The Hotel Asahi in Düsseldorf has specialised in Japanese guests. Since its beginnings in the 1990s, when Düsseldorf increasingly developed into a Japanese metropolis on German soil, it has integrated various Japanese services and quickly became the place to go for Japanese business travellers and tourists. Thanks to its good reputation, the hotel is still a regular destination for many Japanese guests to this day. J-BIG spoke to the hotelier and founder of Hotel Asahi, Hans-Günther Oepen, about how he came up with the concept of a hotel for Japanese guests, the services it offered until he sold the hotel, and the opportunities he sees for the city of Düsseldorf in Japan tourism in the future.
J-BIG: Mr Oepen, please tell us about the beginnings of the Hotel Asahi. How did you come up with the idea of founding a hotel that specialises in Japanese guests?
Hans-Günther Oepen: The Hotel Asahi was officially launched in the 1990s. However, the idea for the Japan concept has a much longer backstory. Through my family environment, I came into contact with Japanese guests and travellers in Düsseldorf from an early age.
I grew up in a family of caterers and hoteliers. My parents were initially very successful in large-scale gastronomy and managed the Unterbacher See and the Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf. In the mid-1970s, my parents decided to enter the hotel business and initially rented a hotel at Unterbacher See. The hotel was so popular that they decided to expand and look for another location. In 1978, they took over the Hotel Prinz Anton from Dr Döhrn, a hotelier with a great affinity for Japan, who had no successor and wanted to retire. He had built up the hotel in the 1960s, when Japanese companies were increasingly setting up in Düsseldorf for the first time. Dr Döhrn, who was interested in Japanese culture, had already frequently hosted Japanese guests at Prinz Anton.
J-BIG: Was there already a Japan-specific concept at Prinz Anton that attracted the many Japanese guests?
Hans-Günther Oepen: There was no strategic focus on Japanese guests at the time, and the hotel itself was getting on in years. But Dr Döhrn, who spoke a little Japanese, understood how to make the Japanese guests’ stay pleasant. When my parents took over the hotel, they started to invest in the hotel and modernised it. Later I introduced a real Japanese concept.
J-BIG: When did you join your family’s hotel business?
Hans-Günther Oepen: I originally went into the textile industry after graduating from high school. Although I had a taste of the restaurant business at an early age, I wanted to build up a second pillar first. At some point, my father said he could no longer manage the hotel business on his own, so I joined him in 1983. I worked with my father for two years and learned a lot from him. My parents then suggested that they hand over the business to me and I took over the hotel on 1 January 1985.
I completely renovated the Prinz Anton and decided to introduce a concept targeting Japanese guests. The first steps in implementing our concept were to put out Japanese newspapers, serve Japanese beer and start a Japanese breakfast. We promoted our concept through the media. For example, we invited local prominent figures and members of the press to our hotel for a Japanese breakfast. This was covered by the media, which gave us direct publicity.
J-BIG: The understanding of service in the hotel industry is different in Germany and Japan. Where did you find inspiration for your concept?
Hans-Günther Oepen: The whole concept was new to me as I had never been to Japan myself. I did a lot of research, talked to our Japanese guests and was able to gather information from the Nikko Hotel on Immermannstraße, now the Clayton Hotel, which also focused on Japanese guests. I approached the task carefully, learned a lot over the years and also developed some creative ideas of my own.
Initially, the Japan business was not our sole focus. I built up a second mainstay at the same time, with guests from the music industry. Tor 3 opened in Düsseldorf in 1986 and quickly became one of the most popular music clubs of the 80s and 90s. In 1986, I managed to establish our hotel as accommodation for all the artists who performed at Tor 3. This quickly gave me a strong position in Düsseldorf and all the tour organisers and concert halls approached us and wanted to accommodate their musicians at Prinz Anton. Of course, the market was very different back then and the hotel industry in Düsseldorf was still modest. We hosted famous personalities such as Curtis Mayfield, Jamiroquai, Die Ärtze, Die Toten Hosen, the clarinettist Giora Feidman and Ulrich Tukur.
