Hilton signs its first Motto by Hilton for Japan, a 108-room Kyoto hotel due in 2029
Hilton has signed the first Motto by Hilton in Japan, a 108-room hotel in Kyoto's Shijo Karasuma district due to open in 2029 — Hilton's seventh hotel in the city, five of them opened in the last five years.
Hilton said it has signed an agreement to bring Motto by Hilton, the group's youngest lifestyle brand, to Japan for the first time, with a 108-room hotel set to open in Kyoto's Shijo Karasuma district in 2029, according to a release on the company's own newsroom dated September 28.
Motto by Hilton Kyoto Shijo Karasuma is being developed by Heiwa Real Estate and will sit roughly a two-minute walk from Shijo and Karasuma stations, putting Nishiki Market, Gion, Higashiyama and the Shijo Kawaramachi shopping district within easy reach, Hilton said. The hotel is planned to include an all-day dining restaurant and a lounge with an open terrace.
Once open, the property will become Hilton's seventh hotel in Kyoto, the company said — five have opened in the city in the five years since ROKU KYOTO, part of Hilton's LXR Hotels & Resorts brand, debuted in 2021, with a Curio Collection by Hilton property also in the pipeline. Hirohisa Fujimoto, Hilton's vice president of development for Japan and Micronesia, said the hotel would offer "a flexible stay experience designed to meet the needs" of a range of travellers.
That Hilton's newest lifestyle brand is making its Japan debut in Kyoto's Shijo Karasuma district says something about where the group sees room to build: by its own count this will be a seventh Hilton hotel in the city, five of them opened in five years. For landlords and developers in Kyoto's downtown core, the pace at which international operators are adding flags is itself worth watching.