September 2026 settled ADR estimates (tax-excluded equivalent) are now closed for Nagano Prefecture’s four lodging segments. Business hotels came in at ¥8,622, up 11.6% year over year (N=168 properties); resort hotels at ¥16,759, up 8.8% (N=123); ryokan at ¥12,970, up 4.7% (N=510); and city hotels at ¥11,638, up 5.0% (N=16). Comparing closed months with closed months, all four segments finished above the prior year. City hotels, ryokan and resort hotels all fell below the prior year in June and July, and city hotels were still down in August, so the September result reads as a turnaround after a stalled summer. This article sets the closed figures for January–September 2026 against the same months of the prior year, identifies which segment slipped in which month and where it recovered, and then summarizes the pricing questions operators face from the autumn foliage season into the ski season.

Coverage: Nagano Prefecture city hotels N=16, business hotels N=168, ryokan N=510, resort hotels N=123 (all are the number of properties in the September 2026 aggregation). The price metric in this article is the settled ADR estimate (the transacted price level estimated from OTA and other sales data, tax-excluded equivalent); definitions are given at the end of the article. All YoY figures compare closed months (the same stay month in 2026 and 2025). Data as of: October 23, 2026.

September 2026 Closed Figures — All Four Segments Up, Business Hotels Grew Most

First, the September result by segment. Business hotels grew fastest, rising 11.6% from ¥7,724 in September last year (N=162) to ¥8,622 (N=168), a double-digit gain. Resort hotels rose 8.8% from ¥15,400 (N=114) to ¥16,759 (N=123), and ryokan rose 4.7% from ¥12,384 (N=501) to ¥12,970 (N=510); both finished above the prior year. City hotels rose 5.0% from ¥11,081 to ¥11,638, but this segment covers only N=16 properties, so a pricing change at a few properties can move the median. Read that growth rate with a margin of error.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team

Next, how Nagano’s growth compares nationally. Using the same definition (closed-month YoY) and limiting each segment to prefectures with at least 10 covered properties, the median September 2026 YoY change was +7.9% for business hotels (47 prefectures), +7.8% for resort hotels (35 prefectures), +4.5% for ryokan (47 prefectures) and +0.8% for city hotels (41 prefectures). Nagano beat the median for business hotels (+11.6%, 14th of 47) and resorts (+8.8%, 15th of 35), while ryokan (+4.7%, 22nd) were roughly at the median. For business hotels, 44 prefectures finished above the prior year, so a nationwide tailwind appears to have contributed to the September recovery. Even so, Nagano’s business hotels beat the median by 3.7 points, which can be read as a prefecture-specific gain on top of that tailwind.

Note: Compared only across prefectures with at least 10 covered properties per segment (denominator shown). The count of prefectures above the prior year is shown for business hotels only. Note that Nagano’s city hotel N is small (16 properties). Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team (data as of October 24, 2026)

In level terms, September resort hotels at ¥16,759 sit at about 1.9 times business hotels at ¥8,622, and ryokan at ¥12,970 sit at about 1.5 times. The price gaps between segments have not changed much from last September (resorts ¥15,400, ryokan ¥12,384, business ¥7,724). What stands out this time is that business hotels moved to the top of the growth ranking. That said, the September figure alone is not enough to call this a recovery. The next section lays out the path from January to confirm how the summer declines came about.

January–September YoY — Strong Winter Gains, a Summer Slowdown, Then a September Reversal

The table below lists the 2026 YoY change by segment from January to September. January opened with double-digit growth in all four segments: city hotels +25.4%, ryokan +21.9%, resorts +22.9% and business hotels +10.4%. Resorts and ryokan kept growing at around 10% or more through February and March. The driver is winter ski and snow-resort demand: in Nagano, settled ADR for resort hotels and ryokan forms a winter peak in December–January comparable to August. Gains of around 20% YoY in this period lifted the overall picture for the first half of 2026.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team

From April, however, growth shrank quickly. In April all four segments fell within a +3.1% to +6.8% range, and in May resorts turned negative for the first time at −1.3%. In June three segments fell below the prior year at once (city −9.2%, resorts −7.3%, ryokan −0.1%), and the declines continued in July (city −2.1%, ryokan −2.8%, resorts −2.5%). Throughout this period business hotels never dropped below the prior year (June +2.9%, July +5.6%, August +3.3%) and stayed above it for nine consecutive months from January to September. How city hotels alone reversed sharply in June is covered, using the first-half closed figures, in Nagano Settled ADR: City Hotels Flip to −9.2% in June 2026.