The business developed quickly and I decided to expand. I found a large building where I was able to rent a floor with 16 apartments in 1989. After only three months the apartments were fully booked and I expanded by 14 apartments. After two or three years, I bought part of the building from the owner and decided to open a hotel based on a completely Japanese concept. That was the official birth of Hotel Asahi.
J-BIG: How did you come up with the name for the Hotel Asahi?
Hans-Günther Oepen: Back then, people looked for hotels in the telephone book or a business directory – not on the internet. That’s why we decided that the name should start with the letter A, so that people could find us quickly. It also had to be a Japanese name with a positive meaning. I found the name through the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shinbun, which we’d already put out in Prinz Anton. I researched the meaning of Asahi and found out that it means ‘rising sun’ or ‘morning sun’ – a beautiful name that fits the hotel industry very well. We were lucky to be able to register the name with the Patent Office for the hotel and catering industry. This laid the foundation for a Japanese hotel.
Of course, we also offered Asahi beer and the Asahi newspaper at Hotel Asahi and integrated other Japanese services such as Japanese television. We had a culturally mixed team of mainly German and Japanese employees. The Japanese-speaking staff worked at the reception and in service.
J-BIG: What did the Japanese infrastructure in Düsseldorf look like 30 years ago, when you founded the Hotel Asahi?
Hans-Günther Oepen: Even though the selection was a bit smaller, there were already many Japanese shops. I remember Kikaku, the first Japanese restaurant, which was very popular. The Hotel Nikko had been around since 1978 and was our biggest competitor, but because it was a five-star luxury hotel at the time, we were able to secure enough Japanese guests in the more affordable segment right from the start. The immediate proximity to Immermannstraße and thus to the Japanese center of Düsseldorf was another advantage of the Asahi. Over the past 30 years, the Japanese infrastructure and services have grown steadily.
J-BIG: How has the decision to open a Japanese hotel in Düsseldorf changed your relationship with the Hotel Nikko?
Hans-Günther Oepen: A friendship developed between me and the managing director of the Nikko at the time and the relationship between our two hotels was a collegial one with intensive contact. That’s something I generally appreciate about the hotel industry in Düsseldorf: Even though we are competitors, the interaction is always friendly. We exchange experiences and learn from each other.
The Nikko transformed from a five-star hotel to a four-star-plus hotel. As the Hotel Asahi was also a four-star hotel, there was no longer much difference in this respect, even if guests such as ambassadors or consuls continued to stay in the Japanese quarter. The Nikko has changed hands several times in the last 20 years. It was first sold to the Cologne-based company ‘Event’ and ran under the same name for a few more years until it was renamed ‘Clayton’ by the current owner.
I also continued to manage Prinz Anton on the side until 2000, when it became too much for me – I had 50 employees – so I decided to sell it.
J-BIG: What was your experience with the Japanese guests?
Yumiko Takeshima: I learned a lot about the Japanese mentality from our Japanese guests. I found the Japanese to be very conscientious: they were usually the first at breakfast in the morning and went to work early. I also never had to call in a lawyer for financial difficulties. In addition, the Japanese companies that booked with us were very loyal and we had many regular guests with whom we developed a close relationship. I knew the guests by name and they knew me and greeted me. In some cases, friendships developed – there was one Japanese man I met regularly and we taught each other German and Japanese. This familiarity with our Japanese guests was normal in the 90s, then the range of hotels grew.
J-BIG: Is there a particular episode that you remember?
Hans-Günther Oepen: I still remember in the early days, when we were renovating the reception hall – it was a real battleground – a Japanese man from Mitutoyo came in person and wanted to book the whole house for a Christmas party in December. I was astonished by this request because the house was in the middle of renovation and didn’t look very attractive. But he didn’t mind, and the party actually took place in our hotel for two or three days. The Japanese guests were all in a very good mood, despite the chaos in our hotel. They became our best customers. They regularly organised European meetings and accommodated their staff with us over the years.
J-BIG: Was there anything that didn’t work so well in the implementation of your concept?
