Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima launches west Japan's first dog-friendly room package

Grand Prince Hotel Hiroshima has launched a "Dog Friendly Room" stay plan, which operator Seibu Prince Hotels & Resorts says is the first offering of its kind among the group's Prince Hotels properties in western Japan. The plan runs from Sept 1 to Dec 28, 2026, the hotel said, and sits under the group's wider "Seibu Pet Smile Project."

The room measures 53 square metres, overlooks the Seto Inland Sea, and comes equipped with a dog crate, dog bed, safety gate, covered waste bin and cleaning supplies, according to the hotel. Guests get an American-style breakfast delivered to the room, with an optional dinner of a hotel bento box built around Hiroshima specialities — oyster fry or steak. The hotel did not disclose pricing for the plan.

In its release, the hotel cited findings that 94.5% of dog owners want to travel with their pets, framing the launch against a broader expansion of Japan's pet-related market as pets are increasingly treated as family members and premium pet goods and services grow.

This fits a broader shift in Japanese hospitality: as households shrink and the pet-owning population ages, treating a dog as a near-family guest is becoming a genuine amenity differentiator rather than a niche accommodation. That Prince Hotels — a chain built around Kanto and Kansai flagships — is testing this first in Hiroshima, a regional hub rather than Tokyo, points to pet travel being pitched at domestic leisure demand outside the capital, where hotels compete less on inbound volume and more on giving Japanese travellers a reason to book a weekend away.