Room rates in Niigata Prefecture split cleanly by hotel category in the first half of 2026. Comparing January–July settled ADR (tax-excluded equivalent) — now that all seven months are settled — against the same months a year earlier, business hotels were up in six of the seven months (January–July average ¥6,384 → ¥6,636, +4.0%), while city hotels were down in six of the seven (¥8,322 → ¥8,038, −3.4%). June is the sharpest split: business hotels climbed ¥6,182 → ¥6,849 (+10.8%, N=128/125) in the very month city hotels fell below the prior year at ¥8,327 → ¥7,694 (−7.6%, N=18/18). Occupancy runs at roughly 90% for both categories, so the divergence sits entirely on the price side. This article compares settled (past) months only; months still carried as current-point estimates rest on a different basis and are excluded.

About the data in this article — Coverage: business hotels in Niigata Prefecture (N=124–135 properties) and city hotels (N=18 properties). The price metric used throughout is settled ADR (an estimated transacted rate level derived from online distribution data, tax-excluded equivalent); occupancy is an estimate based on published online inventory. Definitions for both appear at the end of the article. Data as of August 21, 2026.

Business hotels rose in six of seven settled months, with June at +10.8%

Start with business hotels in Niigata, settled months only. January 2026 came in at ¥6,247 (¥5,958 a year earlier, +4.9%), February ¥6,384 (+4.7%), March ¥6,498 (+4.0%), April ¥6,554 (+1.9%) and May ¥7,180 (+3.2%) — five consecutive months in positive territory, if by modest margins. The sample runs N=125–133 properties per month, close to the prior year’s N=128–135.

June’s +10.8% (¥6,182 → ¥6,849) is the figure that catches the eye, but it says as much about the low base it is measured against as about June 2026 itself. Overlaying the two years, 2025 dropped visibly from ¥6,954 in May to ¥6,182 in June — a clear mid-year trough — whereas 2026 ran ¥7,180 in May and ¥6,849 in June, a much shallower dip. In other words, this is less a case of a higher rate clearing in June than of a month that would normally see rates eased not requiring that easing.

July, by contrast, came in at ¥6,740 against ¥6,818 a year earlier — −1.1%, breaking the positive run in its seventh month. The decline itself is slight, but the sign flipped after gains of +1.9% to +10.8% through January–June, and that is not a change to ignore when building second-half pricing.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by the HotelBank Editorial Team

City hotels fell short of last year in six months — on a small N=18 sample

One caveat first. For city hotels in Niigata, only N=18 properties per month carry enough data to compute settled ADR. Because the count holds at 18 in every month of both 2025 and 2026, apparent swings caused by the sample turning over are unlikely — but if one or two of those 18 properties change their pricing, the whole level moves. Read the figures below with that small-sample caveat in mind.

That said, the direction is unambiguous. January 2026 ¥7,496 (−0.8%), February ¥7,472 (−3.1%), April ¥8,444 (−10.0%), May ¥8,686 (−3.3%), June ¥7,694 (−7.6%) and July ¥7,993 (−5.3%) — six of the seven settled months below the prior year. The single gain was March, at ¥7,844 → ¥8,478 (+8.1%).

The steepest fall was April’s −10.0%, and here too the prior-year base was high: April 2025 stood at ¥9,387, the third-highest month of that year behind August (¥11,759) and October (¥9,707). The double-digit decline is the result of not reaching that level, and cannot be read as demand collapsing. What a single month’s base effect does not explain, however, is that January, February, May, June and July — months that were not running high — all came in below the prior year as well.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by the HotelBank Editorial Team

The gap between the categories narrowed from ¥1,938 to ¥1,402 on average

What makes this split matter for day-to-day revenue management is that the distance between the two has shrunk. On a January–July average basis, the spread in settled ADR between city and business hotels (city minus business) narrowed by roughly ¥536, from ¥1,938 in 2025 to ¥1,402 in 2026. By month, the narrowest spread was June, down from ¥2,145 to ¥845. As a ratio, city hotels moved from 1.35x business hotels in June 2025 to 1.12x in June 2026.

The upper category giving up rate while the lower category gained means one step of the price ladder is close to collapsing. When the tier above lowers its pricing, the tier below finds it harder to push its own rates up while preserving the usual differential. July, when both categories turned negative together (business −1.1%, city −5.3%), can be read as a sign that this pressure has begun reaching the lower tier. The same split can carry the opposite signs elsewhere: Kanagawa ADR Splits: City Hotels +20.9%, Business −1.7% in June 2026 covers the inverse pattern, with the upper tier rising and the lower tier sinking.