Hans-Günther Oepen: We tried a lot of different things and of course there were some ideas that proved difficult to implement. For example, I had the idea of introducing slippers in the hotel for all guests, in line with Japanese custom. That worked well for two months. But then came drupa in Düsseldorf – the world’s largest printing trade fair. We were fully booked and there were so many guests in the hotel that the slippers were no longer used – even when the fair was over.
J-BIG: Today we are sitting in a different hotel for this interview. You sold the Hotel Asahi a few years ago. How did that come about?
Hans-Günther Oepen: In 2006 I bought Stage47 and started my next hotel project with a completely different concept. In keeping with the name, the hotel was themed around the stage and artists, and the 27 rooms were dedicated to different artists who had all stayed at Stage47. The realisation of the new project took a lot of time. That is why I decided to lease the Hotel Asahi for 10 years from 2008 and then sold it. Before that, of course, I passed on the philosophy of our hotel to my successor. Since then, Hotel Asahi has continued to operate in much the same way as I built it up: There is still the Japanese breakfast, beer, television, etc.
J-BIG: 30 years have passed since its foundation and many of the structures of the Hotel Asahi have been preserved. How do you feel about this today?
Hans-Günther Oepen: I still look back on the Asahi with pride and am glad to have built up this successful hotel concept. I still follow the current development of the hotel with interest. I have the impression that the name change from the Hotel Nikko to Clayton, although the service and the contents of the hotel have remained the same, has helped the Hotel Asahi to attract more Japanese guests.
I still have a good relationship with the current managing director of the Asahi because – as I said – the hotel industry here in Düsseldorf is well connected. Of course, everyone has their own philosophy and way of running a hotel, and that’s a good thing.
I am delighted to be able to leave something behind for the city of Düsseldorf with the Asahi. It has always been important to me to act in the interests of the city through my work. That’s why I’ve always enjoyed taking on various positions and have been able to build up a large network that enables me to support and promote the city. For example, I am a member of the Hotel and Catering Association and part of the Tourism Committee through the Chamber of Commerce.
J-BIG: What do you think the city of Düsseldorf has done right so far in terms of Japan tourism?
Hans-Günther Oepen: Japan tourism plays an important role for the city. Those interested in Japan can enjoy a wide range of cultural activities in Düsseldorf. The city has become particularly attractive thanks to its events. Japan Day and Dokomi are spectacular events that attract large numbers of visitors. But Düsseldorf also has a very good culinary profile. I often see people queuing in front of restaurants such as Takumi on Immermannstraße and Klosterstraße to have Japanese food for lunch. The culinary offer is a big attraction for guests from outside the city. The range is constantly expanding and there are already several new projects under discussion, such as turning Immermannstraße into a real ‘Little Tokyo’ district.
J-BIG: In which areas can the city of Düsseldorf do even more in the future?
Hans-Günther Oepen: I see a great opportunity for even better cooperation between the resident Japanese and the citizens of Düsseldorf. Although there are already a number of institutions dedicated to the exchange between Japanese and Germans, such as the Japan Club, the Japanese community as a whole tends to keep to itself. This is certainly due to cultural reasons, as many are generally reserved, and because the Japanese community is so large, there is no real need to interact with Düsseldorfers in everyday life.
J-BIG: Do you also have Japanese guests here at Stage47? And what are your plans for the future?
Hans-Günther Oepen: In the beginning, I did try to attract a few Japanese guests and also introduced a Japanese breakfast, but that didn’t work out so well. It’s important for every hotel to have its own distinct philosophy. And this philosophy is different here at Stage47 than at Hotel Asahi. With our philosophy, our concept works one hundred per cent.
In my 35 years as an entrepreneur, I have also been very lucky. The ideas came at the right time. And it’s also important to know when it’s better to stop. I want my guests to remember me positively, and I have no problem passing the baton to the next generation. That’s what I did with the Prinz Anton and the Hotel Asahi. In 2020, I handed over Stage47 to my children, who are now successfully running the hotel on their own.
Since 2024, after a long bureaucratic battle, I am running a beach club in the south of Düsseldorf, right next to the ferry from Düsseldorf Urdenbach across the historic Zons, in the middle of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Urdenbacher Kämpe: the ‘Rheinbude’.
