Royal Hotel Ltd., which operates inns in eight Japanese cities, expects earnings next year to recover to levels seen before the "Lehman shock" of 2008 and last year's swine flu scare.
Room bookings plunged following the financial crisis fueled by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy, while the outbreak of swine flu in western Japan last May prompted the cancellation of about 80 percent of big events for the season, Hajime Kawagoshi, president of the Osaka-based company, said in an interview Tuesday.
"The effect of the swine flu scare almost disappeared in the second half," he said.
In October-December, average occupancy was 76.8 percent at the company's flagship 973-room Rihga Royal Hotel Osaka. A 75 percent occupancy rate is enough to generate a profit, he said.