TOKYO -- Japan's Mitsui Fudosan looks to open a luxury hotel in the hot springs resort town of Hakone in 2022, Nikkei has learned, part of a development push that would double the company's portfolio of high-end domestic accommodations by that year.
"We've already seized business opportunities in Hakone," President Masanobu Komoda told Nikkei on Tuesday. The developer has secured a site for the project and is in talks to bring a foreign hotel operator on board.
"Japan has a shortage of luxury hotels," Komoda said.
Mitsui Fudosan is aggressively expanding its resort business in a bid to fill this gap. The company hopes to draw not only wealthy domestic and Asian tourists, but also Western travelers planning on long stays.
On Friday, the developer will open its fourth luxury hotel in Japan, the 360-room Halekulani Okinawa. The property -- the second under its Halekulani brand, which originated in Hawaii -- will be among Okinawa's priciest accommodations, with stays costing upward of 50,000 yen ($460) a night.
The company plans to expand its high-end offerings to eight. The projects include collaborations in Tokyo with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, slated to open in 2020 and 2022, respectively. The developer also will launch a directly operated hotel in Kyoto next year.
Mitsui Fudosan's other high-end hotels include the Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo. It also operates the Mitsui Garden Hotel and Celestine brands, which target an affluent customer base but focus purely on lodging rather than including amenities such as restaurants.
