By Ken Y-N (
April 3, 2007 at 21:21)
· Filed under Lifestyle, Polls
Over five days at the start of March MyVoice surveyed their online community on the subject of staying at domestic high-class hotels chains. The survey uses the term “city hotels”, but what they refer to are three star or more posh hotel chains located usually in city centres or around airports targetted mainly at the higher-end business traveller, but also doing packages for leisure breaks for ordinary travellers, featuring facilities such as restaurants, swimming poll, shopping, fitness centre, etc.
Demographics
15,526 members of their online community successfully completed the survey; 54% were female, 2% in their teens, 19% in their twenties, 39% in their thirties, 26% in their forties, and 14% in their fifties.
Personally, I’ve stayed at about 7 of the chains mentioned, all of them for leisure, and never paid more than 15,000 yen per person including breakfast. It would have been interesting to see the survey split between leisure and business travellers, though. The ones I can recommend in the Kansai region are the Hyatt Regency Osaka Bayside for the overall quality (make sure you apply for a member’s card before you stay to get a free drink), the Hilton Umeda for the room decor (modern wa), Westin Awaji for a nice break in the countryside, and the Kansai International Airport Nikko for a high-quality buffet dinner and breakfast before you fly. I’m waiting for a cheap offer (under 25,000 yen per room is the target) for the Teikoku Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton. The only one I wouldn’t recommend would be the Zennikku/ANA Hotel in Kanazawa - nice free coffee and cake package, but small, dark rooms desperately in need of renovation, which admittedly they may have done since I stayed there about four years ago.
Oh, and do other people’s Japanese other halves clean out everything that’s not nailed down (well, the freebies at least) from every hotel you stay at? Anyone want to bid on three bars of Hilton soap on eBay?
Research Results
Q1: About how often do you stay at posh hotel chains within Japan? (Sample size=15,526)
| Once a month or more |
1.8% |
| Once every two or three months |
4.7% |
| Once every six months |
9.1% |
| Once a year |
13.1% |
| Once every two or three years |
12.4% |
| Less than that |
33.7% |
| Never stayed in a city hotel |
24.4% |
Q2: Which of the following posh hotel chains in Japan do you know? (Sample size=15,526, multiple answer)
| Hotel Okura |
89.0% |
| Hotel New Otani |
88.7% |
| Hilton |
87.1% |
| Zennikku (ANA) Hotel |
85.0% |
| Prince Hotel |
84.9% |
| Teikoku (Imperial) Hotel |
83.7% |
| Tokyu Hotel |
80.5% |
| Hotel Nikko |
80.0% |
| Sheraton Hotel |
73.6% |
| Righa Royal Hotel |
61.8% |
| Intercontinental Hotel |
57.3% |
| Four Seasons Hotel |
52.9% |
| The Ritz Carlton |
51.5% |
| Grand Hyatt |
50.9% |
| Westin Hotel |
49.5% |
| Hyatt Regency |
48.9% |
| Park Hyatt |
48.2% |
| Royal Park Hotel |
44.3% |
| Marriot Hotel |
34.3% |
| Mandalay Oriental Hotel |
31.4% |
| None of them |
2.9% |
| No answer |
0.2% |
Q3: Which of the following posh hotel chains in Japan have you stayed at? (Sample size=15,526, multiple answer)
| Prince Hotel |
28.8% |
| Tokyu Hotel |
24.0% |
| Zennikku (ANA) Hotel |
23.6% |
| Hotel Nikko |
19.9% |
| Hilton |
19.6% |
| Sheraton Hotel |
16.5% |
| Hotel New Otani |
12.6% |
| Hotel Okura |
11.1% |
| Righa Royal Hotel |
