Prince Hotels turns Hakone tennis courts into pickleball courts for the season
Prince Hotels is converting part of the tennis courts at its Hakone Sengokuhara resort into dedicated pickleball courts from July through November, giving the racquet sport — already the fastest-growing in the US for four years running — a spot alongside golf, tennis and hiking on the property's seasonal activity roster.
Prince Hotels is converting part of the tennis courts at its Hakone Sengokuhara property into dedicated pickleball courts, opening the sport to guests from 1 July through 30 November this year, the company said. The Kanagawa Prefecture resort already offers golf next door at Ohakone Country Club, along with tennis and hiking on nearby Mount Kintoki, giving pickleball a fourth activity slot on the property's seasonal roster.
Pickleball blends elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton, played with solid paddles and a perforated plastic ball on a court smaller than a tennis court, according to Prince Hotels, which pitched the sport as approachable for everyone from children to seniors, beginners included. The company cited the sport's US player base reaching roughly 24.3 million in 2025 and its run as America's fastest-growing sport for four straight years, alongside rising uptake in Canada, Australia and Europe. The hotel hosted what it called the region's first pickleball tournament, the Hakone Cup, in June.
Turning idle tennis-court space into pickleball is a low-cost way for a resort hotel to widen its activity mix without new construction — a product move dressed as programming, timed to a five-month window that covers Hakone's peak summer and autumn-foliage seasons. The bet is less about the court itself than what a broader activity list does to length of stay and same-trip spend at a property that competes on onsen and scenery as much as sport.