Rooms
The hotel has just 120 rooms, from the generous 43m2 standard room all the way up to six stylish 91m2 suites, all of which either offer unobstructed views of the final bend into the home straight of the neighbouring race track or the equally impressive profile of Mount Fuji.
Every room features floor-to-ceiling windows and a private balcony from which to enjoy the action on the track or the serenity of Japan’s most famous natural landmark.
The beds are expansive and difficult to leave, as are the en suite bathrooms, with deep tubs and rainforest showers. With a little bit of neck-craning from the comfort of my bath, it was even possible to catch glimpses of action on the track.
The top tier of accommodation is the five villas, where each 143m2 has the capacity for four adults and two children. This would be the ultimate luxury for a company’s top winners, or VVIP guests, especially those travelling with their families.
MICE facilities
Known as THE CIRCUIT, the 400m2 ballroom can be partitioned into two and enjoys both a show kitchen and a VIP room. With a banquet capacity of 200 and up to 310 participants in a theatre layout, it also gives opens out onto a vast patio – with an appropriately black-and-white chequered floor design – that is ideal for displaying vehicles.
Continuing with the hotel-wide automobile theme, THE PIT meeting room has 120m2 of space that can accommodate up to 60 people attending a reception, but also has screens that can be prepped for conferences or similar gatherings.
Immediately outside the main entrances to both spaces is the ground floor of the Fuji Motorsports Museum, a unique repository of some of the world’s earliest racing vehicles, dating from the late 19th century, to the latest state-of-the-art machines. These include a stately Bentley in British racing green, a bare metal Porsche, a tiny Datsun that amazingly completed the 17,000km Around Australia rally in 1958, and other sleek and powerful cars that have competed at Le Mans.
Other facilities
The Robata OYAMA restaurant – take a close look at that logo and you will see the racing connection – prides itself on utilising seasonal specialities, but do not miss the yakitori selection. While yakitori is generally considered an unsophisticated contribution to Japanese cuisine, it is taken to a new level here. The restaurant also serves an excellent selection of wines and beers, including a one-off collaboration with a local brewery to produce the Fuji Speedway Hotel beer.
The TROFEO Lounge, which is Italian for trophy, serves as an all-day lounge with stunning views of Mount Fuji. BAR 4563 is named after the length of the Fuji Speedway track, and has a striking communal table in the shape of a Formula One car as its centrepiece, as well as scale models of dozens of racing cars on its walls. The bar also has a private den with a capacity of 13 for more private corporate meetings and discussions.
As for recreational facilities, the Omika Wellness & Spa has his-and-hers onsen that taps into naturally heated water from 1,500m2 below the hotel, while the spa has six treatment rooms, including two couples’ rooms with views up to Mount Fuji.
There is also a 20m-long indoor pool that has vehicle-inspired art installations and a jet bath, while the gym is equipped with the very latest cardio equipment. The piece de resistance? A professional-level driving simulator that gives the driver a choice of 300 cars to try out at Fuji Speedway.
Service
Impeccable from pulling up at the impressive entrance to the all-too-soon departure. Nothing was too much trouble and the staff at Robata OYAMA, the bar and the spa went to great lengths to ensure that everything was just so.
Verdict
For an organisation in the automobile space – or anyone who simply enjoys cars or motorcycles that go very, very fast – this is without a doubt the place in Japan to stay. The collaboration with the Fuji Motorsports Museum only adds to the allure for any petrolhead. But it is also a good deal more than that, as Hyatt’s first Unbound property in Japan and a marker for what this brand is all about.
No. of rooms 120
Contact details
Tel: +81 550 20 1234
https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/japan/fuji-speedway-hotel/fswub
As a seasoned hospitality executive with over 35 years of global experience in strategy, operations, business development, P&L and brand management, he has held leadership positions at some of the world’s largest hospitality companies and brings with him extensive business, talent, and stakeholder management expertise.
He was recently the complex general manager of the Mövenpick Cam Ranh Resort, Vietnam, which he helped to successfully launch in 2019 and kept open throughout the pandemic.
Graham Pope is the vice president of international sales, Cvent. He has more than 15 years of experience in the events and software-as-a-service (SaaS) space. Prior to joining Cvent, he spent five years as EMEA group commercial director at Global Experience Specialists.
