Toyoko Inn Co. admitted Friday that some of its business hotels in Yokohama and other areas removed mandatory parking facilities for the disabled after authorities certified them as barrier-free.

At one 10-story, 133-room hotel in Yokohama's Naka Ward that opened just this month, part of the modified area is being used as a smoking corner in an expanded lobby.

The Yokohama Municipal Government and the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry launched an investigation into the hotel chain, suspecting it had violated a related city ordinance and national laws, including the Building Standard Law and another building law for the elderly and disabled that requires certain types of buildings to be free from barriers for these people.