Luxury Hotel Brands Expand to Kyoto

SNA Travel (Tokyo) – Hotel Okura and the Imperial Hotel have both selected the ancient capital of Kyoto as the next site for their expansion.

Luxury hotel brands Hotel Okura and the Imperial Hotel have separately announced that they will be building new branches under their franchise in this historic western Japanese city.

The first to open, perhaps as soon as next January, will be the Hotel Okura branch situated in Sakyo Ward near renowned sites such as Ginkakuji.

The Hotel Okura Kyoto Okazaki Bettei, as it is named, will be the newest addition to the Okura brand in twenty years since the Okura Chiba Hotel in 2001. It will be developed by Mitsubishi Estate, and the building will have sixty guest rooms, with four floors above ground.

This hotel will possess facilities for banquets, as well as hosting restaurants, a fitness gym, and a lounge.

Imperial Hotel’s new branch will be located in the Gion district, and is scheduled to open in the spring of 2026.

The Imperial Hotel branch will be its first new business in thirty years since an opening in Osaka in 1996. The building it has chosen to renovate is a nationally-registered tangible cultural property, the Yasaka Kaikan. The building is located in the center of the world-famous maiko (girls training to be geiko, or geisha) area of the city.

Hideya Sadayasu, the president of Imperial Hotel, promises that the it will aim to preserve the cultural value of the building to the “maximum degree possible.” The structure will keep its iconic multi-layered roof and the shape of the tower which adds its character to the Kyoto urban landscape.

With seven floors above ground, two below ground, and sixty guest rooms, the new Imperial Hotel in Kyoto will have restaurants, a bar, a spa, and a fitness gym.

Together, these new luxury hotels aim to add to Kyoto’s ability to transmit Japanese traditional culture and create memorable experiences for visitors.