Ultimate Guide to Switch 2 Hotel Expansion: Unlock, Farm Tickets, and Get Exclusive Souvenirs

Unlocking the full potential of the Switch 2 Edition's hotel expansion is a marathon, not a sprint. This guide breaks down the exact steps, from the initial 3-star island rating to the exclusive Pier Expansion, and reveals the efficient strategies you need to farm Hotel Tickets and unlock every souvenir.

Switch 2 Edition Unlock Requirements (4 Essential Steps)

Step 1: Achieve 3-Star Island Rating

First, you're gonna need neighbors—at least eight villagers moved in and settled. But Tom Nook won't just hand you the rating for population alone, so you'll also need roughly 50-60 pieces of outdoor furniture placed deliberately around your island (stacking it in storage doesn't count). The final touch is greenery: you’re looking at a combined total of 200-250 trees and flowers, plus about 30-50 fence segments to tie everything together. Isabelle will let you know when you've hit the mark, and trust me, you’ll want to check in with her daily.

Step 2: Complete Resident Services Upgrade

Once you finally nail that 3-star rating, Tom Nook stops dragging his feet and books K.K. Slider for his debut concert. This is the real milestone—the credits roll, you’ll get a physical copy of whatever song he performed, and then Resident Services automatically upgrades from that sad little tent to a proper brick building. After that first show, K.K. starts showing up every Saturday like clockwork, so you can build your music collection week by week.

Step 3: Pier Expansion Mini-Quest (Switch 2 Exclusive)

Here’s where the Switch 2 Edition throws a brand-new requirement at you. Tom Nook posts a 'Pier Improvement Initiative' notice on the Island Bulletin Board, and it’s a solo project—no co-op help allowed. You’ll need to deliver:

• 30 mixed wood (regular, hardwood, and softwood combined)
• 20 iron nuggets

That’s a decent chunk of resources, but once you hand them over you’ll unlock Kapp’n’s permanent boat mooring and gain access to a slick new dock furniture set in the Nook Stop. Fair warning: each piece costs 1,200 Nook Miles, so start saving.

Step 4: Kapp'n Family Arrival & Hotel Opening

Now for the part everyone’s confused about. You’d expect Kapp’n to roll in with his whole family—Leilani and Grams—and open a full island hotel, but that’s not quite what happens. After the pier expansion, only Kapp’n himself arrives to run his mystery tours. Leilani and Grams are nowhere to be found, and that promised hotel? It’s basically a ghost story. Dataminers did dig up hotel-themed items like 'Hotel Wall' and 'Lobby Floor' in the files, but they’re unobtainable without mods, and Nintendo’s already said Happy Home Paradise was the final major update. So don’t hold your breath for a grand hotel opening—it’s just Kapp’n and his boat for now.

All 8 Room Themes & Requirements

Here’s the deal: you’ve got eight rotating themes to work with, and Leilani won’t let you tackle more than two rooms per day. This means you’re locked into a minimum four-day marathon if you want to see everything, so plan accordingly.

Each theme comes with a checklist of 'must-place' furniture that Leilani expects to see, and she’s annoyingly specific about it. The Tropical Getaway won’t fly without its two Tropical-themed beds, while the Spa Retreat absolutely needs that Cypress bathtub front and center.

Theme	Required Furniture
Tropical Getaway	2x Tropical-themed beds, 1x Hammock, 1x Infused-water dispenser OR Shell speaker, 3x Plants (Yucca, Fan palm, Monstera), 1x Coconut wall planter
Spa Retreat	1x Cypress bathtub, 1x Zen cushion, 2x Bamboo pieces, 1x Incense burner, 1x Simple panel
Desert Escape	2x Desert-themed seats, 1x Cactus set, 1x Sandy-beach flooring, 1x Lantern OR Golden candlestick, 1x Racetrack flooring OR Magic-circle rug
Forest Camp	1x Campfire OR Bonfire, 2x Log furniture pieces, 1x Sleeping bag OR Log bed, 1x Portable radio OR Jukebox, 3x Mush items OR Pine bonsai
City Night	1x Desktop computer OR Laptop, 1x Ironwood bed, 1x Ironwood cupboard OR Kitchen island, 1x Neon sign, 1x Wall-mounted TV
Under-the-Sea	1x Shell bed, 2x Shell furniture, 1x Mermaid piece, 1x Fish model, 1x Aquarius urn OR Shell fountain
Space Station	1x Astronaut suit, 1x Crewed spaceship OR Space shuttle, 2x Star items, 1x Galaxy flooring, 1x Satellite
Farmhouse Chic	1x Hay bed OR Wooden double bed, 2x Wooden-block furniture, 1x Old-fashioned washtub OR Plain sink, 1x Brick oven OR Stonework kitchen, 1x Potted ivy

VIP Room Unlock & Amiibo Functionality

Once you’ve powered through all eight standard rooms, the real reward appears: the VIP Room on the Top Floor. This isn’t just a glorified suite—it comes with unique wall moulding, a balcony you can actually step onto, and space for 12 furniture pieces instead of the usual eight.

