A government-sponsored marketing conference called Service Productivity and Innovation for Growth conducted a survey in Japan earlier this year that attracted some 100,000 respondents, who were supplied with the names of 291 service-related companies comprising 29 industry sectors. They were asked to rate these companies for 100 separate criteria in order to determine "high customer satisfaction." The number one company, with 82.3 average points, was Oriental Land, which runs Tokyo Disneyland.

At number 13 was Super Hotel, the highest ranking accommodation-related business (though Oriental Land does operate Disney Resorts), even higher than the Imperial Hotel. In a way, it's an unfair comparison. The infamously expensive Imperial is a "city hotel" while Super Hotel runs a chain of 94 "business hotels." Anyone who has stayed in both knows the difference: city hotels stress comfort while business hotels stress convenience and economy.

However, even among business hotels Super is special, which explains its high rating. People were just surprised at how good it was for the price, and the price is pretty amazing: as low as ¥4,900 a night for a single room, including breakfast (Japanese or Western). In most of the bigger cities the price is comparably more expensive, but not much. Tokyo, for instance, has nine Super Hotels (10 on Apr. 29, when the Super Hotel in Okachimachi opens), the most expensive of which is in Shimbashi (¥9,000 single) and the cheapest of which is Kameido (¥6,490 single). And when you start going to double and triple rooms, called Super Rooms, the savings get better. A single at the Hakodate Super Hotel is ¥5,480, a double is ¥7,480, and a triple ¥8,480. If you reserve a single room for a whole month in Hakodate you can get it for ¥3,980 a day.