Arya News - The Daito Trust group is targeting inbound tourists whose number logged a record high in 2025 as well as domestic family travellers. Companies in the real estate and hotel industries are entering into this new type of hotel business.
TOKYO – The Daito Trust Construction Co. group is entering the hotel management business. The group plans to open 10 “apartment-style” hotels nationwide by fiscal 2028, featuring guest rooms equipped with home appliances and kitchens just like apartment housing units, making them well-suited for attracting guests staying for medium- to long-term periods of time.
The Daito Trust group is targeting inbound tourists whose number logged a record high in 2025 as well as domestic family travelers. Companies in the real estate and hotel industries are entering into this new type of hotel business.
Aiming for ¥500 billion in sales
The Daito group will open a total of three hotels in the Asakusa district in Tokyo and Fukuoka in 2027, and it will subsequently expand its operations mainly in government-designated large cities in Hokkaido, the Kinki region and the Chugoku region.
Each unit at the hotels is expected to be about 40-45 square meters, which is more spacious than rooms in typical business hotels, and is equipped with appliances such as a microwave oven. The group expects rates to be around ¥60,000 to ¥70,000 per night.
In April, the group signed a partnership agreement with Tokyo-based Unito, a company that develops and operates hotels. Initially, the Daito group will outsource operations to Unito, with the goal of transitioning to direct operations in the future. Although Daito Trust Construction has previously developed hotels both in Japan and overseas, this will be the first time it will be involved in hotel operation. In addition to the housing-leasing business — its main business — the company plans to make real estate development, including hotels, a new pillar of revenue, aiming to increase sales in this sector to ¥500 billion by fiscal 2030, which is 240% higher than that of fiscal 2025.
Laundry machines in guest rooms
The Orix group opened its first hotel under Cross Suites, a new apartment-style hotel brand, in the Asakusa district in Tokyo on July 3.
There are 11 types of rooms in total, ranging in size from about 25-63 square meters. In addition to having appliances and tableware, suite rooms that can accommodate up to six guests are also equipped with laundry machines.
Orix Hotel Management Corp. President Takaaki Nitanai said, “We want to explore flexible approaches, including not only new construction but also renovations of existing buildings as well as conversions of leasing-housing buildings and office spaces.”
Mitsubishi Estate Co. entered the business in April by renovating an existing hotel in the Tsukiji district in Tokyo.
With the apartment-style hotel, Mitsubishi Estate aims to capture a different segment of demand than business hotels — which are designed for short-term stays by small numbers of people — by providing facilities where families and others with a relatively larger number of guests can relax comfortably.
With the hotel providing cooking equipment, guests can reduce the cost burden of eating out at restaurants and ordering room service. Since stays at such rooms are typically for multiple nights, the frequency of cleaning and linen changes can be minimized, allowing for more efficient operations even amid a labor shortage.
Long-term stays
The number of inbound visitors to Japan in 2025 set a new record high for the second consecutive year, surpassing 40 million, and the figure is expected to continue rising. The average length of stay is 9½ days, and visitors from Europe and North America tend to stay even longer.
“Since this type of accommodation is also convenient for domestic families to use, this business model can expand,” said Terunobu Kuribayashi, a senior researcher at the JTB Tourism Research and Consulting Co. Noting that guests are likely to explore the surrounding areas, Kuribayashi emphasized, “The key to establishing advantages is in how well a hotel can provide services tailored to its location and the local community.”