The Ritz-Carlton Fukuoka has opened. The location is the Daimyo area of Fukuoka, not far from Nishitetsu Fukuoka station. The location is not bad at all. I did a quick look at the rates and looks like the rate starts at around 100000 yen/night. I am sure the Ritz is confident that Fukuoka has enough demand for 100000 yen/night hotel. Over in Tokyo, there are a few knew luxury hotels opening in the next few years which are expected to be in the price range of 200000 yen/night. I am sure hotels have done research on hotel demands in Japan and they are confident that enough demand exists in Tokyo and Fukuoka.

I read a business press article about the worker shortage in the hotel industry in Japan. The survey conducted by Teikoku Databank this April indicated in the past six months, the hotel industry in Japan experienced the most severe workers shortage compared with other industries in Japan.

The article read reference one business hotel located near Nagasaki station. This business hotel has bout 50 rooms with four full-time employees and 20 part-time employees for housekeeping and others. The manager of this business hotel in Nagasaki said the hotel is experiencing a difficult time retaining employees. To retain employees this hotel has raised the hourly pay of employees by 50 yen every month. This hotel has entertained the idea of not staffing the front desk at late night and early morning but has not reached that point yet. The hotel manager said Marriott Nagasaki at Nagasaki station and Stadium City Hotel Nagasaki in Nagasaki City Stadium at Saiwaimachi (1-2 km north of Nagasaki station) both open in 2024, where recruitment for these hotels are starting summer/fall this year. The business hotel which was mentioned in the article will have a more difficult time retaining employees. The manager of this business hotel thinks the city of Nagasaki does not have enough supply of hotel workers. The manager of this business hotel is worried that the hotel may need to change the operation due to a lack of workers.

The article said the hotel workers shortage started to surface in Japan around 2016. Non-Japanese chain hotels started the plan to open new hotels in Japan. The corporate will do an assessment of hotel demands and plan a project for a new hotel accordingly. However, usually, the assessment for a new hotel does not include the supply of hotel workers. The separate article mentioned that Hilton Hiroshima opened last year, about 50% of employees are new hires and 50% of employees are transferred from other Hilton hotels. A good number of employees transferred from other Hilton hotels are from outside of Japan.