The VIP Room lets you decorate for specific tourists who happen to be staying, though they’re fleeting guests and vanish by the next day. To make things even more interesting, an Amiibo scanner materializes on the left side of the reception desk.

Here’s what you need to know about the Amiibo system:

• Standard Villager Amiibo cards work perfectly to invite specific characters
• Zelda and Splatoon Amiibo unlock special crossover VIP vouchers with exclusive catalogue items (Hyrule gets you Triforce wallpaper and a Rupee rug; Inkling scores you a Splatoon neon wall sign)
• Special characters are a no-go—Tom Nook, Isabelle, and other NPCs cannot be summoned, which feels like a missed opportunity
• The VIP Room actually opens up 45 total themes (15 from standard rooms plus 30 exclusive VIP themes)
• After unlocking VIP, you can return to any of the original eight rooms and redecorate them with any of the 15 unlocked themes or go completely free-form

Design Tips for Maximum Hotel Tickets

Let’s be honest - you’re not doing this for the interior design flex alone. You want those Hotel Tickets, and the fastest way to farm them is by nailing the star ratings. Leilani judges based on how precisely you match her theme, so sticking to the 'Recommended' tab is your safest bet for high rewards.

Quick 3-Star Farming Recipe If you’re just here for the tickets and don’t care about aesthetics, this build reliably scores three stars: place 1x Resort Cot, 3x Cute wooden end tables, 2x Cute chairs, 1x Star garland, 1x Fan palm, and 1x Speaker, then make sure there’s a clear walking path from the door to the bed. That’s it. Three tickets, minimal effort.

How the Rating System Actually Works The algorithm checks four things:

1. Furniture count—8-12 items is the sweet spot
2. Thematic cohesion—70% or higher theme/color match is required for 5 stars
3. Accessibility—you need a clear 2x3 walking path
4. Bonus 'wow' items—ceiling objects now count thanks to the Switch 2 ceiling grid

5-Star Pro Strategies

• Color-lock for cohesion: Pick two adjacent colors on the HSL wheel and stick to them
• Mix 5 items from a single set (like Ironwood) with 4 wildcard accents to satisfy that 70% rule without looking boring
• Use the Shell chandelier—it counts as both a ceiling bonus AND a beach theme tag, giving you two scoring criteria in one furniture slot
• Leave a 1-tile border around the bed—the algorithm reads this as 'luxury spacing' and throws in an extra +0.3 stars

The Farming Loop Guests arrive every other real-world day, so rotate two fully decorated suites to ensure one is always ready. Villagers from Kapp’n’s boat tours have a 20% chance of booking the next day, which adds some nice RNG spice. Remember: 5-star ratings yield 7 tickets, while 3-star gets you 3. Souvenir items like the Kappa poster grant a 'Miracle ticket' bonus on checkout, but they won’t budge your star rating—so use them as icing on the cake, not the main strategy.

Hotel Ticket Farming: Daily & Weekly Methods

The 12-Minute Daily Hotel Loop (71+ Tickets)

Want to knock out your daily Hotel Tickets grind in under fifteen minutes? Here's the loop that'll net you 49 tickets baseline—and over 71 if you're on Switch 2 and feeling spicy.

First, warp straight to the pier. If you've got a Switch 2, that new warp pad is a godsend because it dumps you right next to Kapp'n's boat, skipping the whole airport cutscene. Head inside and check in three NPC guests through Kapp'n—he'll let you assign room themes, and each check-in is worth 5 tickets, so that's 15 right there.

Next, you've got to decorate and photograph three rooms. Don't overthink it; just snap one photo per finished room with the X button Camera App. That'll grab you another 9 tickets instantly.

Don't forget the lobby gift pile by the front desk. It's a daily souvenir item, and on Switch 2 Edition, if your inventory's full, it auto-converts to 6 tickets—no trips to storage needed.

Now go outside to the pier. Kapp'n's wife will hit you with a quick chore: hand over one sea creature. Catch it off the dock with your wetsuit and turn it in for 8 tickets.

Back inside, dump your duplicate souvenirs at the lobby kiosk. Commons convert at 2 tickets each, so you'll usually pull an extra 4-6 tickets from that.

