"Japanese Hotels That Japanese People Can't Stay In": Why Hotels in Japan Got So Expensive, and Which Chains Japanese Regulars Say Still Hold Their Price

What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 597 comments

• Even when hotel prices go up, the pay for the front desk staff stays low.

  ホテルの料金が高くなってもフロントスタッフの給与は安い

  — @RyuyaWilliamMost liked591 likes

• When the bill at a business hotel came to nearly 100,000 yen, I thought, are these people sane?

  ビジホで10万近い宿泊費だった時は正気かコイツらって思った

  — @dope8number489 likes

• When a business hotel I used to stay at for 6,000 yen was 20,000, I was frankly stunned. And it wasn't even a time with a famous artist or idol playing a concert.

  6000円で泊まれてたビジネスホテルが2万円だった時は流石に唖然とした 別に有名なアーティストやアイドルのライブとか無い時だったのに

  — @ヘッケン54 likes

• Is this really a case of "hotels are expensive" rather than "Japan has got poor"?

  これって「ホテルが高い」でなく「日本が貧しい」って事かな？

  — @中村よしひろ-m7y462 likes

• For a lot of people, "can't stay" fits better than "don't stay". Occupancy at business hotels seems to be staying high, so the situation is that the people who don't stay (can't stay) are the ones being squeezed out…

  多くの人にとっては、泊まらない、より、泊まれない、の方が適当でしょうね。ビジホの稼働率は高いままのようなので、泊まらない（泊まれない）人が弾かれている状況…

  — @あいたく-o9s45 likes

• I'm a cleaner at a business hotel, and in an average week I clean more than 80% of the rooms. Of the rest, a lot are guests staying several nights, and they all clear out at the weekend and one-night guests arrive, so it's almost always full.

  ビジホの清掃員だけど、週平均で8割以上部屋の掃除をする。残りの部屋も連続滞在の人が多くて、土日に全員捌けて、1泊のお客様がいらっしゃるから、常にほぼ満室

  — @果音かのん4 likes

• Seriously. In Tokyo, Osaka and so on the company rule gives you 7,800 yen, and right now there's no hotel at that price even without meals.

  まじで。東京。大阪とか会社の規定で7800円支給っていま素泊まりでもそんなホテル無いぞ

  — @shogonohara9056121 likes

• Before the exam day in February it was 35,000 yen, and I thought they were taking advantage. 70,000 yen for three days and two nights. Far more than the exam fee. It isn't even the tourist season and it's this expensive.

  二月の受験日前は、35000円で足元見てるなと思った。2泊3日で7万円。受験料より遥かに高い。 観光シーズンでもないのに高いわ。

  — @カエルがかわいい84 likes

• My sister and I stayed three nights at a business hotel near the hospital for our parent's operation, and it came to about the same as ten days in hospital and the surgery…

  親の手術で病院近くのビジネスホテル姉と2人で3泊したけど入院10日と手術費用とあんまり変わらない値段だったぞ…

  — @迦純63 likes

• Leaving aside people who spend a relaxed time in the hotel, most of us are really just going back to sleep, paying a high price purely to sleep. In the daytime you're out sightseeing, or out at work if it's a business trip. So people think "I'm only sleeping anyway", and more of them are staying at the fully private-room net cafes that have been increasing lately.

  ホテルでゆっくり過ごす人ならともかく、 殆どの人はホテル泊まっても実質寝に戻るだけで寝るためだけに高額な料金払ってるからな。 昼間は観光に出たり、 出張なら仕事で外出してるわけで。 それなら『どうせ寝るだけだし。』と、 最近は増えた完全個室のネカフェに泊まるって人も増えてきたからなー。

  — @ゴトン中毒-n2h35 likes

• Honestly… I'm going to Tokyo from the 10th and APA was close to 30,000 yen. I went with a capsule hotel in Akabane instead.

  ホントに…10日から東京行くんだけどアパで3万近かった。 赤羽のカプセルホテルにしました

  — @busshii-x6t20 likes

• I'm from Kanagawa and live in Osaka now, and even for memorial services I do it as a day trip, because the fare is far less than the room. An inn I used to use regularly, a single at 5,000 yen, is three to four times that now… the reality is that for the price of staying I could buy a pile of souvenirs (crying).

  神奈川出身→大阪在住やけど、法事とかも交通費≪宿泊代で日帰りで済ませている。 以前定宿にしていたシングル5000円の宿で３〜４倍増し…泊まる金額でお土産沢山買える現実(泣)

  — @きんぎょ丸井9 likes

• Toyoko INN is stable on price, isn't it.

  東横INNは価格が安定してるね

  — @gangan51248 likes

• I stay at all sorts on business trips, and Toyoko INN and Route Inn are relatively stable on price. APA and Dormy swing enormously.

