TOKYO – Many Japanese hotels are under pressure to fill their rooms due to the scourge of COVID-19 and are offering new programs and services aimed at specific consumer groups. A growing new trend in the ailing industry is railroad-themed rooms and services aimed at railroad enthusiasts.
For die-hard train fans, rooms with a train simulator are available. Train watchers can book rooms with an intoxicating view of a large and busy train station. These rooms and services are aimed not only at rail fans, but also people who want to enjoy a touch of travel without taking a long journey amid the COVID restrictions.
The Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu, which is connected to the railway operator Tokyu Railways, is offering a Tokyu Railways Concept Room, a train-inspired guest room with a panoramic view of Minatomirai 21, a trendy waterfront area overlooking the port of Yokohama, and is fully equipped with a train simulator. The machine allows users to operate a master controller to enjoy simulated driving experiences while driving trains on three railway lines, including Tokyo’s Toyoko Line, which runs from Tokyo’s Shibuya district to Yokohama, complete with real sounds and real ones Views from the cockpit displayed on a large screen.
The room is also decorated with devices and signs that were actually used in stations and trains, as well as various models. Guests can also order a special railway-themed dinner menu.
Shogo Kawamura, the hotel employee responsible for the program, is a train enthusiast himself and has contributed his own items for the room. “The room is particularly popular with young parents with train-loving children,” said Kawamura. The program was originally planned to run until the end of August, but was extended to November due to the unexpectedly strong demand – it will be booked again as soon as it becomes available.
Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu offers a room with panoramic views and a train simulator.
In October, the Asakusa Tobu Hotel, a Tobu Railway Group hotel in Tokyo’s nostalgic Asakusa district, began offering a daily schedule with a train simulator in a room. The simulator was introduced by Tobu Railway in 2013 to train its drivers. The simulator’s display shows a computer graphic replica of cockpit views between Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo and Ogawamachi Station in Saitama Prefecture on the Tobu-Tojo Line while the user operates the machine.
The room is adorned with a model railway, train photos and replicas of “head marks” or round signs on locomotives that identify trains of particular interest. “We hope to give guests the opportunity to learn more about the hotel and at the same time enjoy the simulator experience,” said the hotel official in charge.
Some hotels offer rooms with a “train view”. Rafre Saitama Shintoshin, near Saitama-Shintoshin Station on the Japan Railway in Saitama City, is known to train enthusiasts and children for offering breathtaking views of a station served by many JR regional commuter routes, including the Keihin-Tohoku Line, Takasaki Line, and Utsunomiya Line.
The hotel has 12 guest rooms with a view of the train station on the 9th to 14th floors as “railway rooms” and offers a discount of 50% for children. The hotel is also near the Railway Museum, a popular destination for railway enthusiasts. According to a sales manager, the hotel can count on steady demand from rail fans.
Choshi Electric Railway, a local railroad company based in Choshi City, Chiba Prefecture, has rented carriages as rooms. Booking website operator Stayway, based in the city of Kawasaki, uses the company’s wagons for its “workation” programs or for work on vacation.
Choshi Electric Railway also plans to launch a “Digital Detox” program on its cars in November. As part of this program, railroad cars are viewed as “saunas” to help people dispense with tech devices such as smartphones, televisions, computers, tablets and social media sites. When the digital detox program was previously offered, many sauna fans booked it, according to the Bahn.
“We hope that the program will also help sauna lovers get interested in our company,” said the official in charge.
As the pandemic-ridden tourism and transportation industry seeks ways to tap new demand avenues, more and more people are realizing that entertaining hobbyists and enthusiasts can be a potentially effective strategy.
