Hoshino Resorts (2026): Six Brands, Not Five — How to Pick Between HOSHINOYA, KAI, RISONARE, OMO, BEB and LUCY

Guide·August 27, 2026·22 min read·Sourced & cross-checked

Search in English and you will be told Hoshino Resorts has five brands. It has six. LUCY, a mountain-hotel brand, opened its first property on September 1, 2025 — and the company's own corporate timeline has not caught up either, still ending at BEB in 2019. That is the state of the information: a group running 73 places to stay, changing fast enough that KAI alone moved four times in 2026, described abroad by pages written years ago. Here is the current picture, read off the company's own Japanese and English sites — including the tattoo policy, which is neither the flat "yes" nor the flat "no" the internet gives you.

Honto check: Brand definitions, property counts, booking rules, the cancellation-waiver list, the tattoo and allergy policies, child and bed-sharing rules and the 2026 KAI openings were read from hoshinoresorts.com (Japanese and English) and the company's press releases on August 21, 2026. Property counts were counted from the official site's own links, not taken from memory. Where the English pages contradicted the Japanese ones, we followed the Japanese. 🚨 Deliberately not stated: nightly rates (no rate card exists — only a live lowest-price widget), cancellation percentages (there is no group-wide schedule; we checked the accommodation terms in full), whether English-speaking staff are guaranteed (no official statement exists), and yukata or in-room wear (no group-wide policy is published).

TOC

The six brands at a glance

Brand	Properties (Aug 2026)	The company's own words	Who it suits
HOSHINOYA	9	"Luxury hotel embodying the true characteristics of land, history, and culture"	The once-in-a-decade splurge
KAI	24	"Onsen Ryokan loved by local and overseas travelers"	First-timers wanting the full ryokan format
RISONARE	8	"Countryside resort hotel with food culture unique to the landscape"	Families, activity-heavy stays
OMO	18	"City tourism hotel to discover the wonders of the city" · "Get down with the local rhythm."	City bases, budget-conscious
BEB	4	"Kicked-back stays with the crew" · late breakfasts and checkout "A-OK"	Groups of friends, casual
🆕 LUCY	1	"A Mountain Hotel Providing Peak Comfort for Peak Adventures"	Hikers who want a real bed
Other unique lodgings	9	"Getaways with a sense of place"	Aomoriya, Oirase, Tomamu Tower and more
Total places to stay	73 (68 in Japan, 5 overseas) · plus 11 day-trip facilities

What a KAI stay looks like from the inside, filmed in Japanese at KAI Nagato:

The brand nobody in English has written about yet

What is LUCY?

A mountain hotel brand built on a simple observation: staying in the mountains in Japan usually means giving things up. LUCY's pitch is that it does not — the company lists six promises for its first property, LUCY Oze Hatomachi in Gunma: a private bedroom, a heated washlet toilet, a shower and powder room, proper meals with meat, fish and eggs, a last convenience store inside the hotel, and unlimited charging and Wi-Fi. The Japanese tagline is blunter than the English: "making the mountains a destination for everyone." The name comes from Isabella "Lucy" Bird, the 19th-century English explorer and writer who traveled through Japan — a detail the company states outright.

One practical warning about LUCY

The luggage-forwarding service that makes Japanese travel so easy does not work here. Hoshino Resorts states plainly that LUCY properties do not offer luggage shipping or receiving services because of their location. Everywhere else in the group you can send bags to arrive the day before your stay; at LUCY you carry what you carry.

KAI moved four times this year

Any KAI property count you read is probably stale. In 2026 alone, the company's own press releases record KAI Kusatsu opening June 7, KAI Miyajima opening July 23, KAI Matsumoto reopening August 4 after a full renovation — a reopening, not a new property, so don't double-count it — and KAI Zao scheduled for October 15, 2026, which had not opened when we checked. The brand marks its 15th anniversary this year and states a target of 30 properties by 2030, with KAI Ureshino in Saga slated for summer 2027 as its first property in that prefecture. Treat "24" as an August 2026 figure.

Why KAI is the easiest entry point for a foreign visitor

Because it removes the two things that make independent ryokan booking hard: language and format shock. The five pillars Hoshino publishes for KAI are onsen, a local performing-arts program, a Japanese kaiseki dinner, region-themed rooms, and a hands-on craft session — which is to say the full traditional experience, but scheduled, explained and bookable in English through one system. Dinner and breakfast are part of the stay, as they are at a classic ryokan. If you want to understand what you are buying before you commit, our guide to ryokan in Japan covers the etiquette and the format; KAI is one operator's modernized version of it.

The policies that decide whether the trip works

Tattoos: the exact wording matters

Hoshino Resorts states that it respects guests' cultural backgrounds and does not restrict facility use on the basis of tattoos. Then it qualifies: it may refuse access to the public bath if it believes visible tattoos could cause discomfort to other guests, and may ask tattooed guests to wear a rash guard at the pool — adding, and this is the line to act on, that rash guards are not provided on site, so bring your own. For facilities open to non-guests, the published threshold is coverage by eight 8cm x 10cm stickers. Practical read: the group is genuinely more open than the industry average, but "tattoo friendly" overstates it. If it matters, book a room with a private bath.

