawa Prefecture has approved a special rule that will restrict minpaku-style short-term and overnight accommodation by hosts in the mountain-top hot-spring town of Hakone.

Under the new rule, short-term rentals are banned in 18 districts designated as Category I Tourist Districts located within Category I Exclusively Low-Rise Residential Zones in Hakone Town. Up to 80% of the homes in these districts are holiday homes.

Properties in these zones cannot be rented out for short-term stays between March 1 ~ June 1, August 1 ~ September 1, and October 1 ~ December 1. It is important to note that these are the popular tourist seasons for the town. Renting outside of these periods requires the host to register their accommodation.

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Japan’s first Indigo hotel to open in Hakone

On November 22, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced plans to open a 100 room hotel alongside the Haya River in Hakone.

The Hotel Indigo Hakone-Gora will be IHG’s first Indigo-branded hotel in Japan. Opening is scheduled for 2019.

The hotel site is a 10 minute walk from Gora Station and a 2 minute walk from the Hakone Tozan bus stop. All 100 rooms will have access to hot spring water, with  80 rooms having their own out-door hot spring baths on their balconies. Room rates are expected to range from 25,000 ~ 30,000 Yen per night.

Hakone, a popular onsen destination about 30km south-east of Mt. Fuji, receives as many as 20 million tourists each year.

Hotel activity in Hakone:

  • The Kanaya Resort Hakone, operated by Nikko’s Kanaya Hotel Kanko Group, opened on November 3, 2017. The 14-room hotel sits on a 22,000 sqm site in Sengokuhara and has made use of an existing corporate guest retreat building. 12 of the 14 rooms have outdoor hot spring baths. Room rates range from 29,000 ~ 110,000 Yen per night.
  • Fujita Kanko’s Hakone Kowaki-en Tenyu hotel opened in April 2017 in the Kowakudani district. All 150 rooms have their own outdoor rotenburo hot spring baths. Room rates start from 28,000 Yen per night.
  • Mori Trust acquired the historic Gora Kansuirou Hotel in Gora in March 2017 for an undisclosed price. The 96-year old hotel sits on a 15,000 sqm block of land and has a total floor area of 2,266 sqm. Room rates range from 32,000 ~ 38,000 Yen per night.
  • The landmark Fujiya Hotel (c1891) will close from April 2018 for earthquake retrofitting, with re-opening scheduled for Spring 2020.
  • Hakone Hotel Kowaki-en in Kowakudani will close permanently in January 2018. The site may be redeveloped into a larger hotel sometime in the future.

 

Location

Kiga, Hakone Town, Kanagawa Prefecture

Sources:
Travel Voice, November 22, 2017.
The Tokyo Shimbun, November 9, 2017.