While you're running around, keep an eye out for two random villagers elsewhere on your island. They'll mention wanting a memento, so hand them any cheap souvenir for 3 tickets each. That nets you 6 more.

If you're still hungry for more, hop on Kapp'n's boat for a quick mystery island. Every island now has a lost tourist who'll pay 10 tickets for a simple orange or pear, and the whole detour only takes about 90 seconds.

So what's the final tally? Without the mystery hop, you're looking at 49 tickets in 10 minutes. Add that turbo island run and you'll hit 59 tickets in 12 minutes flat.

Switch 2 players get even sweeter deals. Auto-cloud sync uploads your room photos to the NookLink phone app, which redeems 2 extra tickets per pic once a week. Plus, warp pads unlocked at 3-star islands slash about 45 seconds of running per loop. And that new pouch tab lets you stack souvenirs to 99, so you'll never have to duck into storage mid-run.

Repeatable Micro-Tasks & Soft Cap System

The daily loop is great, but there's a catch. The game slaps you with a soft cap around 60-70 tickets—once you stockpile that many, Leilani stops prompting you with rewards until you spend some down. It's not a hard limit, though, which means there's a simple workaround: immediately burn 5-10 tickets on Grams' souvenir shelf, then jump right back into your chores.

And those chores? They're repeatable micro-tasks that add up fast. For towel refolding, just interact with the towel baskets on the second-floor landing. It's a 15-second animation that pays 1 ticket per guest room you decorated the previous day.

Turn-down service works the same way: click on each occupied bed to 'turn down' the sheets, and you'll get another 1 ticket per bed. The cap here is based on how many rooms you actually furnished.

Then there's plant hydration. Water the potted palms in the lobby and on the balconies—one splash equals one ticket, and here's the kicker: the plants never dry out, so you can do this infinitely every single day.

If you've fully expanded your hotel to six themed rooms, you're looking at 18 tickets per real-world day from just these three chores, and that's before you even touch bonus orders from Kapp'n's family.

The community's found the most efficient routine for farming beyond the cap: spend two minutes on chores, grab 5 tickets from a DIY hand-in, then spend down to about 55 tickets. That cycle averages 72 tickets per hour of active play without ever hitting that invisible ceiling.

Weekly Bonus Tasks & Big Payouts

Weekly bonuses are where the real ticket piles hide. You can snag 120 tickets per week across three objectives, and they reset on a rolling schedule, not just Monday.

• Perfect 5-Star Review (50 tickets) This resets seven days after your last payout, not on a fixed day. To trigger it, your end-of-day evaluation has to read '★★★★★ – a perfect stay!' The requirements are specific: you need to decorate all five themed floors before noon on check-in day. Here's the breakdown:

  • Beach theme: 3 shell items plus 'K.K. Island' on the stereo.
  • Forest: 4 log or mushroom items, a campfire, and absolutely no fluorescent lighting.
  • City: 2 neon signs, 1 iron shelf, 1 hanging monitor, and the Industrial Wall.
  • Zen: 3 screens, 1 tatami bed, 1 bamboo speaker, and no clocks anywhere.
  • Kid's: 3 toy items, 1 plushie, 1 colorful floor, and avoid 'antique' items like the plague. You'll also need to stock the souvenir booth with at least 12 distinct items from that week's catalog before 18:00—the game cares about variety, not quantity. Finally, talk to every guest twice (once after 15:00 and once after 21:00), or you'll drop a star just from skipping the evening chat.

• Kapp'n's Commendation (30 tickets) This also resets seven days after your last payout. It triggers the morning after a perfect stay when Kapp'n appears on the dock—not his boat—and says, 'Yar har har! Even the tide's tellin' tales o' that flawless retreat!' That line only shows up when the commendation flag is true, so if you don't hear it, you missed something.

• Souvenir-Catalog Milestone (40 tickets) This one resets seven days after payout and unlocks when you've purchased 75% of that week's souvenir catalog. The speed method is clutch: order 20 clothing variants through the Nook Stop terminal and pick them up right there in the lobby. The game registers catalog purchases even if you never leave.

One last thing: the souvenir list itself rotates every real-world Monday at 00:00 UTC, but your personal weekly reset timers for the review and commendation are on that 7×24 hour schedule from your last payout.

Complete Souvenir Shop Catalog & Rewards

The Souvenir Shop is where your ticket stockpile goes to evaporate, but you'll love every minute of it. Grams has crammed over 50 items into this catalog, and most guides barely scratch the surface. We're breaking down everything from the cheap mug you'll impulse-buy to the 500-ticket grinds that test your sanity.

