Super Hotel

Below: Before and After Images in Slide Show, Summary, Credits

Super Hotel was a well-known business hotel chain in Japan. Its ubiquitous signage across 130 city centers made it a common choice for corporate travelers looking for reasonable prices in central locations. Customer satisfaction was high, and sales were steady.

The company understood that picking up the casual business market was not viable in the long term. Existing users would retire, while the Japanese population will shrink. To widen its appeal, it must match the needs of younger travelers and women. But the brand’s credibility in this market was low, and its image meant non-business guests would not recommend it to others.

We discovered that today’s younger hotel users in Japan are looking for more than sumptuous décor and elaborate cuisine. They want a sense of connection with nature, a place to recharge their health, and modern facilities that remove the barriers between people. They come for simple refreshment rather than heritage importance. We distilled this thinking in a new ethos: “Natural, Organic, Smart.” We then ensured that every part of the Super Hotel experience embodied the feeling, uplifting everything from the brand logo to the interiors and service.

Since rebranding, Super Hotel has successfully shifted upmarket and to a younger, more engaged customer-base. It has achieved credibility and recommendations. Its occupancy rate remains high, sales are growing, and following its premier Ginza reopening in October 2018 the venue was fully booked for a year in advance.