A hotel for the dead may sound like something straight out of a horror movie, but the Lastel Hotel is not nearly as sinister as it sounds. The Lastel Hotel only accommodates dead guests, but these "guests" are people who have passed away and are awaiting their turn in the crematorium.
Death rates are incredibly high in Japan as the country's older generation begins to die off. This has lead to an overcrowding of the country's crematoriums, with an average wait time of four days for a body waiting to be cremated. That is a long time to have a dead body sitting around your home.
Yokohama businessman Hisayoshi Teramura realized this and opened the Lastel Hotel. The hotel allows loved ones to store their dead and visit them anytime they like. The hotel charges $156 a day and business is apparently booming, as Teramura plans to open up a second Lastel Hotel soon.
Why This Trend Is Growing
- Corpse Lodging
- Disruptive innovation opportunity: Developing specialized lodging facilities for dead bodies to address overcrowding issues in crematoriums.
- Cremation Services
- Disruptive innovation opportunity: Creating innovative and efficient cremation services to reduce the wait time for cremating deceased individuals.
- Death Care Industry
- Disruptive innovation opportunity: Revolutionizing the death care industry by offering alternative solutions for families to store and visit deceased loved ones.
Industries Being Reshaped
- Hospitality
- Disruptive innovation opportunity: Developing new hotel concepts and services targeting niche markets, such as corpse lodging.
- Funeral Services
- Disruptive innovation opportunity: Introducing innovative solutions in funeral services to improve efficiency and address challenges related to overcrowding in crematoriums.
- Storage and Facilities
- Disruptive innovation opportunity: Creating innovative storage facilities for deceased individuals, providing a convenient and respectful solution for families.
