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Japanese inn owners and managers

How to become a Hotel Manager

Also called: Ryokan head clerk (banto), Hotel general manager

Runs a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) or hotel, working to improve service to guests and raise sales and profit.

Main tasks

Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

No particular education or qualifications are needed to start, but most people finish high school or similar and are hired as staff by a hotel or ryokan. They gain experience in many departments, such as accommodation and restaurants on the operations side and accounting on the administration side, and learn hotel and ryokan law, accounting and finance, the systems used for bookings and billing, and how to manage people, then are promoted into management. After further developing their business skills and having their results and ability recognised, they are chosen as manager by the company that runs the hotel or ryokan. With more and more tourists visiting Japan, language skills are needed, and at hotels and ryokan used by many overseas guests it helps to have a broad knowledge centred on Japanese culture and history, knowledge of economic and social affairs in Japan and abroad, and protocol and manners for receiving guests. You also need the ability to plan, for example ideas and business strategies that give each business its own character, and management skills such as controlling costs and managing people.

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Questions people ask

How do I become a Hotel Manager?

No particular education or qualifications are needed to start, but most people finish high school or similar and are hired as staff by a hotel or ryokan. They gain experience in many departments, such as accommodation and restaurants on the operations side and accounting on the administration side, and learn hotel and ryokan law, accounting and finance, the systems used for bookings and billing, and how to manage people, then are promoted into management. After further developing their business skills and having their results and ability recognised, they are chosen as manager by the company that runs the hotel or ryokan. With more and more tourists visiting Japan, language skills are needed, and at hotels and ryokan used by many overseas guests it helps to have a broad knowledge centred on Japanese culture and history, knowledge of economic and social affairs in Japan and abroad, and protocol and manners for receiving guests. You also need the ability to plan, for example ideas and business strategies that give each business its own character, and management skills such as controlling costs and managing people.

Do you need a degree to become a Hotel Manager?

Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 30% of workers are university graduates.

Will AI change the work of a Hotel Manager?

Generative AI could change some tasks in this job, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026