Allergies, and what the company refuses to promise

The allergy policy is unusually candid. Declare at booking, and Hoshino says it will make its best effort — but states that complete removal of all allergens is NOT guaranteed, that buffet restaurants label eight specific ingredients (eggs, dairy, wheat, shrimp, crab, buckwheat, peanuts, walnuts) in front of each dish, and that it may decline to serve guests who require total elimination — in which case it will let you bring your own food. The FAQ asks for at least five days' notice. On vegetarian, vegan and halal, there is no group-wide page at all; a search of the official site returns nothing for halal. Ask property by property.

The cancellation question, answered honestly

There is no group-wide percentage schedule — we read the Japanese accommodation terms end to end and found no table, no penalty percentages, nothing. The official English line is that policies vary by hotel and by the rate you confirmed, and are shown at booking. What the company does commit to is a list of six waivers: an emergency weather warning from the Japan Meteorological Agency; a natural disaster that suspends trains or triggers an airline waiver; expressway or major-highway closure making arrival physically impossible; illness or fever, rebooked within 90 days of the original check-in, once, at the same property for the same length of stay; a cancellation that gets resold at identical terms; and changes to headcount or room type that keep the property, dates and room count the same, up to the day before. That last one is the quietly useful one.

Reading the price ladder without a price list

How should you compare the brands on cost?

By order, not by number. Hoshino Resorts publishes no rate card — each brand page carries a live lowest-available figure that changes daily, which is why every guide quoting "KAI is around X per night" is quoting one screenshot. The stable ranking runs OMO and BEB at the bottom, then RISONARE, then LUCY, then KAI, with HOSHINOYA well above everything else. And read the ladder carefully: KAI rates include dinner and breakfast in ryokan fashion, while OMO and BEB generally do not — the company notes that most properties except KAI, OMO and BEB also serve lunch. A bare nightly figure flatters the city brands by roughly the price of two meals.

Small print worth knowing before you arrive

Tipping is not accepted at Hoshino Resorts in Japan, and staff are not permitted to take gratuities. All guest rooms are non-smoking, electronic cigarettes included. Bringing your own bottle to a restaurant costs 3,000 yen per bottle. Luggage sent ahead should arrive the day before, and cash, valuables, fragile or temperature-controlled items and cash-on-delivery parcels are refused. Guests recovering from cancer surgery can wear a Bath Time Cover in the baths — a small, specific accommodation the company publishes rather than leaves to chance. One structural trap: the group's general contact form cannot take bookings, and says so; reservations go through the individual property or the group's own search. If you are weighing a Hoshino stay against an independent onsen town, our Kusatsu and Ginzan Onsen guides cover two of the places where both options exist side by side.

(For the Kawaguchiko property: our HOSHINOYA Fuji guide notes that stays are two nights minimum, with one-night stays bookable only within 30 days, and that the standard rate is room only.)

FAQ

How many brands does Hoshino Resorts actually have?

Six. HOSHINOYA, KAI, RISONARE, OMO, BEB and LUCY – the company lists all six by name on its own brand pages. LUCY is the newcomer that most English guides miss: a mountain-hotel brand whose first property, LUCY Oze Hatomachi in Gunma, opened on September 1, 2025. It is telling that LUCY does not yet appear in the company’s own corporate history timeline, which still ends at BEB in 2019. If a guide says ‘five brands,’ it was written before autumn 2025.

How many properties are there in total?

We counted 73 places to stay by pulling every property link off the company’s own Japanese site rather than trusting a number: HOSHINOYA 9, KAI 24, RISONARE 8, OMO 18, BEB 4, LUCY 1, plus 9 in the ‘other unique lodgings’ category. Hoshino Resorts’ own English summary rounds this to ‘more than 70 accommodations.’ Five are outside Japan – Bali, Guguan in Taiwan, Guam, Tiantai in China and Waikiki – so 68 are domestic. There are also 11 day-trip facilities that are not places to stay.

Which brand should a first-time visitor to Japan choose?

KAI, in most cases. It is the onsen ryokan brand – 24 properties nationwide – and it delivers the full ryokan format (hot spring, kaiseki dinner, tatami, local performing arts) with beds, private bathrooms and an English-capable booking path, which is exactly the combination first-timers find hardest to secure on their own. Hoshino describes KAI’s five pillars as onsen, a local performing-arts program, a Japanese kaiseki dinner, region-themed rooms, and a hands-on craft session. Choose RISONARE if you have children, OMO if you want a city base on a budget, HOSHINOYA if this is the once-in-a-decade splurge.

What do the numbers in OMO3, OMO5 and OMO7 mean?

