Hotel Route Inn Wajima (ホテルルートイン輪島; Marine Town, Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture; 222 rooms) reopened its main building on September 18, 2026. The building had been closed since the Noto Peninsula Earthquake of January 1, 2024 left it tilted. The operator’s official page resumed taking reservations on August 18 and announced that the main building was “scheduled to resume operations from Friday, September 18.” Together with the East Wing and Wagura annex, which have stayed open since shortly after the quake, all 222 rooms are now back in service. This article places those 222 rooms within the room stock of Oku-Noto’s two cities and two towns (Wajima City, Suzu City, Noto Town and Anamizu Town), measures how much of the lodging supply is actually being sold on major booking sites today, and sets out what the market needs as demand shifts from reconstruction-related business stays toward tourism.

Route Inn Wajima: 30% of Rooms Within 2km of the Morning Market, 98% of Active Rooms

We start with central Wajima. Within a 2km radius centered on the Wajima Morning Market, there are 34 properties with 734 rooms that have a listing history on major booking sites. The breakdown includes 3 business hotels (299 rooms), 10 ryokan (259 rooms), 16 minshuku (127 rooms) and 3 pensions (23 rooms); before the earthquake, Wajima’s downtown was densely packed with mid-sized ryokan and family-run minshuku. Yet only 2 of these properties, with 226 rooms, were “active” — with selling prices observed on major booking sites in the last three months — and Hotel Route Inn Wajima accounts for 222 of those 226 rooms, or 98.2%. Widening the radius to 5km gives 37 listed properties with 776 rooms, but the active count is the same 2 properties and 226 rooms, so the picture does not change.

In other words, the significance of the main building’s reopening is not simply that “one 222-room hotel came back.” It lies in the market structure itself: the rooms that can be booked online in downtown Wajima are effectively concentrated in this one hotel. The 222 rooms represent 30.2% of the 734 rooms with a listing history, and while the main building was closed this share was even lower. In a January 2026 survey by the Hokuriku Local Finance Bureau, the Wajima City Tourism Association likewise stated that “to our knowledge, only a dozen or so lodging facilities in the city can accept tourists” and that “even at facilities that are operating, many of the guests are people supporting the recovery,” so observations from booking sites match the view on the ground.

Lodging properties within 2km of the Wajima Morning Market (circle size = number of rooms; blue = active, gray = listing history only)

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team (as of October 2026)

Oku-Noto’s Two Cities and Two Towns: 15 Active Properties (338 Rooms) vs. 156 Listed (1,709 Rooms)

Widening the view to the two cities and two towns makes the picture even clearer. Properties with a listing history on major booking sites total 156 properties and 1,709 rooms: Wajima City 63 properties (971 rooms), Suzu City 41 (344 rooms), Noto Town 38 (293 rooms) and Anamizu Town 14 (101 rooms). By contrast, active properties with selling prices observed in August–October 2026 total just 15 properties and 338 rooms: Wajima City 6 (250 rooms), Suzu City 5 (35 rooms), Noto Town 3 (52 rooms) and Anamizu Town 1 (1 room). The active ratio is 19.8% by room count and 9.6% by property count, and Route Inn Wajima’s 222 rooms make up 65.7% of all active rooms across the four municipalities.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team (Listed = properties with a listing history on major booking sites, de-duplicated, excluding campgrounds; Active = selling prices observed in August–October 2026; as of October 28, 2026)

Note, however, that “listed” is a cumulative count going back to before the earthquake. Minshuku that operate without appearing on booking sites, and facilities devoted to long-term stays by reconstruction workers, are not counted as active. According to the Hokuriku Local Finance Bureau’s summary based on Ishikawa Prefecture data, the operating rate of lodging facilities in Noto’s six municipalities recovered from 16.1% at the end of November 2024 to 41.4% at the end of October 2025, and the reopening rate among all businesses rose from 80% to 88%. The gap between 19.8% on booking sites and 41.4% in the prefecture’s tally reflects precisely those rooms that are “operating but not being sold to general travelers.” While business demand dominates, this gap is the spare capacity that can be released when demand turns to tourism.

Who the 15 Active Properties Are — New Openings and Small Inns Carry the Market

Looking at the 15 active properties, everything other than Route Inn Wajima is either a small property with 20-odd rooms or fewer, or a new inn opened after the earthquake. In Wajima City, Trip inn Noto Airport (Trip inn 能登空港), a converted kominka in Mii-machi near Noto Satoyama Airport, opened on July 21, 2026, adding 18 rooms. Its operator, Noto no Akari Co., Ltd. (株式会社能登のあかり), positions it as a Noto reconstruction support project, describing it as “a place of rest where those working hard on the recovery can refresh body and mind.” Guest House Kuroshima (ゲストハウス黒島; 4 rooms) in Monzen-machi kept selling throughout 2025. In Suzu City, Rokko Ryokan (禄光旅館; 12 rooms) has likewise sold continuously, and Kinoura Village (木ノ浦ビレッジ; 8 rooms) and Hotel notonowa (8 rooms) began listing in October 2026. In Noto Town, three properties — Hyakurakuso (百楽荘; 27 rooms) on Tsukumo Bay, Lablo Koiji (ラブロ恋路; 14 rooms) and Mawaki Pole Pole (真脇ポーレポーレ; 11 rooms) — are being sold steadily.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team (room counts based on major booking site listings; sales observed = period in which a listed price for two guests per room was confirmed; as of October 28, 2026)

