Waldorf Astoria Hotels in Osaka and Tokyo

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Last October it was announced that the first luxury brand Waldorf Astoria hotel in Japan would open in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, in 2026, but now it has emerged that Osaka will beat the capital city to the punch, planning to open its own Waldorf Astoria in 2024.

The Waldorf Astoria is the top luxury brand of Hilton Worldwide Holdings, which includes other brands within the group, such as Conrad Hotels & Resorts.

In the announcement last October, it was learned that a Waldorf Astoria had partnered with Mitsui Fudosan to construct what was then described as its “inaugural” facility in Japan on the 39th through 47th stories of a mixed-use tower that Mitsui is building at Nihonbashi 1-Chome.

The Waldorf Astoria Tokyo Nihonbashi is expected to feature a total of 197 guest rooms, three restaurants, and Peacock Alley, the lounge and bar synonymous with the Waldorf Astoria brand. Guests are also to have access to an indoor pool and a spa and fitness center.

The new information is that Osaka will be scooping this development by opening its own Waldorf Astoria in a 39-story high-rise under construction in the Umekita Second Zone, an urban redevelopment project on the north side of JR Osaka Station. This hotel is expected to have about 250 guest rooms.

The rush to open the Osaka luxury hotel relates to the 2025 World Expo which is planned to be held on Yumeshima island in Osaka Bay. The calculation is that the global pandemic will have subsided by that time and that people from all of the world, including the wealthy, will pour into Osaka for a six-month period to witness the exhibitions.

Founded in New York in 1893, the Waldorf Astoria has expanded to more than thirty locations around the world.