Not stars. Hoshino Resorts defines them as service tiers: OMO3 are Basic Hotels, ‘ideal for an easy-going trip’; OMO5 are Boutique Hotels, ‘brimming with design and charms of the area’; OMO7 are Full-service Hotels, ‘a landmark of the city.’ The Japanese site adds capsule-style and airport tiers on top. So an OMO7 is not a seven-star anything – it is the one with restaurants, bigger public spaces and a full front-of-house.

How far ahead can you book, and is the official site really cheapest?

Reservations open one year ahead for most properties and one and a half years for HOSHINOYA, per the official FAQ. The company also states a best-rate guarantee for bookings through its own site, with claims to be made within 24 hours of the original reservation, and notes that many properties offer early-booking rates ‘such as 120 days or 45 days in advance.’ The guarantee excludes package deals, agency-only discounts, corporate rates and anything not verifiable online. Since November 2025, Agoda has carried the full portfolio as well.

What is the cancellation policy?

There isn’t one – not a single group-wide table, anyway. The official English FAQ says policies vary by hotel and by the rate you confirmed, and are provided at the time of booking; we read the Japanese accommodation terms in full and found no percentage schedule at all. What the company does publish is a list of six situations where cancellation fees are waived: a Japan Meteorological Agency emergency warning; a natural disaster causing train suspension or an airline waiver; expressway or major-highway closures making arrival physically impossible; illness or fever (rebooking within 90 days of the original check-in, once, same property and length); rebooking that gets resold; and changes to headcount or room type without changing property, dates or room count, up to the day before.

Can I go in the onsen with tattoos?

The policy is more careful than either ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Hoshino Resorts states that it respects guests’ cultural backgrounds and does not restrict facility use on the basis of tattoos – then adds that it may refuse access to the public bath if it believes the tattoos could cause discomfort to other guests, and may ask guests with tattoos to wear a rash guard at pools. Critically: ‘we do not provide rash guards on-site,’ so bring your own swimwear. For facilities open to non-guests, the threshold published is tattoos coverable by eight 8cm x 10cm cover-up stickers. Many properties also have private or in-room baths, which sidesteps the question entirely.

Can they handle food allergies, vegetarian or halal meals?

Allergies, yes, with an honest caveat. The official allergy policy asks you to declare at the time of booking and says the company will make its best effort – but states in capitals that complete removal of all allergens is NOT guaranteed, that buffets label eight specific ingredients (eggs, dairy, wheat, shrimp, crab, buckwheat, peanuts, walnuts), and that it may decline to serve guests demanding total elimination, in which case it will accept food you bring yourself. The FAQ asks for at least five days’ notice. On vegetarian, vegan and halal there is no group-wide policy page at all – halal returns nothing across the official site – so those are per-property questions to ask when booking.

Are children welcome?

Usually, with one big exception. Children six and under share a bed free at KAI, RISONARE, OMO, BEB and most of the ‘other lodgings,’ up to the room’s stated capacity; at HOSHINOYA the bed-sharing age runs to eleven. But HOSHINOYA Kyoto welcomes guests 12 and older only (the hotel’s own page summary says 13 or above, so confirm if a 12-year-old is traveling), which catches families who assume the brand is uniform. Guests under 18 staying without an adult need a parent’s consent: the chain’s booking FAQ asks for a parental consent form at check-in, and under-18s whose form cannot be verified will not be permitted to stay.

What does it cost?

Hoshino Resorts publishes no rate card – each brand page shows only a live lowest-available figure that moves daily, so any fixed number in a guide is a screenshot of one moment. What is stable is the order. From most affordable to most expensive: OMO and BEB sit together at the bottom, then RISONARE, then LUCY, then KAI, with HOSHINOYA well clear at the top. Note that KAI rates include dinner and breakfast in the ryokan tradition while OMO and BEB generally do not – the company states that most properties except KAI, OMO and BEB also serve lunch – so a raw nightly comparison flatters the city brands.

Bottom line (2026) — Hoshino Resorts has six brands, not five: LUCY, a mountain hotel brand, opened in September 2025, alongside HOSHINOYA, KAI, RISONARE, OMO and BEB. The group runs 73 places to stay, KAI alone changed four times in 2026, and the tattoo policy is more nuanced than the internet claims. Match the brand to your trip, and read the property’s own conditions before booking.

Sources

Brand definitions, taglines and the OMO tier system: the official brand pages on hoshinoresorts.com in Japanese and English. Corporate history, the property pipeline and the ninth HOSHINOYA: the company's About Us, history and developments pages. Booking windows, best-rate terms, cancellation waivers, tattoo policy, allergy policy, child and bed-sharing rules, tipping, smoking, corkage and luggage rules: the official FAQ, allergy policy page and accommodation terms. The 2026 KAI openings and the 30-by-2030 target: Hoshino Resorts press releases, including the April 22, 2026 release. All read on August 21, 2026. Property counts were derived by enumerating the official site's own property links. The embedded video is by its creator.

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