50 Years of Profit! APA Hotel President on Seizing Opportunities

50 years since the group’s founding: “Never once in the red.”

In a corner of the president’s office, adorned with suspicious-looking items such as a calligraphy piece written by Sota Fujii, the seven-crown shogi champion (22), and a painting depicting former yokozuna Kisenosato (38), the female president leading Japan’s largest hotel chain in terms of guest rooms began speaking in a powerful tone.

“I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t even had time to plan any special projects for the hotel’s 40th anniversary. Last year, I even forgot my own 77th birthday celebration. Well, it can’t be helped.”

Fifty years since the group’s founding, APA Hotel has grown into one of Japan’s leading hotel chains within a single generation. The company’s president, Fumiko Motoya, has actively appeared in media and commercials, enhancing the hotel’s recognition with her flamboyant fashion reminiscent of medieval aristocracy or royal families. She describes herself as the hotel’s advertising icon.

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, APA continued to expand aggressively, now boasting a network of over 128,000 rooms. In its financial results for the fiscal year ending November 2024, the company recorded an unprecedented revenue of 220 billion yen and an operating profit of 70 billion yen—remarkable figures for a hotel business. However, what is even more astonishing is that in the 50 years since its founding, the company has never once been in the red.

“By managing buildings, operations, and branding entirely in-house, we have maintained a high profit margin of over 30%. Thanks to this strategy, we ranked 19th in the global hotel rating list, even among luxury international brands.”

APA opened its first hotel in Kanazawa in 1984, making it a relatively late entrant in the hotel industry. How did the company achieve such rapid growth from there?

“In a word: originality. You can’t win by imitating other hotels, so we looked to different industries for inspiration. One sector we particularly focused on was the airline industry. The introduction of membership cards with cashback functions was inspired by aviation. We also adopted a dynamic pricing system after learning that airlines prioritize occupancy rates over price stability, even opting to lower fares rather than flying with empty seats. We invested in developing a pricing analysis system as well.”

Although the hotel industry is now thriving thanks to inbound tourism, the past 40 years have seen major crises such as the burst of the economic bubble and the Lehman Shock. APA, too, faced headwinds, but each time, it successfully navigated through them.

In the January 24-31 combined issue of FRIDAY (released on January 10) and the premium edition FRIDAY GOLD, President Motoya reveals untold stories of the many hardships she overcame to drive APA Hotel’s growth and shares insights into her management philosophy. She also provides a detailed analysis of Japan’s economic outlook for 2025.

For more details and multiple photos, click here ↓

From “FRIDAY’s” January 24-31, 2025 combined issue.