Design & Competitiveness: The Comparison between Foreign Hotels and Japanese Hotels in Japan

• Main Authors: Hui-Mei Wang, 王慧美
• Other Authors: Hsi-Hsun Tsai
• Format: Others
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/m9wmhk

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 日本研究所碩士在職專班 === 97 === Tokyo has great potential to become a tourism destination, and with an increase in foreign visitors to Tokyo comes a spike in the demand for luxury hotels. Several top hotels have opened in the past years, accommodations are more numerous. Things have definitely changed since their heyday prior to the arrival of the global brands. Announced by Ex-Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi, Japan is addressing the promotion of tourism, with a view to increasing annual visits from overseas guests to 10 million by 2010. The local media are dubbing the recent opening of these luxury hotels the start of a "hotel war." To compete with new foreign-owned properties, they must maintain their Japanese originality together with Japanese hospitality and style of service. While most of the older Japanese brands have already undergone extensive modernization--the Imperial Hotel completed a four-year strategic renewal in 2002--they are now keen to emphasize their sense of wa. As a wave of new high-end properties open, luxury hotels are doing their best to sustain their competitive advantages. This essay is based on the relation of Design and Competitiveness to compare the differences between Japanese hotels and foreign-owned hotels. Design is reliant on communication as a means to express better services and share ideas with customers. Furthermore, this essay also focuses on three leading brands to deeply analyze services provided: The Imperial Hotel has welcomed royalty, heads of state, celebrities and international business leaders for over 115 years, offering discreet, highly personalized services, restrained elegance, award-winning cuisine and refined, impeccable Japanese hospitality. The Ritz-Carlton has been recognized with numerous awards for being the gold standard of hospitality. The Kagaya in Ishikawa prefecture has been voted the best ryokan in the whole of Japan for the last 29 years running. As expected in a traditional Japan, the service is beyond perfect.