In late July, a man wearing a navy blue Polo shirt walked into the new Okura Prestige Taipei, which had its soft opening on July 17.

After taking stock of the hotel's lobby, guest rooms and health club, he headed to the Toh-Ka-Lin Cantonese restaurant on the second floor and asked to see a menu.

What he saw left him stunned. It wasn't so much the list of dishes that caught him off guard, but the name of a renowned Hong Kong chef – Chan Wai Keung – highlighted on the menu.

"I was shocked. I immediately made a call to confirm this," says the man, who in fact was Victor Chang, the general manager of the Palais de Chine Hotel. The Palais de Chine lies just a few blocks away from the new Okura in the bustling commercial district north of Taipei's main train station, and Chang was using a day off to go on a reconnaissance mission in "enemy territory."

His follicle-raising dread was because the executive chef of the Palais de Chine's Le Palais Chinese restaurant – honored in July for best restaurant, best chef and best food among the top ten hotels of China and Taiwan – is also from Hong Kong and also named "Chan Wai Keung."

"The name was exactly the same. It's hard to believe there are that many people in Hong Kong named 'Chan Wai Keung,'" Chang couldn't help muttering in disbelief. But his initial panic indicated that a major competitive battle in western Taipei's five-star hotel battle is clearly brewing.

Palais de Chine is not the only hotel in the area bracing for the new competitive environment created by the entry into the market of Japan's biggest five-star hotel chain. The Regent Taipei, the Sheraton Taipei, the Ambassador, and Hotel Royal Taipei are all going the extra mile to consolidate their Japanese customer bases.

The Regent Taipei is within five minutes walking distance of the Okura Prestige, and Amy Hsueh, the CEO of Regent Taipei parent company Formosa International Hotels Corporation, has given orders for the hotel to undertake a complete self-review in preparation for the coming storm.

"Our strategy is to deepen our relationships with loyal customers," Hsueh says.

The Okura Prestige Taipei plans to primarily target Japanese customers in its first three years of operation. The hotel hopes to achieve an occupation rate of 70 percent in its first year, with about 70 percent of that group coming from Japan. Considering that the Okura has a shining reputation as one of Japan's "Big Three" (along with the Imperial Hotel and New Otani), Japanese travelers will surely be drawn to its new property in Taiwan.

"The Okura and the Regent are absolutely in direct competition," says another competitor unequivocally.

The ‘New' vs. the ‘Old'

The Regent, which draws 40 percent of its clientele from Japan, has been preparing for the challenge. It not only set up a task force dedicated to serving the Japanese market and strengthened the cultivation of Japanese-speaking employees, but also conducted a detailed customer analysis, breaking guests into specific segments to better study their individual needs.

"We especially value customers who have long supported the Regent. We don't look at how many days they're staying but at how many times they've stayed with us," Hsueh explains, noting that the frequency of visits represents a guest's degree of loyalty and the choice of accommodation the person makes when visiting Taipei.