Salter Brothers Partners for Japanese Hospitality Venture

Australian fund manager Salter Brothers has partnered with a Tokyo Century subsidiary to pick up hotel and hospitality business opportunities in Japan.

The partnership will cover existing and new assets, leveraging Salter Brothers’ experience in refurbishing, rebranding and repositioning existing assets with international operators in Japan, which has traditionally had an underrepresentation of international brands across the hotel market.

Melbourne-based Salter Brothers is one of the largest owners of international-branded hotels in Australia, with 41 hotel assets under its management across Asia, Australia and the United States.

The current assets in its Australian Hotel Group Fund include seven hotels across major cities.

These are InterContinental, The Rialto (Melbourne); Holiday Inn (Potts Point); Crowne Plaza (Coogee, Canberra and Melbourne); Voco (Gold Coast); and Hyatt Regency (Brisbane).

Six hotels in the portfolio are managed by global hotel operator InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG).

In addition, the portfolio includes two assets under development in Melbourne and Canberra.

Additionally, under the deal between the Australian fund manager and Tokyo Century’s subsidiary, TC Hotels and Resorts Beppu Corporation, Salter Brothers will assume asset management of 89-room luxury resort ANA InterContinental Beppu Resort and Spa [pictured, top], on Kyushu.

Opened in 2019, the resort has been managed by TC Hotels and Resorts Beppu in cooperation with IHG ANA Hotels Group.

Tokyo Century Group also manages Hotel Indigo Karuizawa, which opened in 2022, and is operated by IHG Japan Management.

Publicly traded Tokyo Century is also co-developing a luxury hotel with Mitsubishi Estate within Torch Tower, a skyscraper under construction near Tokyo station, which is set to be the tallest building in Japan.

The new hotel, on the upper floors of Torch Tower, is scheduled to open in 2028 as the first hotel in Asia operated by Dorchester Collection brand.

Tokyo Century deputy president and executive officer Yoichiro Nakai said the hospitality market was shifting in Japan, “particularly with the very strong growth forecast for inbound tourism, creating a number of opportunities”.

“In Japan, we are strongly focused on working with best-in-class ownership and management to unlock operational value-add, leveraging our pan-Asia hospitality investment experience and relationships with operating partners,” Salter Brothers managing director Paul Salter said.