Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Hoshinoya

Hoshinoya hotels

The Japanese inn takes new forms, with seasonal food and ritual shaped by each landscape.

HOSHINOYA reimagines the Japanese inn for very different landscapes, preserving its seasonal food, material craft, and unhurried rituals in settings from Karuizawa to Taketomi Island and central Tokyo. Hoshino Resorts’ flagship works closely with architect Rie Azuma, landscape designer Hiroki Hasegawa, and lighting designer Masanobu Takeishi to make each retreat feel rooted in its surroundings.

9 Hoshinoya hotels in 3 countries on the Luxury Hotels Atlas, each placed on the six LHA Tiers.

• Owned by Hoshino Resorts
• Worldwide: 10 open HOSHINOYA properties across Japan, Bali (Indonesia), and Guguan (Taiwan), with two further openings announced — HOSHINOYA Nara Prison (June 25, 2026) and HOSHINOYA Asuka (2027) — and HOSHINOYA Hütte Niseko (2029) as the brand's first residential ski property
• On the atlas: 7 Grand Luxury, 2 High Luxury

History

The Hoshino family’s Karuizawa inn became the starting point for a new expression of Japanese hospitality under Yoshiharu Hoshino. Village scale, Rie Azuma’s architecture, Hiroki Hasegawa’s landscape design, and carefully considered lighting established the early model. Later retreats carried the same attention to setting into very different places without repeating the Karuizawa blueprint.

Timeline

• 1904 — Kuniji Hoshino founds a forestry business in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, a highland valley then being "discovered" by foreign missionaries as a summer escape from Tokyo's heat.
• 1914 — First Hoshino Onsen Ryokan opens in Karuizawa, tapping volcanic hot springs from the flanks of nearby Mount Asama; the valley attracts literary figures including novelist Tōson Shimazaki and poet Akiko Yosano.
• 1929 — First hydroelectric plant opened; an energy self-sufficiency programme begins that will eventually power HOSHINOYA Karuizawa's geothermal and hydro systems.
• 1974 — Japan's first National Wild Bird Forest established in Karuizawa through guided nature tour programmes, a conservation commitment that would define the brand's ecological positioning for decades.
• 1991 — Yoshiharu Hoshino, fourth-generation heir, appointed president; initially fired by the board after six months; recalled in 1995 and has led the company ever since.
• 1992 — Picchio Wildlife Research Center established from earlier eco-tourism tours, still operating today as an active wildlife research and guest-engagement programme.
• 1995 — Company rebranded as Hoshino Resorts; Yoshiharu Hoshino implements radical management transformation, eliminating rigid hierarchies, hiring external talent, and repositioning the Karuizawa site as an eco-luxury destination.
• 2005 — Original Hoshino Onsen Resort closed, redesigned by architect Rie Azuma, and reopened as HOSHINOYA Karuizawa, Japan's first eco-resort and the inaugural property of the HOSHINOYA brand.
• 2009 — HOSHINOYA Kyoto opens in Arashiyama, accessible only by private wooden boat up the Ōi River, on grounds historically linked to the wealthy merchant Ryoi Suminokura; HOSHINOYA Karuizawa and Kyoto join Small Luxury Hotels of the World in December.
• 2011 — KAI brand launches as Hoshino Resorts' traditional-style onsen ryokan sub-brand, the first formal sibling to HOSHINOYA.
• 2012 — HOSHINOYA Taketomi Island opens June 1, 48 villas built with approval from island village chiefs, replicating Taketomi's coral-sand architectural tradition; chef Ichiro Kubota of HOSHINOYA Kyoto earns a Michelin Star in October.
• 2015 — HOSHINOYA Fuji opens October 31, Japan's first luxury glamping resort, 40 concrete cabins above Lake Kawaguchi framing Mount Fuji.
• 2016 — HOSHINOYA Tokyo opens July 20, a 17-storey "Tower of Ryokan" in Otemachi, the brand's first urban property, rooftop onsen fed from geothermal water 1,500 metres below the building.
• 2017 — HOSHINOYA Bali opens January 20, first overseas property, 30 villas in Ubud's Tampaksiring valley, merging Japanese and Balinese design traditions.
• 2019 — HOSHINOYA Guguan opens June 30, first Taiwan property, 49 maisonette rooms in the alpine hot-spring valley of the Xueshan range near Taichung.
• 2022 — HOSHINOYA Okinawa opens in Yomitan village, originally planned April 2020, delayed by COVID-19; 100 ocean-view rooms behind gusuku-inspired walls; wins Japan Travel Awards luxury Stay & Service award.
• 2023 — HOSHINOYA Tokyo ranked No. 39 in the inaugural World's 50 Best Hotels, the first and only HOSHINOYA property to appear on the list; the brand's global reputation is established beyond Japan.
• 2025 — All ten HOSHINOYA properties receive MICHELIN Keys, Tokyo and Kyoto earn Three Keys; Fuji and Okinawa earn Two Keys; Karuizawa, Bali, Taketomi Island, and Guguan each earn One Key, an unbroken sweep across the entire portfolio.

