Hotel Okura signs its first Türkiye resort, a thermal spa opening in Cappadocia in 2028

Hotel Okura will open its first property in Türkiye, a 102-room thermal resort and spa in Cappadocia, the Japanese hotel operator said in a statement dated 27 July. The Hotel Okura Thermal Resort & Spa Cappadocia is scheduled to open in 2028 in Mustafapaşa, a village within the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Cappadocia region that the UN World Tourism Organization named a "Best Tourism Village" in 2021.

The property will be run by Okura Saraylı Hotel Management, a joint venture between Hotel Okura and KK Universal, an Istanbul-based real-estate and hospitality investment group, under a management contract the companies said they signed in May. Spread across four buildings on a 9,177-square-metre site — some connected by underground passages — the resort will carry 23,500 square metres of floor space, including what Hotel Okura describes as the largest spa and wellness centre in the region, at 3,500 square metres, with thermal baths fed by mineral-rich local spring water, a traditional Turkish hammam, indoor and outdoor pools, and three restaurants, including a teppanyaki venue named Sazanka.

Hotel Okura president Toshihiro Ogita said in the statement: "We are honored to embark on this project together with KK Universal and are delighted to bring the Okura brand to Türkiye."

The Cappadocia project marks a rare push for Hotel Okura beyond its long-established footprint in Japan and elsewhere in Asia, and fits a broader pattern of Japanese hospitality groups extending further into markets with no obvious historic tie to Japan, betting that omotenashi-style service standards travel further than the brand's own name recognition does. With an opening date two years out, it is also a reminder that these push-abroad announcements run well ahead of any actual room count — for now, Türkiye has a signed management contract and a design brief, not yet a hotel.