  出張でいろいろ泊るが、東横INNとルートインは比較的料金安定してる。アパとドーミーは値幅が凄い

  — @Bttf201549 likes

• Toyoko Inn really is cheap. It isn't luxurious, but it even comes with a breakfast buffet, and one year end, booking the same conditions for the same number of nights, there was a gap of a good 20,000 yen between an APA Hotel around Kabukicho and a Toyoko Inn, with the Toyoko Inn cheaper. The rooms aren't dirty either, and I remember being surprised that it could be this cheap compared with APA in the same location.

  東横インは確かに安い。 豪華でこそないが、 朝食バイキングまでついてて、 年末に過去に実際あったやつだと、 同じ条件、日数で予約した歌舞伎町周辺のアパホテルと東横インでは2万ちょいも差があり東横インのが安かった。 部屋も汚いとかもないし、 アパとくらべると同じ立地にあるのにこんなに安いのかと驚いた思い出。

  — @ゴトン中毒-n2h31 likes

• Rather than staying in Kyoto, stay a little way out, somewhere like Kusatsu City or Ogoto Onsen.

  京都に泊まるよりも、草津市とかおごと温泉とか、少し離れたところに泊まる

  — @hirloh662034 likes

• The Universal Hotel in Hiroshima is still around 5,000 yen for a night with two meals, which makes them like gods. It even has a large public bath, it's the best.

  広島のユニバーサルホテルは現在でも1泊２食付きで ５千円程度と神様みたいです。大浴場まであるし最高

  — @kikuichi656474 likes

• When you're staying for an event or a concert, if you get your booking in the instant the dates are announced, you can book before the room price goes up.

  イベントやライブで泊るときは、日程が発表された直後に速攻で予約入れれば、部屋の値段が上がる前に予約できるんだぜ。

  — @junkers0112 likes

• SaveToyoko Inn↗東横INN

  The chain Japanese business travelers name when asked which prices do not move, with 248 likes on a one-line endorsement. One regular reports a gap of around 20,000 yen against an APA Hotel in the same Kabukicho area for the same dates, as of the comments.

• SaveRoute Inn Hotels↗ルートイン

  Named alongside Toyoko INN as relatively stable on price by a commenter who stays at all sorts of chains on business (49 likes). Mostly roadside locations, which another commenter flags as the trade-off.

• SaveUniversal Hotel Hiroshima Ekimae Shinkansen-guchi Migi↗広島駅前ユニバーサルホテル新幹線口右Hiroshima

  A commenter calls the Hiroshima Universal Hotel god-tier for still being around 5,000 yen a night with two meals and a large public bath (74 likes). The chain's own site confirms the two included meals and the top-floor bath; the rate moves with the date.

  Sources: universal-group.co.jp — checked 2026-09-15

• SaveOgoto Onsen↗おごと温泉Otsu, Shiga

  One of the two places a commenter names for sleeping outside Kyoto (34 likes). It is on Lake Biwa in Shiga, about a quarter of an hour by train from Kyoto Station.

• SaveKusatsu, Shiga↗草津市（滋賀県）Shiga

  The other town in the same comment, and not the hot spring resort of the same name in Gunma. This Kusatsu is a commuter city in Shiga on the JR line into Kyoto.

Named in the source comments. Where a note gives a price, opening status or rule, we checked it against the linked source on the date shown — everything else is what the comments said. All of it can change; check the map listing before you go.

Why are hotels in Japan so expensive now?

Because the rooms are still being filled at the new prices. A cleaner at a business hotel says she turns over more than 80% of the rooms in an average week and the place is almost always full (4 likes), and the most-repeated reading of that in the thread is that nobody is boycotting hotels, the cheaper half of the market is simply being squeezed out (45 likes). The price swing is not spread evenly: the same room can be 6,000 yen and then 20,000 yen weeks later (54 likes).

Which business hotel chains in Japan don't surge in price?

Japanese business travelers name two: Toyoko INN and Route Inn, which they say stay relatively flat, against APA and Dormy Inn, which they say swing enormously (49 likes). The single most-liked practical line in the thread is just "Toyoko INN is stable on price, isn't it" (248 likes). Toyoko Inn also runs its own membership card, which anyone can join for a 1,500 yen one-off fee and which takes 5% off weekdays and 20% off Sundays and public holidays.

Sources: toyoko-inn.com · toyoko-inn.com — checked 2026-09-15

Are capsule hotels and net cafes actually cheaper in Japan?

By a wide margin, and Japanese travelers are switching for exactly that reason. One commenter priced an APA room in Tokyo at close to 30,000 yen and took a capsule hotel in Akabane instead (20 likes). Another argues the point plainly: most guests are only going back to the room to sleep, so the fully private-room net cafes have taken over the job business hotels used to do (35 likes).

How do Japanese travelers get a cheaper room in Japan?

Three habits show up. Book the moment event dates are announced, before the rate moves (12 likes). Sleep one town out rather than in the headline city, for example Kusatsu City or Ogoto Onsen instead of Kyoto (34 likes). And treat two-meal regional hotels as the real bargain: the Universal Hotel by Hiroshima Station is named as still costing about 5,000 yen with dinner and breakfast, with a large public bath (74 likes).