Tokyo's New Luxury Collection Hotel to Open in July

Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho, a Luxury Collection Hotel

The Luxury Collection, part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, is set to debut the brand’s first hotel in Tokyo in July 2016. Owned by Prince Hotels, the Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho, a Luxury Collection Hotel, will be located in Tokyo’s Kioicho neighborhood, and is the Luxury Collection’s second property in Japan following the opening of Suiran in Kyoto in April last year.

In a statement, Prince Hotel President Shigeyoshi Akasaka noted that Tokyo will need more luxury hotels as the city prepares to host the 2020 Summer Olympic games as well as the Paralympic games. 

Japan is seeing a record numbers of visitors, and the Japan National Tourism Organization said late last year that it expected close to 20 million visitors for 2015—a jump of 40 percent over 2014’s already high arrival figures. The arrivals boom  has created a shortage of hotel rooms, and developers are racing to add new properties to the pipeline. Between now and 2019, the city is expected to add nearly 22,000 hotel rooms, roughly 9,000 of which will be upscale. Last year, Great Eagle Group announced plans to build the 270-room luxury Langham Place hotel in Tokyo. The land was reportedly acquired for just under $180 million.

In 2015, Starwood signed four new hotels and opened three new properties in Japan, namely Sheraton Kiroro Hokkaido Resort; The Kiroro, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, Hokkaido; and The Westin Rusutsu Resort. When opened, The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioichio will mark Starwood’s fourth hotel in Tokyo.