Japan's hotel industry quickly expanding with newcomers from outside

The pendulum will eventually swing back, it's a short time Olympic fueled "bubble"

Yeah that's what I think too. It would be nice to have an oversupply of hotels though. That brings the price of accomodation down and we consumers eventually win.

should be making more day cares not hotels

I agree with other comments here, first of all the olympice last 15 days, 2nd there is , if anything, less demand for hotels during olympics than normal, not more. Third, the tourist boom from China will not last, there will be soon a huge oversupply of hotel rooms

Just on the profitability issue, but "hotels" is one of the lowest paying sectors in the Japanese economy, in the bottom ten, if not the bottom five.

If we end up with a price war in the accommodation sector, it will not remedy this situation.

They have just made life harder for AirBnB here. That seems to go against the grain of this article.

Ever tried to book a hotel in japan recently. Tried to find on for my family. Impossible to find and around ¥25000 a night person. Someone’s making money, not Airbnb hosts, as they are barred in most places.

They built a load of new hotels for the London Olympics, too many. Bookings were low, not enough business to go around. The only ones that survive are the stupidly expensive ones, like Claridges and the Savoy, and the budget chains.

Ever tried to book a hotel in japan recently. Tried to find on for my family. Impossible to find and around ¥25000 a night person

Are you trying to stay in the Ritz, or similar 5 star hotels? My wife often travels to Tokyo/Yokohama to visit her mother and the hotels she books are usually around Y5000 - 6000 per night. Sometimes she gets them for Y3000 (and they are not dumps either).

I've said it before and I'l say it again, Tokyo needs to do something about it's hotel situation. Most hotels are "tired", smelly due to years of smoke and just run down with peeling wallpaper and horrific "breakfast buffets". There are too few rooms in Tokyo. Heck, even in Osaka. Ever tried booking a place where there is a popular concert? Next to impossible unless you want to stay in one of the chains that states they offer non-smoking rooms that really aren't And even then, you have to book early. I've already booked my room for a June stay because I know how quick rooms go. I have no idea how Tokyo is going to deal with everyone coming to stay for the olympics. Nagano had people in and out in the same day I believe. Tokyo? People are going to want to stay and sight see if they are coming from abroad.

Perhaps once the traffic of the olympics leaves, the government might look after the Tohoku evacuees still living in shoddy temp housing?

Japan is 50/50 with hotels I figure. Business hotels can be quite well done, especially the Super Hotel chain. They can be a cheap price, for a clean room with good service, and often breakfast included. These are usually a good deal. On the high-end, if you go to a nice Ryokan or an onsen, they are excellent. But the standard upper-level hotel does not nearly meet the quality, service, and food of the rest of Asia. Asia is great for upper-end hotels, often a a pretty reasonable price, but Japan just isn't so good in this regards.

They can be a cheap price, for a clean room with good service, and often breakfast included.

I agree some are decent priced but for me, the lack of understanding with non-smoking means they aren's clean. I've stayed at more places than I care to remember who had smoking floors sandwiched in between non-smoking floors and the like. Some ryokan can be nice but I've stayed at so may run down places it shocks me at how much they charge for their rooms. Perhaps as you said, I'm just more accused to be places in the rest of Asia. It's shocking though that an "upscale" hotel could have ripped and peeling wallpaper in lobbies and the like.

I'm glad they are building new hotels, as mentioned above many existing hotels are so out of date, stink. Few comforts just a submarine type room some including bunks? Now there are upscale hotels, but that's a niche market. And not the norm for Joe average on their budget trip overseas.

The smoking thing is a big issue in hotels. Last year My husband and I were obliged to go to Nagano. We booked a non-smoking room in a hotel, but when we checked in the receptionist told us there weren't any no smoking rooms available but didn't seem to think it was a problem because he gave us a bottle of air freshener. We laughed in his face and spent the next hour trying to find a no smoking room elsewhere. We found one eventually.

I will believe it if it actually happens, unless you have the luxury to book way in advance it can be very hard to find a hotel if you need more than 2nights worth of accommodation.

I imagine a lot of 2020 tourists will be slumming outside in parks etc, will be interesting to see...

Business Hotels are cheap.

I have an issue though with regular hotels and the fact that they like to charge per person and not by room or an extra bed or baby crib etc. A room is a room. Charge for the room like the whole rest of the world does.

We do not need more hotels. What we need are more REASONABLE share houses that offer clean pleasant rooms that are secure. When I am traveling I will rent a love hotel if it is for one night and I am alone. Or even a capsule as the rooms have got to costly. Business hotels as well would have to fully booked for me to consider the previous options. Really depends on location and where I am and where I want to be. I would rather use the funds for a meal. If I am going with family. It will be a Ryokan with plenty of advance notice. I will seek a bus tour package sometimes as well. Or some sort of promotion. Our last trip took us to Oita Beppu. We found a nice Ryokan for three days that ran us about 11.000 Yen a night. This did not include meals. If the land developers were to build more share houses. The Olympians could stay in them. Then after the Olympics. I am sure they can rent the rooms out to incoming English Teachers who are going to be staying for a year or more. Or less. These share houses could offer nightly or weekly rental packages. Just an idea. But keep the cost reasonable.