Kyoto hotels are back on the radar for major real estate firms and investors, as the historic former capital recovers from the pandemic. Last month, Mori Trust acquired the Rihga Royal Hotel Kyoto from Fortress Investment Group for an undisclosed price.
The new owner plans to continue operations under the existing hotel name.
Rihga Royal Hotel Kyoto was built in 1969. The 14-story building has a total of 489 hotel rooms along with banquet hall, restaurants, and conference rooms. It features a revolving restaurant on the top floor that takes 90 minutes to do a full rotation. Revolving restaurants gained popularity in the late 1950s and 1960s but only a handful remain in operation today.
The building and land was sold to Fortress in 2015, with a large-scale refurbishment carried out in the following year.
Mori has been actively developing and purchasing real estate assets in Kyoto for several years now. In 2015 the company opened the Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto in Arashiyama. In 2016 it acquired the Kyoto Kowa Building alongside Shijo-dori Street. The office building has the Louis Vuitton Daimaru Kyoto Store on the ground floor. And, in 2022 it acquired 2,300 sqm of land in the Gion district to develop a luxury hotel.
