$14.5-Million Hotel Opens in Heart of Little Tokyo

The 11-story Best Western-Hotel Tokyo has opened at 328 East 1st St. in the heart of Little Tokyo.

Owned and developed by Sunny International Development Inc. of Los Angeles, the $14.5-million project has 174 guest rooms and will have a Chinese restaurant, called Dai Lin, on the second floor, a gift shop, travel office and refreshment center when the hotel’s grand opening is held in late May. Future plans also call for a shiatsu massage facility with spa to be open by the end of the year.

“We are a small, corporate hotel without a doorman or a bellman but a friendly staff which will do its best to make the hotel guests comfortable,” Ken Borton, the hotel’s general manager, said. The hotel cannot accommodate a convention but has several meeting rooms.

Susuma Shingu designed the interiors, which feature lobby wall decorations inspired by origami designs and a large, stainless steel mobile in the main entrance.

The hotel had a Japanese architect, Chinese owner and Japanese contractor doing business with American subcontractors, Borton added.

Nightly rates for rooms, including singles and doubles, range from $60 to $285.