5 new hotels in Kyoto, Niseko and Hakone being opened by Singapore’s Banyan Tree Group, its first in Japan
- The Dhawa Yura Kyoto and Garrya Nijo Castle Kyoto both opened on June 17
- Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto, Cassia Hirafu and Banyan Tree Ashinoko Hakone will open in 2024, 2025 and 2026, respectively
The Banyan Tree Group, a Singapore-based hospitality company with Hong Kong roots, is moving into the Japanese market in style.
The company – named after a restaurant in Yung Shue Wan village on Lamma Island, where founder Ho Kwon-ping once lived, he told the South China Morning Post in 2005 – is in the process of opening five properties in Japan, three of them in tourist magnet Kyoto.
The first two do not bear the Banyan Tree name and both opened on June 17.
Dhawa Yura Kyoto, a collaboration with Japan-based property investment firm Wealth Management Group, sits beside the city’s Sanjo Ohashi bridge, while the 25-room Garrya Nijo Castle Kyoto stands in front of Nijo Castle, a Unesco World Heritage Site that dates to 1603.
Garrya Nijo Castle Kyoto is the first property to be opened under Banyan Tree’s Garrya concept, which it says “provides a back-to-basics ambience inspired by Asian sensibilities and natural elements”.
Banyan Tree Higashiyama Kyoto, a 52-room hilltop urban resort with views over the city, will be the next to open, in spring 2024. According to Banyan Tree, it will be the first hotel in Kyoto to have a stage constructed for performances of Noh classical dance-dramas.
