For small to midsize Los Angeles meetings looking to break out of the box for group accommodations, the 208-room Miyako Hybrid Hotel can be considered a relatively hidden gem. Owned by Miyako Hotels & Resorts from Japan, the Torrance, CA, property is a blend of East and West (hence the moniker) offering
omotenashi, or Japanese-style hospitality, and American comfort.
“We’re also a cross between a corporate hotel and a boutique hotel,” says Cherie Davis, general manager of the building, about 20 minutes south from Los Angeles International Airport. Positioned against chains such as Hilton and Marriott and airport hotels around LAX, the Miyako can comfortably fit groups of 140 attendees among its 4,600 square feet of meeting space. There are two 1,000-square-foot banquet rooms—which share an outdoor patio space for anything from Japanese-tea-garden-style events to Texas-style barbecues—along with the Asuka boardroom for 20 and the even smaller Yoshino conference room for 10.
But for bigger groups, the Miyako has a relationship with the Torrance Cultural Arts Center to provide additional meeting and banquet rooms, a 502-seat theater, two outdoor plazas, and an authentic Japanese garden. In this scenario, transfers can be arranged by the hotel’s tour desk, on top of complimentary LAX shuttle service.
During a recent one-on-one site inspection, Davis noted that the hotel’s business ratio is currently 80 percent Asian to 20 percent Western, due in part to the nearby headquarters of Toyota and Honda. But the property has hosted consulate-generals, Deloitte, and Mars Inc., among others. “We’re also doing incentive, a few associations, and some SMERF business,” she says.
Davis says that at group rates that are competitive with those from the aforementioned hospitality suppliers, the Miyako offers “traditional elegant Japanese service” in a distinguished, upscale environment with 30-minute accessibility to downtown Los Angeles.
The hotel’s lobby, public spaces, and meeting rooms are warmly bedecked in brown hues, with Japanese art and artifacts sprinkled throughout the facility. Each guest room measures 425 square feet and features Japanese-style bathrooms, which have ofuro-inspired deep tubs, separate showers, and bidets/toilets. Western appointments include plush feather-top bedding, 46-inch LCD TVs, and mini hi-fi systems.
“The Americans love the electronics,” says Davis, while adding that the Japanese enjoy the bathrooms that facilitate traditional bathing rituals. Twelve suites, each at 584 square feet, have even bigger televisions plus rain showers in the bathrooms.
At Gonpachi, the hotel’s restaurant, sushi bar, and lounge for 180 occupants, group attendees and guests have their buffet choice of a traditional Japanese breakfast or American morning items. Japanese and American cuisines are served at lunchtime and dinner hours, and the Miyako’s culinary team also dishes out Japanese-Californian fusion flavors. It makes its own soba noodles.
Decidedly Japanese is Spa Relaken, an authentic cultural hot-stone spa with a jacuzzi and a sauna, as well. In a display of Japanese precision, the spa-keeper opened the facility at 10 a.m. sharp—like it does every day—allowing Davis to continue the site tour without interruption. We visit the ganban-yoku (bedrock bath) area, where spa-goers lie down on heated stone beds for detoxification purposes. The Miyako imports mineral-ore stones from the mountains of Kyushu, Japan—so-called super-growth energy stones that are said to promote perspiration.
The spa also does 30-, 60-, and 90-minute shiatsu massages, as well as Swedish and deep-tissue therapies, plus aromatherapy. The spa can host 16 attendees at a time.
For those groups that demand green meetings nowadays, the Miyako takes its “Hybrid” meaning beyond Western-Japanese melding—the property is a green machine. It is California’s second LEED Silver-certified hotel, a new construction that recycled more than 75 percent of its waste during the build-out.
Just some of the things it sports are compact fluorescent lighting, a 97-panel rooftop solar power array, occupant-dependent energy management and Energy Star appliances in the guest rooms, and a tankless water heater that avoids 1,000 pounds of carbon-dioxide annually.
The housekeeping is also low impact, with its use of low-chemical cleaning products and biodegradable amenity packaging, and for meetings, “we’re paperless unless specified by the client,” says Davis. Whiteboards are used instead of flip charts, and all meeting rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows to maximize the advantage of natural light. Group F&B is locally sourced and can be organic when specified.
With Davis now steering the hotel toward a AAA Four-Diamond certification, the Miyako Hybrid Hotel is living the Japanese term miyako that refers to a flourishing center of business and entertainment.