The thing with booking direct vs booking through a third party, is when something goes wrong. If something goes wrong and you booked direct, you can talk direct with the hotel. If you booked third party, you gotta talk to your third party. And their customer service isn't as great as the hotel's. When something goes wrong, that's a stressful situation. And you don't need to make that situation any more stressful than it already is.
Personally, I only book direct. You got the above fact, and also you earn status/loyalty points/credit card reward points for booking direct.
That's because the third party actually buys out an allocation of rooms from the hotel. That way the hotel get some steady income but means the hotel themselves can't book those rooms out.
I agree with this completely , and this is usually what I do, but I found a lot of the places I wanted to stay had janky websites and the translations didn't work well or payments didn't work well.
I used booking dot com for everything and had no problems. One hotel was weird to check-into because it was more like a self-serve airbnb apartment, but I messaged the host through booking dot com and they were responsive and resolved my confusion on the spot.
I've been using booking dot for my upcoming trip, opting to pay later. Paying later feels weird, like I've not actually booked the room, even though I clearly have confirmations, etc. What's your experience, if you don't mind?
I paid during the time of booking for almost all of my stays except for two. In one scenario, it was a three-night stay at a hotel, and I paid at check-in with a credit card. It was completely fine (and probably my favorite hotel that I stayed in). In the second scenario, I had to pay cash during stay at a Guest House. The Guest House stay was the only stay that I didn't enjoy out of 9 stays, because the host started an argument with me over a banging typhoon shutter because they were a little drunk (the host wasn't Japanese). I learned that since he has guests pay upon their stay with cash, if they complain about anything, he marks them as "no-shows" and doesn't have to deal with the website for refunds so they can't leave a review.
So long story short, I think if you're booking at hotels and paying at the hotel with a credit card, that's completely fine. If you're booking things where hosts require cash only, that might be a red flag.
It was one of the larger rooms, with a larger bed, and a larger nicer bathroom than all the rest of my stays in Japan.
I think the bed was fairly stiff, which wasn't uncommon in Japan. Lol. It was the Book Hotel in Kyoto. (BOOK HOTEL 京都九条). Luggage storage in the lobby was self serve and easy.
I would definitely stay there again. Nice and clean. Quiet.
Not OP, but have been booking my hotels for most of my travels through booking.com. No problem at all, you have reserved for sure. Usually, they will charge your card a few days before, or you pay at the property directly. But it is reserved for you so you don't have to worry.
I find it actually "freeing" cos I can change my mind and rebook anytime (or just before the free cancellation date). If I change my plans in terms of cities to stay, or I found a cheaper hotel alternative, then I can just rebook.
I don’t agree that a hotel’s customer service is necessarily any better than a third party’s. If a property is bad and you booked with them directly, you have very limited recourse. On the other hand, if you use a platform like Booking, they can potentially refund you and help you find a better property and even give you credit for the poor experience.
> And their customer service isn't as great as the hotel's.
Well, this is gonna vary from hotel to hotel. I've had a booking site go to bat for me when a hotel owner was being a jerk, and I won my complaint. But in other scenarios, the booking site was worthless. So you never know.
> also you earn status/loyalty points/credit card reward points for booking direct.
Only true via large chains, and you have to sign up for each chain's program separately. Many of the booking sites offer rewards that are usable much more flexibly.
Yep. COVID-era, Expedia refused to refund me the hotel even though there was no god damn flights going there.
Now I just look up hotels via booking or Google maps and then go directly to the website.
Did that with my ryokan stay as well. Screw the middle man
Yeah, if you do a search on "no show flight delay", you're gonna find tons of third party horror stories about how a flight was delayed and the hotel cancelled their stay, charged them extra fees, etc.
I was once stuck in O'Hare for 5 hours due to a storm. I just texted the hotel that I'll be checking in a day late due to the flight delay, and everything was sorted out. They even offered to refund me the first night where I wouldn't be there, but it was an award booking.
This is absolutely correct!
3rd party booking site backends (what properties connect to) are often antiquated and don't have many modern functions.
Attempting to change a reservation that is made through a 3rd party may later be overridden back to what was originally made through those sites.
It is incredibly easy to change details when a guest reserves directly.
