IHG Hotels & Resorts is celebrating sixty years of operating in Japan, a market it first entered in 1964.
The group’s first hotel in the country was the InterContinental in Tokyo. As the country prepared to host the summer Olympic Games, the 550 room Hotel Okura formally allied with the InterContinental business – at the time, a culturally important breakthrough.
Growth through the years
Today, the group is the second largest international hotel brand group in the country, with close to 50 hotels open and a further 15 in development, for launch within the next five years.
It was at another Olympic milestone, the hosting of the winter Olympics in Sapporo in 1972, that a second hotel opened, the Keio Plaza InterContinental Tokyo. At the time, this property was the highest hotel in Asia. A third hotel joined the brand in Japan in 1991, when the InterContinental Yokohama Grand opened.
In 2006, IHG’s presence in Japan took a major step forward as the group signed a partnership with Japanese airline ANA. A joint venture of IHG-ANA Hotels linked loyalty programmes of the hotel and airline companies, and led to a stream of co-branded hotels. The first of these, the ANA InterContinental Hotel Tokyo, opened in 2007.
Since then, more than 30 co-branded properties have been launched, across different market segments, harnessing the full suite of IHG names including ANA InterContinental, ANA Crowne Plaza, ANA Holiday Inn and ANA Holiday Inn Resort.Since 2020, the growth pace has accelerated with the introduction of five more brands into Japan – Hotel Indigo, Kimpton, Holiday Inn Express, Voco and Six Senses. Three more brands, Vignette Collection, Garner and Regent, are also on their way via new signings.
As of mid 2024, IHG had 47 hotels open, adding up to more than 14,000 rooms. Signed projects will add a further 2,500.
Bringing new brands
By mid 2025, IHG will have opened its first Vignette Collection hotel in Japan. The 1,039 room RIHGA Royal Hotel Osaka will join the brand following a refurbishment undertaken by owner group The Royal Hotel. Later in 2025, InterContinental Sapporo will debut, located on the upper floors of a block in the AXA Sapporo Nakajima Park Project. The 149 room hotel will provide guests with views of Nakajima Park and Toyohira River.
Also launching in 2025 is the Hotel Indigo Nagasaki Glover Street, with the 70 room hotel being created from a historic red brick building in the city. Looking further ahead, Voco Hiroshima is expected to open in 2027, while Regent Kyoto will launch in 2028. The established Crowne Plaza brand will also take a step forward across the country, with Crown Palais hotels in Hamamatsu, Chiryu and Kochi all due to undergo refurbishment and rebranding.
