John Lennon’s favorite resort hotel in Japan reopens after upgrade

TOKYO — A hotel in the resort town of Karuizawa that was once a favorite of late Beatles legend John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono reopened Friday after a major renovation, seeking to attract visitors looking to experience its storied history.

Mampei Hotel partially opened its doors to guests after it was shut down for 18 months.

“I’ve been coming here ever since I was a young mother, so I’m glad it’s open again,” said a 95-year-old woman who was at the reopening.

The hotel has many fans at home and abroad thanks to its reach history. Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko discussed their wedding plans at the the hotel.

Lennon frequently stayed at the hotel, and he taught the staff how to make his favorite royal milk tea. The tea has become a standard menu item.

Real estate developer Mori Trust has been running Mampei Hotel as a subsidiary since 1997. The group decided to give the historic location a complete renovation ahead of the 130th anniversary this year. Mampei Hotel kept its classic exterior while the interior received state-of-the-art equipment.

Mori Trust has a track record of breathing new life to historic buildings. In 2011, the company bought a traditional Kyoto inn that was built in 1899, then reopened the extensively refurbished location in 2015 as Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto.

The U.S. magazine Conde Nast Traveler placed the Suiran at the top of Japanese hotel rankings for six consecutive years.

Mori Trust also launched the Laforet Club, the first resort in Japan catering to corporate members.

Mori Trust President Miwako Date, who has been in the post since 2016, had previously served as the head of the group’s hotel arm. Investments into the hotel business have accelerated under her watch.

For the most recent fiscal year ended in March, the operating revenue in the rental-related business rose 8% to 91.8 billion yen ($620 million). The segment mostly involves office buildings.

The hotel-related business grew operating revenue 49% to 66.4 billion yen and generated a quarter of group earnings.

The company is currently preparing to open hotels in more than 20 locations in Japan. The long-term management plan through fiscal 2030 aims to increase operating profit from the hotel-related business to 100 billion yen, the same level as its rental-related business.

Central to the plan is the restoration of historical buildings. This winter, the company plans to open Hotel Indigo Nagasaki Glover Street, a renovated building constructed in 1898 as a Jesuit monastery. In May, it acquired Arisukan, the former residence of Prince Arisugawa, in Kyoto.

Mori Trust is targeting wealthy international tourists with its unique historic properties.

In Kyoto, it renovated an over 100-year-old building by the Hozu River into a restaurant and cafe that also offers cultural activities, like copying Buddhist sutras and fishing with cormorants. The property has received rave reviews on international travel websites.

Shisui, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Nara opened last year at the former governor’s mansion for Nara prefecture. While Mori Trust updated parts of the complex, it preserved others, like the room where Emperor Hirohito signed the instruments of ratification for the San Francisco Treaty and the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.

Historic buildings often fall short of modern earthquake codes and insulation standards. Restoring finer details also takes time and money. At Mampei Hotel, Mori Trust jacked up the structure to bring it up to code, and extracted dyes from old carpet to reproduce the color.

“We were also committed to cutting down as few trees on the property as possible, so we dealt with many challenges throughout the construction process,” said Executive Director Yoshihiko Masunaga.

But that effort has added unique value. In Kyoto, Mori Trust’s hotels go for over 100,000 yen per night. The Mampei Hotel added new suites with onsen hot spring baths to woo tourists and boost average customer spending.

“Our success is a result of us featuring Japanese elements into our accommodations, instead of just building hotels under a foreign brand in Japan,” Date said.

Inbound tourists to Japan are expected to increase 38% this year to 34.5 million, a major jump from pre-COVID levels, Mori Trusts estimates.