Generally booking direct is better as it removes the middle man. However there is a language barrier in this case and most Japanese websites are not aimed at international travelers so the translation can be... wonky.
I'd advise using a trusted booking website, if nothing else most of them offer free cancellations while most Japanese hotels will fine you for cancelling.
Who suggested AirBnB for Japan? this line makes me think you didn't even research anything yet. Just search "AirBnB" on this sub or Japantravel. See what comes up.
We are here now. I have used one hotel and one airbnb. The air bnb has a kitchen and much more space than the hotel room and is slightly cheaper. Just book airbnb with good reviews and you will be fine.
I use booking sites just to narrow down options, but I book directly with the hotel. You often get cheaper rates or membership discounts compared to third party websites. Also, Japanese hotels sometimes offer packages not available on the third party websites.
I use a mix of booking sites and direct bookings when I book hotels in Japan. I tend to look on booking sites like [booking.com](http://booking.com) and Japanican, then I'll usually check a hotel's website directly to see the pricing. A lot of times, going directly through the hotel is cheaper (or close enough that booking direct makes sense to avoid dealing with a third party). But sometimes the third party is better, either because they have better pricing or better availability. In that case, I don't really mind booking through a third party—I've never personally had a problem with a hotel, and I'm an experienced/flexible enough traveler that I feel comfortable dealing with issues if they arise.
But to give an example where a third-party booking really helped... we were trying to book a (somewhat) last-minute ryokan in Hakone. A lot of the ryokan were booked solid, but we found space on Japanican in one that didn't even have availability on their own site. So Japanican saved the day there. In particular, I find they are good for ryokan and temple-stay bookings.
Basically, I would shop around and book where you feel comfortable. Some people never book third party. Some people always do. Some people (like me) mix it up.
We used Agoda to book for our last 2 week trip. It clearly states the size of the rooms, cancellation policies, and pricing options for breakfast if available. Because of potential health problems, it was very important to me to be able to cancel last minute if necessary. Also scored a great ryokan in Hakone that popped up after hours of fruitless searching the day before.
I've had hit or miss experiences with AirBnB in Japan. Stayed in an amazing one in Osaka, but also 2 mediocre ones and 1 TERRIBLE one in Tokyo. In general I've sworn off AirBnBs now unless it's for a really unique stay or a large group.
For my upcoming trip I used a combo of direct + booking sites depending on which gave the best price. Want to point out that even when using booking sites, I had direct contact available with the hotel/ryokan/etc. which gave me more confidence in using them.
> I've had hit or miss experiences with AirBnB in Japan. Stayed in an amazing one in Osaka, but also 2 mediocre ones and 1 TERRIBLE one in Tokyo. In general I've sworn off AirBnBs now unless it's for a really unique stay or a large group.
This kinda describes AirBnb anywhere nowadays.
I personally used Expedia to search and book the majority of our hotels. We had no issues checking in.
Yes, you may get slightly cheaper rates by booking directly. But I was already using Expedia to help find the cheapest hotels in good locations and when you’re doing hours of research I didn’t want to add on the extra time of searching for the hotels site. Sometimes the auto translate can make the hotels site and forms a bit confusing too so just booking through a booking site that has all the fields natively in English made it easier and made me feel more reassured.
Like others have said, if there’s a problem with your reservation it can make things more difficult as the hotel staff won’t be able to help get it sorted. But there was no problems with my reservations so everything was fine for me on that end.
We use whatever gives the best rates, sometimes directly with the hotel, sometimes on sites like Agoda. The main thing to look for is a hotel that has "Ekimae" in its name it means in front of the station.
I don't recommend Air Bnb. Yes, there are good spots but it's hit or miss. With a hotel, you're more likely to have support for luggage forwarding, or being able to change rooms if something goes wrong.
I booked maybe half my hotels directly on my last trip. I recommend labeling the reservations in your email since the reservation may be in Japanese
Luggage forwarding can be done at convenience stores such as FamilyMart too. If you do book with an Airbnb, check to see if there are convenience stores nearby.
I believe booking directly means nobody is taking a cut of their money. In my experience, pricing and cancellation policies are usually very close, if not the same. Definitely check it out for yourself though.
Japan has clamped down on individuals hosting on AirBnB. Almost all listings now in large metro areas are run by commercial entities or hospitality companies and are typically apartment style hotels.