What this shows is the sequence of Oku-Noto’s supply recovery: it is advancing through “small, new and converted” properties ahead of “the return of existing mid-sized ryokan.” Kominka conversions and guesthouses require less investment and can open without waiting for ground surveys or major seismic repairs. Mid-sized ryokan that can take large numbers of tourists at once, on the other hand, face a longer timeline: as the Hokuriku Local Finance Bureau’s interviews note, their reopening depends on succession and on the progress of ground surveys. With Wajima’s population down 15.7% from pre-quake levels (from 22,000 in December 2023 to 18,500 in December 2025) and Suzu’s down 18.0%, securing staff is also a precondition for reopening.

Read Listed Prices Alongside Property Counts — Five in Wajima, Three in Suzu

On pricing, municipality-level figures cannot yet be treated as representative values. Listed prices for September 2026 (all-plan average, two guests per room, tax included) were ¥39,300 in Wajima City (5 properties), ¥17,900 in Suzu City (3 properties), ¥25,300 in Noto Town (3 properties) and ¥68,700 in Anamizu Town (1 property). However, Wajima and Anamizu include whole-house vacation rentals and resorts, so the averages are swayed by a small number of high-priced listings. Only one property in each of Wajima and Suzu, and three in Noto Town, qualify for the estimated settled ADR calculation, so these cannot be presented as city-level benchmarks. For comparison, Nanao City’s estimated settled ADR was ¥10,900 in September 2026 (19 properties, +13.4% YoY); in Nanao, where ryokan in Wakura Onsen are reopening, city-level price indicators are starting to function. How estimated settled ADR has split between city hotels and business hotels across Ishikawa Prefecture is covered in Ishikawa ADR Splits: City +6.6%, Business −5.5% in Summer 2026.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team (listed price = all-plan average, two guests per room, tax included; October is a snapshot of listings at the time of the survey. Nanao City alone shows estimated settled ADR and the number of properties in the calculation)

For that reason, tracking the listed prices of Route Inn Wajima itself, rather than a city average, gives a picture closer to reality. The hotel’s all-plan average was flat at ¥24,700 in June–August 2026, then edged up to ¥25,300 in September after the main building reopened and ¥26,000 in October. Meanwhile, its lowest plan fell from ¥24,400 through August to ¥20,100 in September and ¥13,700 in October. This suggests that adding the main building’s rooms widened the plan range downward as well. Note that in June–August, bookings were mainly by phone and few plans were listed, so price movements appear smaller for that period. November and December are snapshots of listings at the time of the survey and will change with future plan additions and price adjustments.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team

Ishikawa Guest Nights Reached 752,000 in July 2026, −0.8% YoY

The macro picture on the demand side can be checked in the Japan Tourism Agency’s “Overnight Travel Statistics Survey.” Total guest nights in Ishikawa Prefecture swelled from 8.726 million in 2023 to 11.492 million in 2024, then settled at 9.516 million in 2025. The 2024 increase appears to reflect not tourism but stays by evacuees and recovery workers after the disaster, which pushed up hotel demand in the prefecture. In 2026, monthly figures have ranged from 554,000 to 876,000 guest nights: 876,000 in May (+2.4% YoY), 687,000 in June (+3.9%) and 752,000 in July (−0.8%). Foreign guest nights totaled 2.143 million in 2025, and July 2026 was flat at 131,000 (−0.7%).

However, the prefecture-wide figures are dominated by Kanazawa and Kaga and do not directly reflect movements in Oku-Noto. According to the Hokuriku Local Finance Bureau, guest numbers at the Wajima Onsen area in November 2025 were 77.0% below the same month of pre-quake 2023, so the prefecture’s overall recovery and Oku-Noto’s localized thin supply need to be read separately. The Japan Tourism Agency also notes that, starting with the January 2026 survey, it changed the stratification criterion from number of employees to number of rooms, so YoY comparisons may include the effect of this revision.

Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from the Japan Tourism Agency’s “Overnight Travel Statistics Survey” (January–July 2026 are second preliminary figures)

Where Tourism Assets Stand — Tent Stalls on Morning Market Street, Rice Harvest Back at Senmaida

The recovery of tourism demand moves in step not only with lodging but with the reopening of destinations. On September 13, 2026, about 30 former vendors set up tents on the Wajima Morning Market street for a “Beginning of the Revival Market” — the first time stalls had been held around the street since the earthquake. A land readjustment project is under way across the street area, and no date has yet been given for the morning market to resume as a permanent fixture. At the Shiroyone Senmaida rice terraces, paddy owners and others harvested rice on September 12, 2026, and the farming cycle is coming back. On the other hand, the autumn–winter evening illumination “Aze no Kirameki” remains unscheduled, so nighttime attractions that generate overnight stays are still recovering. According to Ishikawa Prefecture, the area of farmland back in cultivation in Oku-Noto recovered to about 70% of pre-disaster levels (2,000ha) in 2025.

January 1, 2027 marks three years since the disaster, coinciding with the winter season for crab and yellowtail. Whether destinations come back as individual points and lodging can absorb visitors across the area as a whole will be the key question from this winter into next year.

From Weekday Business Demand to Weekend Tourism — The Room Types Needed

To sum up so far: Oku-Noto’s lodging market is still driven mainly by business demand from reconstruction work, with Route Inn Wajima’s 222 rooms at the center of that capacity. A business hotel built around single rooms, with free breakfast and a natural hot-spring public bath, is a rational fit for construction workers on long stays, and the return of the main building has greatly expanded weekday capacity. But this demand is, by nature, set to taper off as reconstruction progresses. According to the Hokuriku Local Finance Bureau, publicly funded demolition was completed at the end of December 2025 and all temporary housing units have been built, so the center of gravity of construction demand is shifting to housing reconstruction.

The room types needed as demand shifts to weekend tourism differ from the current supply mix. First, twin and Japanese-Western rooms that sleep two or more. None of the 10 ryokan (259 rooms) within 2km of the Wajima Morning Market is counted as active, and rooms with kaiseki dinners where couples and families stay during crab and yellowtail season number only about 50 across the two cities and two towns, at properties such as Hyakurakuso and Lablo Koiji in Noto Town. Second, small, experience-oriented inns for independent travelers visiting the morning market and Senmaida — these are already coming back first, as kominka conversions and guesthouses. Third, mid-sized ryokan that can accommodate groups and tour customers, which will take the longest.

The opportunity for operators and investors lies within this sequence. As long as business demand continues, a weekday base load is secured, giving existing properties time to gradually add weekend meal-inclusive plans and rooms for two, and prepare for the point at which tourism demand takes off. For new entrants, the period in which mid-sized ryokan are slow to return is precisely the time to target the open price bands for 10–30-room meal-inclusive inns and whole-house rentals in the downtown and coastal areas (for gaps in price bands by city within the prefecture, see Ishikawa Hotel Investment Map 2026: Nanao +34%, Komatsu +42%). In Wakura Onsen, 9 of the 20 tourism association member properties have resumed general operations and room count has returned to about 30% of pre-quake levels (370 rooms), but Oku-Noto is one stage behind in its recovery, with 65.7% of its 338 active rooms concentrated in a single property. Property-level reopening status on the Wakura Onsen side and the plan for Kagaya’s new building are tracked in Wakura Onsen Recovery 2026: 11 of 19 Ryokan Reopen, Kagaya 33 Rooms.

Summary

With the reopening of Route Inn Wajima’s main building, the rooms bookable online in downtown Wajima now effectively amount to 222 rooms operating across the whole hotel. Across Oku-Noto’s two cities and two towns, however, only 15 properties with 338 rooms are active against 156 properties and 1,709 rooms with a listing history — 19.8% by room count — and a single property accounts for 65.7% of that. The gap versus the prefecture’s 41.4% operating rate (Noto’s six municipalities, end of October 2025) indicates rooms not offered for general sale, which also represents spare capacity as demand shifts from business to tourism. Municipality-level price indicators still lack enough properties, so for the time being, tracking the listed prices of individual properties and the recovery of room stock is the practical way for operators, investors and local governments in Hokuriku to monitor the market.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. When did the main building of Hotel Route Inn Wajima reopen?
A. According to the operator’s official page, reservations resumed on August 18, 2026, and the main building was to resume operations from Friday, September 18, 2026. The East Wing and Wagura annex have remained open since shortly after the disaster, and the hotel has 222 rooms in total.

Q. How many places can you book through booking sites in Oku-Noto?
A. Properties with selling prices observed on major booking sites in August–October 2026 total 15 properties with 338 rooms across Wajima City, Suzu City, Noto Town and Anamizu Town. This excludes inns operating without appearing on booking sites and those devoted to housing recovery workers.

Q. What is the ADR in Wajima City?
A. Because only one property qualifies for the estimated settled ADR calculation, this article does not present a representative value for the city. The September 2026 listed price (all-plan average, two guests per room, tax included) was ¥39,300 across 5 properties, but because it includes whole-house rentals, it is swayed by a small number of listings.