Nikko Hotels International to Open Hotel in Kumamoto, Japan

Hotel Nikko Kumamoto will be the focal point of "Bipuresu Kumanichi Kaikan," a large business and commercial complex being built to serve as an information and cultural center for Kumamoto.

The 14-story hotel has 191 guest rooms on the eighth through fourteenth floors, overlooking the Aso mountains and Kumamoto Castle. Sophisticated dining facilities include Japanese, European, and Chinese-style restaurants. For conventions, banquets and weddings, the hotel features a 2,000 square-foot banquet room and a 5,000 square-foot banquet room, the city's largest, which can accommodate 2,000 guests.

Unique facilities include a Northern Italian-style chapel and garden on the rooftop of seventh floor for wedding ceremonies under the sun and stars, providing an open environment not typical of hotel weddings. There is also a Shinto shrine for Shinto-style weddings.

Nikko Hotels International is an international luxury hotel group operated by JAL Hotels Company, Ltd., a subsidiary of Japan Airlines, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to Nikko Hotels International, JAL Hotels also operates Hotel JAL City, a chain of nine mid-priced hotels for business travelers in Japan, as well as independent hotel properties. JAL Hotels Company, Ltd has 51 hotels worldwide, in Europe, North America and throughout Japan and the Asia/Pacific region. Through a unique global alliance with the Le Meridien hotel brand formed in 2000, Nikko Hotels guests now have access to 127 Le Meridien hotels worldwide, thus extending Nikko Hotels' marketing network to 169 hotels in 63 countries and territories. The Nikko Hotels International partnership with Le Meridien covers all Le Meridien properties worldwide. For more information, please visit www.nikkohotels.com, or www.lemeridien.com.