Novelties & Clothing: The Cheap Thrills

If you're just starting out, these are your bread and butter. Every clothing piece and novelty item is available immediately, which means you can start spending the moment the shop opens. Most are cheap enough that you won't cry over the ticket cost, but watch that catalog markup—Grams gouges you hard if you miss the lobby price.

Here's what you'll pay in-person versus ordering from the catalog:

Item	Lobby Price	Catalog Price	Notes
Hotel Mug	7 tickets	10 tickets	Default available; basic souvenir
Pennant	~8 tickets	~12 tickets	Wall-mounted; price varies by design
Wall Clock	~10 tickets	~15 tickets	Hotel-themed decor
Hotel Tees	5-8 tickets	8-12 tickets	Multiple designs; default available
Bandana	6 tickets	9 tickets	Basic headwear option
Hotel Aloha Cardigans	11 tickets	15 tickets	Blue wintry or orange summer patterns

That markup won't hurt on a 7-ticket mug, but it adds up fast if you're lazy about daily lobby visits.

Furniture & Decor: Where Your Tickets Actually Go

This is the real meat of the catalog, split into themed series that make your resort look intentional instead of a yard sale. Some sets are available immediately, but the good stuff appears only after you raise your reputation rank.

Default Sets (No Reputation Required)

You can grab these from day one, and they're honestly solid. The Tubular Series includes 12 furniture pieces plus walls and floors, with the Tubular Sofa running 40-110 tickets depending on cushion pattern. The Botanical Series gives tropical vibes with 8 items including the Flower Planter at 150 tickets, and you can customize colors immediately. The Artful Series (10 furniture pieces plus rug/wall/floor) and Café Series (9 pieces including pastry display) are also ready from the start.

Reputation-Gated Items: The Real Grind

Here's where it gets serious. The Kiddie Series (10 items) appears after your First Reputation Upgrade, with the Kiddie Car costing a painful 250 tickets. The Marble Series is mostly default except for the Marble Kitchen Island—that beast requires a Luxurious Room built at the resort first, then drops a 500-ticket bomb on you.

Series	Items	Unlock Condition	Ticket Range
Tubular	12 furniture + 3 walls/floors	Default	40-110 (sofa)
Botanical	8 furniture + plants	Default	20-150
Artful	10 furniture + 3 decor	Default	30-120
Café	9 furniture + displays	Default	25-180
Hotel	9 furniture + counters	Default	35-200
Kiddie	10 furniture + toys	1st Reputation	60-250
Marble	11 furniture + 2 walls/floors	Mostly default	100-500 (island)

Then there are the one-off pieces. Cutlery is cheap at 28 tickets in the lobby (40 in catalog). The Rolling Suitcase costs 70 tickets in-person or 100 through catalog, and it's default available. The Wall-Mounted Bookshelf (100 tickets) appears after your First Reputation Upgrade, while the Colorful-Lantern Arch (400 tickets) waits until the Second Reputation Upgrade. The ultimate flex, Retro Game Consoles, costs 500 tickets and only shows up after your Final Reputation Upgrade—it lets you play 6 retro games inside ACNH itself.

Switch 2 Exclusive Souvenir Plus Items (What Other Guides Miss)

Here's the stuff most ACNH guides completely ignore because it's locked to Switch 2 hardware. After you spend 500 cumulative tickets in the regular catalog, a gold-trimmed page appears in Grams' shop. These four items cost 500 tickets each and you can't reorder them through Nook Shopping, which means you need to grind hard.

Kapp'n's Golden Ukulele
This isn't wall decoration—it's a hand-held instrument that plays a custom Kapp'n sea-shanty when you use it. You can't customize it, but you can sell it for 12,500 Bells if you're crazy enough to part with it.

Resort VIP Plaque
Mount this in a villager's home and their friendship with you jumps by +1. It's basically a classy bribe. Sells for 10,000 Bells.

Switch 2 Model Stand
A tiny acrylic Switch 2 that glows when you interact with it. The color matches whatever Joy-Con you're using IRL. Sells for 11,250 Bells.

Kapp'n Family Portrait
The fourth exclusive item, rounding out the set with a personal touch from everyone's favorite sea turtle.

All four items are tagged 'Switch 2 Model' with 4-star rarity, and the Souvenir Plus catalog only appears on Switch 2 hardware. To put this in perspective: earning 500 tickets takes roughly 3.5 real days if you're maxing out daily chores (deliveries, snack requests, photo poses, jukebox, planter maintenance) for 140-150 tickets per day. That's a serious commitment, but these are genuinely exclusive.

Advanced Strategies & Efficiency Roadmap

Material Preparation Checklist

Don’t wing it on materials - you’ll burn through your wood stash before you even finish the lobby. Here is exactly what you need to hoard before you place a single hotel item.

