Skift Take
The Hoshino Resorts brand melds Japanese tradition with modern design and incredible service. Its ambitions outside of Japan, if successful, may some day serve as powerful cultural diplomacy for the country.
Colin Nagy, head of strategy at Fred & Farid, a global advertising agency, writes this opinion column for Skift on hospitality, innovation, and business travel. “On Experience” dissects customer-centric experiences and innovation across hospitality, aviation, and beyond.
The Tokyo hotel market is competitive. Hospitality standards are notoriously high. For example, even a mid-market hotel here would easily achieve the top slots in other global cities.
In the Tokyo ecosystem, the Park Hyatt represents the classic and timeless, the Peninsula sits regally as a single, freestanding hotel structure on the Imperial Palace Gardens, and new entrants like the Andaz seek to carve out a fresh neighborhood hub in Toranomon. All the familiar luxury players are here, from the Shangri-La to the Four Seasons, as well as longstanding institutions like the Palace and the Imperial Hotel.
In addition to considered architecture and locale, the service experience across the board is absolutely unrivaled in other cities. The Japanese art of omotenashi — thoughtful anticipation — is something that once you see it executed well, it is unmatched in hospitality.
But, all of these aforementioned hotels are approaching lodging in a traditional, Western style. There exists an opportunity to differentiate.
Enter the Hoshinoya Tokyo. The property is
