BCCJ ACUMEN July 2013 | Page 13

MEDIA

Shukan Toyo Keizai’ s 25 May issue featured a comprehensive review of Japan’ s air and hotel industries.

Of particular interest are the top five performers among the nation’ s major hotels in each of four categories( the latest data is from FY2011).

Food and beverage sales( in millions of yen)

5,818 5,700 4,954 4,525

4,028

Banquet sales( in millions of yen)

11,613 8,403 6,965

5,852 5,143

Imperial( Tokyo)

Rhiga Royal( Osaka)

Hotel Okura( Tokyo)

Imperial( Osaka)

Hotel Nikko( Tokyo)

The Comfort Hotel’ s“ sheep room” has bedding and lighting aimed at enhancing sleep.

Since opening in 1999, the Comfort Hotel chain has adopted a similar tack. It offers a“ hitsuji( sheep) room” in some of its hotels with bedding and lighting that is aimed at enhancing sleep.

The hotels also feature choice pillows in all guest rooms. The oversized pillows have different padding in the centre and at the ends, to provide support for different sleeping positions. They have made such a favourable impression on guests that the hotel chain has sold more than 10,000 of them, at ¥ 7,800 each.( No mention is made of how many have been purloined).

Price per room( in yen)

55,256 55,000 55,000 45,435 45,000

Allamanda Shigira Bayside Suite( Okinawa)

Tokyo Disney Sea MiraCosta

Room occupancy rate(%)

Tokyo Disneyland Hotel

Mandarin Oriental( Tokyo)

Disney Ambassador( Urayasu)

96.4 95.9 94.0

93.3 93.1

Harumi Grand( Tokyo)

Dai-Ichi( Osaka)

Daiwa Roynet( Sendai)

New Otani Inn( Yokohama)

Trusty Abeno( Osaka)

At the other end of the hospitality spectrum, Japan’ s business hotels have been appealing to travellers by emphasising kaimin( a good nights’ sleep), reported travel writer Noriko Shioda.

One such example is Hankyu-Hanshin-Daiichi Hotel Group’ s Remm chain. In addition to a bed, each guest room is equipped with an electric massage chair, a special rain-type showerhead, and a choice of three varieties of pillow.

The rooms are also available for daytime naps at the rate of ¥ 8,000 for six hours.

Since its opening in 2007, the Remm Hibiya Hotel has maintained an occupancy rate of over 80 %.“ Many of our guests are repeat customers who are seeking that‘ plus alpha’ element from their accommodation and are willing to pay extra out of their own pockets, on top of their per diem budget”, said staff member Eri Nozawa. The firm also operates branches in Akihabara and has one branch in Osaka.

According to the Nikkei Marketing Journal, an internet survey of 1,000 Japanese adults by Macromill, Inc. found that 60.3 % of respondents expected purchases of clothes to stay about the same, 20.1 % said they would increase outlays this year, while 14.4 % said outlays were likely to decline.

The main reason for increased outlays, stated by 54.8 %, was“ I held back too long on purchases”, followed by“ My income will probably increase”( 23.9 %), and“ I need more gear for travel or leisure”( 17.4 %).

The top item most likely to be purchased for males and females alike was T-shirts, with 45.4 % and 50.6 %, respectively. After that, the items deviate, with males naming functional underwear, jeans, dress shirts and trousers to complete the top five, while women named dresses, functional underwear, blouses and skirts.

Nearly half( 45.6 %) the respondents said their outlays would range between ¥ 10,000 and ¥ 30,000, and another 29.8 % said they expected to spend less than ¥ 10,000.

Another item on the same page gave the results of a survey, by household goods maker Lion Corporation, of 400 adults aged 20 – 60. The poll asked if they habitually washed newly purchased clothes and other items before wearing them. Some 62.4 % said they did, of whom 26.4 % said they always did so, and 36 % who said they did on some occasions.

Items most likely to be washed before being worn included towels, T-shirts and cutsew garments. The main reasons stated for washing included,“ They were touched by other people”( 37.3 %),“ the odour bothers me”( 35.8 %); and“ I want to wash out residual chemicals”( 33.6 %).

The largest segment who said they don’ t wash new things( 47.0 %) were males aged 40 – 50.

JULY 2013 | BCCJ ACUMEN | 13