The houses to know

1. HOSHINOYA Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan — A boat-access retreat in Arashiyama's bamboo groves, built on grounds of a 17th-century merchant's villa.
2. Hoshinoya Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan — The vertical ryokan that proved the modern Japanese inn could be reimagined above a global financial district.
3. HOSHINOYA Okinawa, Okinawa, Japan — The coastal estate has 100 ocean-view rooms behind walls inspired by Okinawan gusuku castles.
4. HOSHINOYA Guguan, Guguan, Taiwan — An alpine hot-spring retreat in a mountain valley carved by the Dajia River, with rooms built as floor-by-floor bathing sanctuaries.
5. HOSHINOYA Bali, Bali, Indonesia — The brand's first overseas property: a 30-villa meditation on the confluence of Japanese and Balinese design.
6. HOSHINOYA Fuji, Fujikawaguchiko, Japan — Japan's first luxury glamping resort, 40 raw-concrete cabins calibrated as optical instruments for viewing Mount Fuji.
7. HOSHINOYA Karuizawa, Karuizawa, Japan — The ur-property: the volcanic-threshold village that founded the brand in 2005 and defined the modern ryokan for the 21st century.
8. HOSHINOYA Nara Prison, Nara, Japan — Japan's first prison hotel, born from a Meiji-era brick fortress designated a National Important Cultural Property.
9. HOSHINOYA Taketomi Is., Taketomi Island, Japan — The resort draws on the traditions of Taketomi Island and its small local community.

Opening next

• HOSHINOYA Asuka — Asuka Village, Nara Prefecture, Japan — expected 2027 — 35 rooms in low-rise detached pavilions with tiled roofs, centred on a garden inspired by the region's terraced rice paddies; the property occupies land within Asuka-kyō, Japan's first imperial capital (7th–8th centuries), and sits inside the country's only Special Historic Preservation District, a setting that positions it as the most historically charged HOSHINOYA yet.
• HOSHINOYA Hütte Niseko — Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan — expected 2029 — the brand's first residential hotel, ski-in/ski-out at the highest point of the Hirafu Slope, all rooms furnished with kitchen, living, and dining areas; a top-floor onsen pool with views of Mount Yotei completes the amenity mix, the HOSHINOYA formula applied for the first time to a purpose-built alpine residential product.

Every Hoshinoya hotel on the atlas

Japan

• HOSHINOYA Fuji — Fujikawaguchiko · Grand Luxury
• HOSHINOYA Karuizawa — Karuizawa · Grand Luxury
• HOSHINOYA Kyoto — Kyoto · Grand Luxury
• HOSHINOYA Okinawa — Okinawa · Grand Luxury
• Hoshinoya Tokyo — Tokyo · Grand Luxury
• HOSHINOYA Nara Prison — Nara · High Luxury
• HOSHINOYA Taketomi Is. — Taketomi Island · High Luxury

Indonesia

• HOSHINOYA Bali — Bali · Grand Luxury

Taiwan

• HOSHINOYA Guguan — Guguan · Grand Luxury

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