Container, Trailer Hotels Offer Cheaper Stays in More Locations; Rooms Can be Moved to Disaster Areas

By Akio Oikawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

7:00 JST, February 16, 2025

Hotels utilizing movable shipping containers and trailers as guest rooms are opening across Japan. They are mainly located along suburban highways, have nearby parking facilities and are cheaper than normal hotels.

Operators say that these hotels can also contribute to local communities, such as by moving into areas hit by disasters to accommodate evacuees.

One such hotel can be found on a site along a national highway in Yachimata, Chiba Prefecture. About 40 shipping containers, each about 2.9 meters high, are the guest rooms of Hotel R9 The Yard Yachimata, which opened in late January.

Each container is a double or twin room about 13 square meters in size. Inside, there is an air conditioner, TV, toilet and modular bath, just like a typical hotel room. One serving of frozen curry and rice is provided for each guest, which can be heated using the microwave in the room.

The hotel’s footprint is about 2,600 square meters, and a large parking lot is located on site.

“I can drive up here by car and go directly to my room without using an elevator,” said Masayuki Fukushima, a 62-year-old man from Chiba, who enjoys traveling by car. “The rooms are separated from each other, so I don’t have to worry about noise. I feel it’s very relaxing.”

Accommodation for one person starts at ¥6,200 per night. Parking is free.

Develop Co. in Chiba Prefecture has been running container hotels since 2017, mainly strategically located near industrial parks and expressway interchanges. The company currently operates about 100 such hotels with a total of about 3,500 rooms from the Kanto region to Okinawa. They are used by many people on business trips.

Container hotels, like regular hotels, are required to be licensed by public health centers. They have advantages over regular hotels such as shorter construction times and the ability to be moved and used as evacuation facilities in the event of a disaster.

The company has signed agreements with about 160 municipalities to dispatch its container rooms to them in the event of a disaster. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some of its containers were used as temporary medical facilities in Tochigi Prefecture.

“Our hotels don’t have large baths or restaurants,” said Develop spokesperson Kana Asogawa. “But we aim to provide comfortable rooms with high-quality beds and other amenities at reasonable prices.”

Meanwhile, the Trail Inn chain in the Tohoku and Kanto regions uses trailer houses with wooden interiors as guest rooms. These trailers have passed automobile inspections.

In response to the increase in tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic, the operator, Hero Life Co. in Tokyo, offers larger guest rooms that can accommodate families with children.

“We aim to offer our safe and secure guest rooms with the same standards as regular hotels in more locations,” said Koji Nakada, an executive of the company.

Due to lower construction costs, container and trailer hotels can operate in areas where there have been few accommodation facilities in the past, says Kuniyoshi Okada, chief consultant at JTB Tourism Research & Consulting Co. in Tokyo.

“These hotels are also opening in resorts in more remote areas where regular hotels could not be built,” Okada added. “I hope that tourists will consider effectively incorporating these hotels into their travel plans to enjoy their out-of-the-ordinary feel.”