JAPANESE hospitality group Fujita Kanko will set up shop in Taipei next month and Singapore in 2013 to reach out to more markets and strengthen support for its existing overseas offices.
Its Shanghai and Seoul offices opened in 2010 and August 2012 respectively, with the aim of building the group’s Asian business base.
Fujita will also be launching two properties under its Washington Hotel high-grade budget brand next year, one in Hiroshima and the other in Sendai, the latter the first hotel to open in the area since the tsunami disaster last year. A third Washington Hotel will open in 2015 in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
The group has also taken over the management of the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo, which will be rebranded as Hotel Tokyo Chinzanso and reopened in January 2013, after the contract with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is finalised.
Fujita Kanko assistant manager global business group, Lee Liwei, said: “By managing our own property, we would like to place an emphasis on Japanese hospitality, which is our strength in competing with other hotels (of the upmarket segment).”
The hotel’s tagline Bringing Japanese Hospitality to the World has been chosen to underscore the principle behind service at the newly rebranded hotel. This new focus will include introducing cultural activities such as tea ceremony, kimono wearing and serving a wider range Japanese cuisine, as well as a garden for parties and wedding functions.