In August, ryokan (+1.1%) and resorts (+5.0%) moved back above the prior year first, leaving only city hotels down at −2.0%. In September city hotels also turned positive at +5.0%, putting all four segments above the prior year. Taken together, Nagano’s 2026 followed a pattern of strong growth in winter, losing steam in early summer, and recovering from late summer into early autumn. The summer declines hit three segments at once, but apart from city hotels (−9.2%) and resorts (−7.3%) in June they were mostly within 3%. It is more reasonable to read this as some months failing to match the prior year’s high level than as a collapse.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team

Levels by Year — The Seasonal Shape Peaking in August Is the Same as Last Year

Beyond growth rates, it is worth checking the seasonal shape of the levels. The two charts below overlay settled ADR for 2025 (grey) and 2026 (blue) on the same January–December axis. October 2026 is an estimate based on current sales, so it is drawn as a dotted line. Starting with business hotels and ryokan, both have a summer peak in August: business hotels went from ¥9,239 in August 2025 to ¥9,540 in August 2026, and ryokan from ¥14,363 to ¥14,521. The peak stayed in the same place and only got higher. Ryokan also have a second peak in winter (¥15,912 in December 2025, ¥15,361 in January 2026) comparable to summer, showing a two-peak seasonality. How the winter peak for ryokan and resorts formed on a YoY basis is examined with January–June closed figures in Nagano Ryokan & Resort ADR: +21.9% in January, -0.1% by June 2026.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team

City hotels and resort hotels, by contrast, show the 2026 line dipping below the 2025 line in June–July and breaking back above it in August–September. Resorts hit their annual high of ¥21,662 in August (prior year ¥20,636), then settled at ¥16,759 in September, past the summer peak but above last September’s ¥15,400. City hotels followed a similar path from ¥13,891 in August to ¥11,638 in September, overtaking the prior year in September. For both segments the June–July dip was not a new trough in level terms but a deeper trough than last year’s, and the seasonal shape itself has not changed much from the prior year.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team

There are no closed figures yet for October onward. For reference, current estimates for October 2026 are ¥12,459 for business hotels (N=164), ¥14,246 for ryokan (N=502), ¥18,357 for resorts (N=123) and ¥17,116 for city hotels (N=17). These are estimated from the plan levels on sale now and will move with sales progress during the month. A simple comparison with last October’s closed figures (business ¥7,774, ryokan ¥12,820, resorts ¥16,638, city ¥13,305) should wait until the month closes. How demand is building for the foliage season can be checked from the booking-pace side in Japan Fall Foliage 2026: Nagano 9 Days Late, Ryokan Bookings Checked.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team

For Revenue Managers at Business Hotels, Ryokan, Resorts and City Hotels in Nagano — Implications and Action Plan

Action plan (with timeline)

Summary — Three Yardsticks for Reading Nagano’s 2026

First, September closed figures were above the prior year in all four segments, and business +11.6%, resort +8.8%, ryokan +4.7% and city +5.0% serve as the baselines for evaluating your own September. Second, the June–July declines hit three segments at once but were limited in size: ryokan and resorts recovered in August, and city hotels in September. Treating them as months that failed to match a high prior year avoids overcorrecting next early summer’s rates. Third, business hotels stayed above the prior year throughout January–September, the most stable trend of the four segments (a day-of-week breakdown is outside the scope of this analysis). Since only current estimates exist for October onward, a realistic approach is to use last October–December’s closed figures as the yardstick (with ryokan ¥15,912 and resorts ¥20,060 as the year-end peak) and update your position each time new figures close.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How did Nagano’s September 2026 settled ADR compare with the prior year?
A. Comparing closed months, business hotels were ¥8,622 (+11.6% YoY), resort hotels ¥16,759 (+8.8%), ryokan ¥12,970 (+4.7%) and city hotels ¥11,638 (+5.0%). All four segments finished above the prior year.

Q. Which segments fell below the prior year in summer?
A. In June, city hotels (−9.2%), resorts (−7.3%) and ryokan (−0.1%) were below the prior year; in July, city hotels (−2.1%), ryokan (−2.8%) and resorts (−2.5%). Business hotels stayed above the prior year at +2.9% in June and +5.6% in July.

Q. Can the figures for October onward be used?
A. Figures for October onward are estimates based on current sales, so they are not used for YoY comparisons. We recommend using last October–December’s closed figures as the baseline and checking against them once each month closes.

About the Data

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team