Skift Take
Hoshino Resorts is smart to get a head start on accommodating the influx of travelers who are not only traveling to Japan in droves, but yearning to do so in a way that makes them feel more connected to the local culture, without having to break the bank.
Hoshino Resorts, a family-owned hotel company based in Japan that's been in operation for more than 100 years, just announced its newest brand: OMO. The new midscale brand was designed to appeal to tourists, and to capitalize on the visitor boom that Japan has experienced in recent years, as well as the crowds expected for the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games.
In 2016, more than 24 million tourists visited Japan, a record number for the fourth straight year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization, and by 2020, the government hopes to welcome 40 million tourists.
The first OMO hotel, a conversion, is scheduled to open in Hokkaido in April, with another one, a newbuild, to follow in May in Tokyo. A third hotel, also a newbuild, is set to open later this year in Osaka.
Hoshino, which is perhaps best-known for its ultra-luxury Hoshinoya brand, is embarking on plans for global growth that take the company beyond Japan. Already, it also owns two properties based in Bali and Tahiti, and CEO Yoshiharu Hoshino has said he wants to use his hotels as platforms for introducing the world to Japanese hospitality.
With its new OMO brand, Hoshino is doing things a bit differently. The company's CEO told Skift, "Until now, we have provided guests with excitement and cultural experiences within our resorts or Japanese ryokans and inns. However, our OMO locations are directly surrounded by local communities, while being in a convenient location for travelers to explore. We want our guests to discover the out-of-the-ordinary experience that lies within each city."
He added, "OMO is the brand that maximizes the charm, personality, and diversity of regional cities and metropolitan areas" and said there's a possibility, in the long term, to expand the brand outside of Japan.
For now, however, the plan is to grow OMO domestically and to promote it directly via Hoshino's website as well as online travel agencies.
In other words, it's a new midscale brand focused on what so many other new hotel brands have emphasized as their guiding principle, regardless of chain scale category: introducing travelers to local experiences.
"My thought was that I wanted to create a city hotel that would allow guests to see the place they are staying in through the point of view of a traveler who is interested in learning about the destination," Hoshino said. "We began to wonder how a city hotel might change if we created one, only by thinki
