By KANAME OHIRA/ Staff Writer
February 21, 2020 at 07:30 JST
An artist’s rendition shows the dormitory-type rooms of the OMO3 Tokyo Kawasaki hostel. (Provided by Hoshino Resorts Inc.)
KAWASAKI--Luxury hotel operator Hoshino Resorts Inc. will open its first hostel here on June 11 to cater to young urban sightseers, expanding its entry into the low-cost accommodation market.
A one-night stay in the dorm-style rooms of the OMO3 Tokyo Kawasaki hostel starts at only 2,818 yen ($26), excluding tax.
Hoshino Resorts announced the opening at a news conference on Feb. 4.
The Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture-based company said it will refurbish an existing hostel run by another company and take over its operation.
The building is located near Kawasaki's La Cittadella shopping complex, just a 10-minute walk from Kawasaki Station on the JR and Keikyu lines.
Hoshino Resorts is hoping the hostel's location, which offers convenient access to Haneda Airport and central Tokyo, will make it a hit with both domestic and inbound tourists.
The new six-floor facility will have 227 guest rooms, public space that visitors will be allowed to use freely, and a basement level.
Three types of guest rooms are available at OMO3 Tokyo Kawasaki--dorm types, private rooms for single guests, and doubles that accommodate two people with a shower room.
The price of a double room is expected to run between 6,000 yen and 9,000 yen per night.
Reservations for rooms will be accepted beginning March 4.
Yoshiharu Hoshino, Hoshino Resorts' CEO, speaking at the news conference, said the company realizes it needs to attract travel-averse young Japanese customers to its accommodations as “foreign visitors occupy only 20 percent or less in the tourism market in Japan.”
“It's important for us to put effort into making Japanese in their 20s and 30s feel like wanting to travel,” Hoshino said.
OMO is a Hoshino Resorts’ brand that targets tourists visiting urban centers. The number following OMO indicates the breadth of its service with a bigger number meaning higher-priced accommodations.
The company already runs OMO5 in Tokyo’s Otsuka district and OMO7 in Hokkaido’s Asahikawa. It plans to open OMO7 Osaka Shin-Imamiya in Osaka in 2022.
Hoshino also has ideas for a future OMO1 or OMO2, whose services will be narrowed down.
Stories about memories of cherry blossoms solicited from readers
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series on the death of a Japanese woman that sparked a debate about criminal justice policy in the United States
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
