JAPANESE STYLE HOTEL(RYOKAN) IN GLOBALISATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Japanese Style Hotel (Ryokan)2. Western Hotels3. Problems/ Issues Concerning Ryokan4. Solution And Summary

1. JAPANESE STYLE HOTEL (RYOKAN)

The Definition of Ryokan

The hotel business law defines four types:

The ryokan business The hotel business The budget hotel

business The lodging

businessA traditional Japanese inn that originated in the Edo period originally to serve travelers along Japanese road. (ex. Tokaido, Koshukaido).Some plans with half board (dinner and breakfast) and cost about less than 10,000 yen

Ryokan service

Most ryokans offer Ippaku-Nishoku (half board) packages

= one night of stay + two meals (dinner and breakfast) at ryokan

Current SituationThe number of Ryokan decreasing (27% down since 2007)

Sales also decreasing (20% down since 1997)

The average of operation rate is only 34.7%

Data: Japan Tourism Agency

2. WESTERN HOTELS

Hospitality

Facilities

Western hotels tend to enhance many different kinds of facilities to get the consumers' attention

On the other hand, Japanese hotels put effort in service and hospitality rather than facilities

3. PROBLEMS/ISSUES CONCERNING RYOKAN

Japanese Tourism Policy Council (1995)• “. . . the relatively

high price levels and the system structure which fails to meet diversified needs . . . Such structural issues can be solved . . . through a large-scale reconstruction of the systems in Japanese tourism”

• 「…割高な価格水準、ニーズの多様化に対応していないサービス体系…これらの構造的問題を解決するためには、…国内旅行の大規模なシステム変更が必要である」

1. Decreasing guest number• Statistics show:

　　❶ For Ryokans: Guest numbers, 　　　 operation rates, number of 　　　　　 ryokans are all falling in the past 　　　 decade

　　❷ For Western-style hotels (in 　　　　　 Japan): Guest numbers, 　　　　　　 operation rates, number of 　　　　　 hotels are all increasing in the 　　　　 past decade

• ➡Need to review marketing strategies?

　　　　　 (Japan Tourism Agency)

2. Limited options• The Ippaku-nishoku

system has two problems:

❶Inability to satisfy customers who don’t need or want ryokan food

❷High expenses—meal expenses are automatically included, making customer costs ↑

(Ikado)

2. Limited options

• Ryokan usually offer services in Japanese or English

• However, S. Korea, Taiwan, China, and other East Asian countries have the highest number of tourists in Japan

(Japan Tourism Marketing Co.)

3. Shortage/Isolation of ryokan staff• A considerable number of

ryokans are:

owned by individuals or families (28.5%)

run by small number of staff (65.3% have less than 20 staff members)

on tight budget

(wam.net)

Difficult to expand, improve, and promote services

4. SOLUTION AND SUMMARY

How to recover the Ryokan industry?

1. To STP(segment, target, position) the Market

2. To Keep and Strengthen the Cooperations and Communications with Peers

3. To Go Out Of Japan

4. To Provide Optional Menu

1. To STP(segment, target, position) The MarketIf a product or service is good enough, it will sell itself.

❶ Ryokan provide special services, so their managers have to know what kinds of customers are on the market.

❷ Next, they have to analyse their target customers.

❸ Finally, they should improve their services according to their customer’s needs.

×

2. To Strengthen and Keep the Cooperations and Communications with Peers

Single management

Share and get experiences

with each other

Promote with peers to save

the cost

Difficult to advertise

3. To Go Out Of Japan

Not only build Ryokan in Japan, but also build abroad to raise the popularity

Use SNS (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to promote Ryokan

Free and Effective

4. To Provide Optional Menu

Multiple Languages Service

Set Menu

Subdivided Services

SUMMARYLOCAL TRADITION

VS GLOBAL CULTURE

HOW to SURVIVE?

Conservative ×Make improvements and sell more!

ReferencesWelfare And Medical Service NETwork System. “ 経営実態調査に見る「旅館業（旅館・ホテル・簡易宿所）」の現況 (The current state of Ryokan business [Ryokan/Hotel/Simple Accommodation] seen through business status investigation).”WAM.NET. n.d. Web (PDF). 13 Nov. 2013.

南原竜樹 (2013.02) 『旅館再生の教科書―全国旅館の 90% が赤字の旅館業 経営者なら知りたい再生の特効薬』 ATパブリケーション 200pp.

高橋学 (2013.09) 『さあ、東南アジアビジネスをはじめよう！成功のカギはソーシャルメディアの使い方にあり』インプレスコミュニケーションズ 110pp.

Segmenting and positioning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmenting_and_positioning>

Ikado, Takao. “ 旅館料金はなぜ高い？「泊食分離」の必要性 (Why are ryokan prices high? The need for the separation of food and stay)” About.co.jp. 12 Feb 2007. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. < http://allabout.co.jp/gm/gc/75681/>

Japan Tourism Marketing Co. “November 2013 Statistics of Visitors to Japan from Overseas.” Japan Tourism Marketing Co. 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. < http://www.tourism.jp/en/statistics/2013-11/>

Tourism Policy Council ( 観光政策審議会 ). “ 今後の観光政策の基本的な方向について (About the basic direction of tourism policies in the future)”. mlit.go.jp. 2 June 1994. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. <http://www.mlit.go.jp/singikai/unyusingikai/kankosin/kankosin39.html>

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare <http://www.mhlw.go.jp/bunya/kenkou/seikatsu-eisei04/03.html>

Current situation of the tourism industry <http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/000226408.pdf>

Valuation column <http://www.tahara-kantei.com/column/column1052.html>

THANK YOU!