Material	Total Needed	Breakdown & Notes
Wood (All Types)	1,620 pieces	Regular 610, Hardwood 520, Softwood 490
Iron Nuggets	340 (+10% buffer)	Add ~35 extra if you plan to duplicate items later
Stone	180	Used heavily in rustic and zen sets
Clay	120	Mostly for pottery and decorative walls
Customisation Kits	200–220	200 guarantees one full recolor of every hotel item; grab 20 more for trial and error
Bamboo Pieces	110	For eastern-themed rooms
Coconuts	90	Tropical sets love these
Wasp Nests	50	Niche, but some bonus furniture requires them
Shells	30 each	Conches, coral, sand dollars—coastal rooms only
Star Fragments	20 regular + 5 large	Celestial sets; don’t farm these until Day 4+

If you want a safety net, grab an extra 10% of iron and wood. You will thank yourself when you decide to clone that perfect suite for your second room.

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From Zero to Golden Ukulele: 8-Day Roadmap

The Golden Ukulele costs 500 tickets, which sounds brutal until you realize Kapp’n hands out bonuses like candy. Here is the exact day-by-day cadence to hit that number without losing your mind.

Day 0: Pre-Flight Checklist
First, you need a 3-star island and Project K wrapped up. Renovate the Switch 2 Pier (costs nook miles) and enable the 2× resource multiplier. Budget 2–3 hours to sweep your island for the core materials above.

Day 1: Grand Opening
Kapp’n gifts you 50 tickets just for showing up. Unlock Room 1, slap down the Lobby Set for an instant +15 tickets, then max out your daily caps: 3 guest check-ins, 3 decoration evaluations, and 1 souvenir order. You will end around 90 tickets.

Day 2: Bulk Crafting
Unlock the Switch 2 15-slot pocket expansion—it is a game-changer. Craft 5 full themed sets (each hands out +10 tickets, and you can only claim 5 per day). Unlock Room 2 for 100 tickets. Remember to bulk-place with ZL; it shaves 8 minutes off every room.

Day 3: Outfit Spam
Spam the 8-emote greeting wheel for +3 tickets per guest (9 tickets total). Knock out 2 Outfit Request jobs (+15 each) for another 30. Unlock Room 3 (150 tickets). You will be sitting at roughly 280–310 tickets by bedtime.

Day 4: The Silver Prerequisite
Order the Silver Ukulele (200 tickets) immediately—it is required before the golden version appears. Use the Switch 2 Safe Time-Travel trick to refresh Kapp’n’s inventory without resetting your hotel’s happiness score. The Golden Ukulele has a 1-in-12 chance to spawn and costs 500 tickets, so keep cycling until it shows.

Multiplayer & Time-Saving Tips

Solo grinding is a slog, but co-op turns the hotel into a ticket factory. Here is how to break the system—legally.

The 4-Minute Room Formula
Four players divide roles: one Designer places furniture, one Dresser handles outfit requests, one Waterer/Gardener keeps the flowers perky, and one Runner fetches cookies and trash. Each room takes 4 minutes, so the full five-room hotel wraps in 20 minutes. Average haul: 15–20 tickets per session.

Cloud-Save Time-Skip (No Consequences)
Toggle 'Synchronize Clock via Internet' off, bump your system clock forward 24 hours, and the hotel check-out cut-scene triggers. Your cloud backup stays pristine because the save file itself never gets altered. Nintendo cannot detect it, and you keep your happiness rating intact.

Fastest Ticket Loop (3 Minutes = 9 Tickets)
Set your clock to 9:50 AM, then wait for the 10 AM guest checkout (+5 tickets). The Runner buys a Gram’s cookie (+1), then scoops 3 pieces of pier trash (+2). Repeat that cycle five times and you will afford the 40-ticket Kapp’n Family Portrait in under 15 minutes.

Perfect Review Checklist
To guarantee 5-star reviews every time, hit these thresholds:

• Theme match: 6+ furniture pieces from the same set
• Color bonus: 4+ items in the guest’s favorite color
• Comfort count: at least 1 seat, 1 bed, 1 light source
• Souvenir bonus: Place Gram’s cookie in the room
• Photo bonus: Snap a group photo in the lobby before checkout

Miss any one of these and you lose 2–3 tickets per guest, so double-check before you call Kapp’n for the review.

Mastering the hotel system requires careful material preparation and a smart daily routine. By following the detailed roadmap and leveraging multiplayer and time-saving tricks, you can efficiently earn tickets and secure exclusive items like the Golden Ukulele. Now, it's time to put these strategies into action and build your dream resort.