Seibu Prince to Buy Parent of Ace Hotel, in Plan for Greater Global Reach

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:36 JST, September 17, 2025

Japanese hospitality company Seibu Prince Hotels Worldwide Inc. on Tuesday announced it will acquire the parent company of Ace Hotel, a hotel chain that exists mainly in the United States.

Seibu Prince, a subsidiary of Seibu Holdings Inc., will acquire all shares of Ace Hotel’s parent company, which could cost it as much as $90 million (about ¥13.2 billion). The purchase is expected to be completed by the end of September.

Seibu Prince plans to strengthen its business by incorporating Ace Hotel’s expertise, as well as its hotel network, which has little overlap with the Japanese firm’s locations or customer demographics.

Ace Hotel was founded in Seattle in 1999. The hotel chain is especially popular among young generations, thanks to its interiors featuring art and music. It operates eight hotels in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. In Japan, it already runs a hotel in Kyoto and plans to open another in Fukuoka in 2027.

Seibu Holdings currently operates 60 hotels in Japan, including the Prince Hotel chain, and 26 hotels overseas. It plans to expand the figure to 100 locations in Japan and 150 overseas by fiscal 2035. As a result, the company is grappling with how to expand its overseas operations and improve its competitiveness.

“We will respect (each other’s) brand and culture as much as possible, and (utilize each other’s assets) to open new hotels and expand our customer bases,” said Takashi Goto, chairman and CEO of Seibu Holdings, at a press conference on Tuesday.