Settled ADR for Niigata Prefecture, settled (past) months. N = business hotels 126–135 properties in 2025 and 124–133 in 2026; city hotels 18 properties per month in both years. Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by the HotelBank Editorial Team

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by the HotelBank Editorial Team

Occupancy is near 90% in both categories — the divergence is on price

It is worth checking the occupancy side for context on why rates diverged. Monthly average estimated OCC in Niigata (based on published online inventory) was 90.1% for business hotels in June 2026 (96–111 properties observable daily, average observation coverage 90.8%) and 88.7% for city hotels (14–17 properties, 96.8%); in July 2026, 89.1% and 89.3% respectively. City hotels edged slightly ahead in July, meaning there is almost no gap between the categories in how fast inventory clears. A year-on-year comparison from the same source is outside this article, but at the level shown, the explanation that “only city hotels are failing to sell, so rates fell” does not hold up well.

The supply side is worth a look as well. Accommodation properties that opened in Niigata Prefecture during 2026 total 13 properties and 577 rooms (based on confirmed online listings). Of these, three properties with 282 rooms are business hotels and one property with 220 rooms is a resort hotel — those two categories alone account for roughly 87% of the new rooms. City hotel openings numbered zero. In other words, the heaviest new supply landed in the business tier, and business settled ADR still held positive through the first half. Added supply does not translate immediately into downward rate pressure: that is the fact this prefecture’s first half establishes. For how to line up the category mix of new supply against ADR movement, Hiroshima 2026: 1,003 New Rooms, City Settled ADR Turns −4.1% in July works through the same procedure.

If so, the shortfall at city hotels is better explained by how rates were set and how the guest mix is composed than by occupancy or new supply. Given a sample of just 18 properties, it is also entirely possible that a handful of them operating in a lower range than last year is showing through in the prefecture-wide median. Either way, the fact that the rate gap is narrowing means the assumptions behind pricing have changed for operators in both the upper and the lower tier.

For revenue managers running business and city hotels in Niigata — implications and an action plan

The actions below are laid out by time horizon. Each is a checkpoint for deciding whether to act, read against your own numbers — none of them guarantees a result.

Source: MetroEngines Research; compiled by the HotelBank Editorial Team

Summary — three yardsticks to take away from Niigata’s first half

First, the direction split by category. Across seven settled months, business hotels were positive in six (January–July average +4.0%) and city hotels negative in six (−3.4%). In the same prefecture and the same months, the story the market tells reverses depending on the category. For your own decisions, use the figure for the tier you belong to, not the prefecture average.

Second, always check the prior-year base behind an extreme year-on-year figure. Both business hotels’ +10.8% in June and city hotels’ −10.0% in April carry the effect of a prior-year trough or peak. Overlaying the two years on one chart lets you judge how far a month departs from the usual shape — something a single month’s percentage cannot show.

Third, the price ladder is compressing. The spread between city and business hotels moved from ¥1,938 to ¥1,402 on a January–July average, closing to ¥845 in June. Occupancy is level at roughly 90% for both, and new supply landed more heavily in the business tier if anything. Since the divergence arises purely on the price side, the next things to revisit are the competitive set and the basis for the price differential itself. For which rate bands stand in which parts of the prefecture, Niigata Hotel Investment Map: Niigata City, Yuzawa & Sado in 3 Layers sets it out from the geographic side.

About the data

• Definition of estimated OCC (based on published online inventory): published-inventory occupancy = 100 − 100 × rooms still listed online ÷ total rooms. It is an estimate based on how inventory offered online is being taken up, and is defined differently from actual room occupancy (it reads higher). The months used in this article are June 2026 and July 2026, both monthly averages of daily results for elapsed months.
• Booking curve: based on observations from 45 days before the stay date up to the present.
• Definition of settled ADR: an estimated transacted rate level (tax-excluded equivalent) derived from online distribution data — the lowest-plan rate level multiplied by a category-specific coefficient, ensembled across multiple channels. Past months are settled figures; current and future months are estimates based on present booking conditions. Reconciled against published operating results, the median error is 6.6%. The year-on-year comparisons in this article use settled (past) months only; months from August 2026 onward rest on a different basis and are not used in comparison.
• Breakdown of N: Niigata business hotels — 126–135 properties in 2025 and 124–133 in 2026 within scope for the settled ADR calculation. Niigata city hotels — 18 properties per month in both years (a small sample, so a pricing change at a few properties readily moves the prefecture-wide level). Properties observed for estimated OCC: June 2026, 96–111 business and 14–17 city; July 2026, 96–110 business and 15–17 city. New openings: 13 properties and 577 rooms opened in Niigata Prefecture in 2026 (based on confirmed online listings; listings appear anywhere from several months before opening to after it, so this is a floor as of today).
• Data as of August 21, 2026. Booking conditions and inventory shift daily, so the figures in this article are a snapshot at the time of retrieval.