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Japan has a random hotel room gacha capsule vending machine

Casey Baseel Dec 9, 2021
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Offers stays for solos travelers or pairs in cities from Tokyo to Sapporo, some with suites and included breakfasts.

Japan’s best gacha capsule vending machines are the ones that stop you in your tracks and make you say, “They’re selling WHAT?!?” A lot of times, it’s the sheer weirdness factor that triggers that response, like when you see a gacha machine full of low-quality origami folded by flashy-fashion young women or figures of cats bowing in apology.

But instead of relying on quirkiness, the newest noteworthy gacha machine is getting attention by offering random Japanese hotel stay packages!

▼ Logo for the Tobu Hotel Group’s Hotel Gacha program

In addition to train lines and department stores, Japan’s Tobu Group also manages a number of hotels and sightseeing attractions. Later this month, the company will be setting up a gacha machine with capsules that contain vouchers for one-night stays at 11 different Tobu-managed hotels. Each voucher allows up to two guests to stay, and with each capsule priced at just 5,555 yen (US$48), if you’re splitting the cost with a travel companion it’s an incredible bargain.

The Hotel Gacha machine will be found on the third floor of the Solamachi entertainment complex at the foot of the Tokyo Skytree. Purchases must be made using cashless payment through systems such as PayPay, Rakuten Pay, Line Pay, d Harai, au Pay, merpay, Ginko Pay, WeChat Pay, or Alipay.

Tobu isn’t planning to stick purchasers in unpopular destinations or run-down rooms, either. In addition to some of the most desirable locations in Tokyo, the possible prizes are for rooms in prime sightseeing spots like Nikko, Sendai, and Sapporo, and some of the vouchers are for suites or include breakfasts.

▼ For example, this premium twin at the AC Hotel by Marriot Tokyo Ginza is way nicer than what you’d expect for a 5,555 yen hotel room.

The possible hotel stay prizes are:

1. AC Hotel by Marriot Tokyo Ginza (premium twin or double room, breakfast included)
2. AC Hotel by Marriot Tokyo Ginza (superior twin or double room, breakfast included)
3. Courtyard Marriot Ginza Tobu Hotel (prime king room)
4. Utsunomiya Hotel Grande (suite room, breakfast included)
5. Choice of Asakusa Tobu Hotel, Kawagoe Tobu Hotel, or Wako Tobu Hotel (double or twin room)
6. Nikko Kanaya Hotel (standard room)
7. Chuzenji Kanaya Hotel (standard room)
8. Nikko Astraea Hotel (Japanese or Western-style room)
9. Sendai Kokusai Hotel (casual twin or double room)
10. Fairfield by Marriot Sapporo (twin room)

▼ Nikko Kanaya Hotel

However, while every capsule in the Hotel Gacha machine contains a hotel-related prize, they’re not all for overnight stays. Some of the capsules instead contain vouchers for meals at Tobu-managed hotels and properties in Tokyo, including dinner for two at Sky Restaurant 634 in the Tokyo Skytree (which is owned by Tobu), bundled with a pair of tickets to the tower’s observation deck.

The other meal tickers are for dinners, lunches, buffets, or afternoon tea services at the AC Hotel by Marriot Tokyo Ginza, Courtyard Marriot Ginza Tobu Hotel, Tobu Hotel Levant Tokyo, and Shibuya Tobu Hotel. As with the hotel stay packages, all of the meal plans have a regular price of over 5,555 yen, so no matter what capsule pops out for you, you’re getting a discount compared to what you’d normally have to pay.

The Hotel Gacha machine will be installed on the third floor of the Skytree’s Solamachi complex (which requires no admission fee) on December 16, and will be in service until January 15 or its 500 capsules sell out, whichever comes first, with the vouchers redeemable between January 4 and March 31.

Source, images: PR Times
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