10.6% |
| Intercontinental Hotel |
8.9% |
| Hyatt Regency |
7.4% |
| Westin Hotel |
7.3% |
| Teikoku (Imperial) Hotel |
7.0% |
| Royal Park Hotel |
4.4% |
| Four Seasons Hotel |
4.2% |
| Grand Hyatt |
3.7% |
| The Ritz Carlton |
3.7% |
| Park Hyatt |
3.6% |
| Marriot Hotel |
3.6% |
| Mandalay Oriental Hotel |
1.5% |
| None of them |
37.8% |
| No answer |
0.2% |
Q4: Which of the following posh hotel chains in Japan is your favourite? (Sample size=those who have stayed at one of the chains in Q3)
| Hilton |
7.8% |
| Sheraton Hotel |
7.4% |
| Zennikku (ANA) Hotel |
6.7% |
| Prince Hotel |
6.1% |
| Hotel Nikko |
5.3% |
| Intercontinental Hotel |
4.7% |
| Westin Hotel |
3.7% |
| Righa Royal Hotel |
3.6% |
| Hotel Okura |
3.6% |
| Teikoku (Imperial) Hotel |
3.6% |
| Tokyu Hotel |
3.4% |
| Hotel New Otani |
3.2% |
| Hyatt Regency |
2.6% |
| Four Seasons Hotel |
2.5% |
| The Ritz Carlton |
2.2% |
| Royal Park Hotel |
1.6% |
| Park Hyatt |
1.4% |
| Marriot Hotel |
1.2% |
| Grand Hyatt |
1.0% |
| Mandalay Oriental Hotel |
0.4% |
| None of them |
27.5% |
| No answer |
0.4% |
Q5: About how much would/did you pay per person to stay at your favourite posh hotel chain in Japan? (Sample size=all bar the “none of them” from Q4)
| Up to 15,000 yen |
9.7% |
| 15,000 to 30,000 yen |
25.5% |
| 30,000 yen to 50,000 yen |
23.1% |
| 50,000 to 70,000 yen |
11.6% |
| 70,000 to 100,000 yen |
5.0% |
| 100,000 to 150,000 yen |
2.2% |
| 150,000 to 200,000 yen |
0.6% |
| Over 200,000 yen |
0.8% |
| Can’t remember |
18.5% |
| No answer |
3.0% |
Q6: Why did you choose to stay at the posh hotel chain you selected in Q4? (Sample size=all bar the “none of them” from Q4, multiple answer)
| Location |
45.7% |
| Hotel atmosphere |
30.8% |
| Room size |
21.3% |
| Room fitments, decoration |
21.2% |
| Price |
19.8% |
| View from window |
18.8% |
| Brand image |
16.6% |
| Restaurant meals |
15.0% |
| Staff courtesy |
14.0% |
| Hotel fitments |
13.6% |
| Service |
11.4% |
| Rich selection of room amenities (soap, shampoo, etc) |
10.1% |
| Companion selected it |
8.9% |
| Someone other than myself or companion selected it |
7.6% |
| Special member services |
4.9% |
| Other |
4.7% |
| Nothing in particular |
3.7% |
| No answer |
3.1% |
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, or check out my weekly newsletter. Thanks for visiting!
Read more on:
Permalink
Related articles:
Public wireless infrequently used in Japan22% of Kyoto hotel rooms are non-smokingInternet is primary resource for domestic hotel reservationsWhere not to take your Japanese girlfriend on a first date
Subscribe to feed
Send to mobile
Subscribe to 世論 What Japan Thinks newsletter
Ken said,
April 10, 2007 @ 02:19
I got in trouble from the better half for cleaning out a hotel room in Kagoshima last weekend…I need razors, man! And soap. Not to mention a new pillowcase…that was where the ‘put it back look’ got me to cave.
Ken Y-N said,
April 10, 2007 @ 07:59
Ken, pillow cases are out, as are any hard soled slippers, but apart from that, she makes sure we get everything down to the coasters, and she has even been known to put the used soap in a bag and take that home!
When we stayed in the Hilton Umeda after Hikaru Utada last year they had a big pack (40 sheets or so) of men’s facial paper (Gatsby), which was nice. I use an electric razor, so I already have hundreds of hotel blades, but does that stop her stripping the bathroom clean?