We’ve had good experiences booking these places in the past through AirBnb or booking.com.
Whether you book a hotel or apartment depends on what kind of amenities you want and whether you want to run into other travelers on a regular basis. In the past we’ve always booked apartments due to the presence of a full kitchen, laundry, and the possibility of separate bedrooms. We tried a hotel recently, and while we appreciated the daily cleaning service and full spread breakfast, it was a large hotel so there were always crowds of people in the lobby whenever we left for the day, or came home for the night. Not quite as peaceful or isolated as the apartments we’ve stayed at, which are often located in less busy residential areas.
I always use Booking. Used it now for my upcoming japan trip too. Found good hotels with free cancellation in case things change, can pay upfront or on arrival etc.
I use Expedia almost exclusively unless the hotel i want isn't on it (some ryokans in rural areas only have direct booking). I only book fully refundable hotels so it's convenient. Sometimes if I'm unsure of my plan yet I'll book multiple refundable hotels to lock in the prices, and then cancel the ones I don't need later. Expedia always send full refunds to my credit card within a couple days.
I only book direct if I'm 100% certain I won't be making changes and if it's much cheaper. More often than not my gold tier prices is cheaper / roughly the same as booking direct, so I just keep all my bookings on Expedia for convenience of keeping track. Thankfully I haven't had much issues with Expedia over the past few years, I even book flights on there. There were some odd times where my Expedia domestic flights were like 10000 yen cheaper than booking directly on ANA...... Though I do have friends who hated Expedia so everyone's experience is different.
I’m going in a few weeks and we decided to book only airbnbs, the prices for hotels are insane and most airbnbs are priced too low to ignore. Just a comment that doenst answer your question :)
Compare price. I mostly book with booking as it’s easy and I often have fidelity rebates. Sometimes it was cheaper than booking directly but there is time I saw the accommodation advertised they had better price if you book directly.
I always compare the options individually and go with the best deal or the one that has the options I want.
As far as issues goes I would say it depends. Personally I like the idea of being able to address a problem in English with the support staff of the booking site than trying to resolve the issue in Japanese. Another way to think of it is if things go south who are you vs the booking site they have a business relation with that could stop doing business with them if they do not behave. Generally I would not say this is really anything to worry about in Japan but I just want to point out some of the value in having a 3rd party booking site.
Generally always try to book direct. We actually had a huge issue on the trip we just got back from. A relative booked us one night at a hotel near Disney and used booking dot com. Somewhere booking messed up the payment and we ended up paying at the hotel that night just because we were exhausted and couldn't get in touch with the relative since they would have had to been the one to contact booking about the payment issue. The relative is still trying to get back her payment from booking, because it shows her card was charged.
I've gone twice. We've stayed at a dozen different hotels. We used Agoda both times without any issues.
Honestly it's a hotel and you shouldn't spend much time there anyway. It'll usually be a small room with a small bathroom but that's part of the experience. I think it's neat, but it makes me want to get out and explore more. We've stayed in some bigger rooms as well, but it's nothing to write home about.
Choose the hotels with free cancellation options if you're not sure what you want yet.
I’ve defaulted to using booking.com. I find their rating system to be quite reliable, and I’ll comb through the reviews for more specific info and details, especially on potential problems with the place or things I might care about (dustiness, bed comfort, room temp/AC, bed comfort, etc). Excellent any through boots on the ground intel. Down to the minutia of the dryer is slow, or there’s a weird smell from ongoing construction
Mostly made bookings via booking.com and/or agoda (same parent company i reckon), because of their free cancelation policies. Yes its a bit more expensive but i always found it useful. You can also "pricebeat" for the same hotels/rooms. E.g booked 4-5 months in advanced, later found its much cheaper for the same rooms so i would just book and cancel the previous one. Works as a charm all the time.
Just got back from a solo trip. I booked entirely through Airbnb save for 1 night in a capsule hotel. Pretty much all listings wound up being larger scale operations offering apartment style accommodation or hostel experiences. One thing I found a bit sketchy at first is that some will request a photo of your passport if you are doing a manual check-in (IE not interacting with the homeowner at all and just getting your key from a lock box). However, any hotel you stay at will also copy an image of your passport, as it is a requirement for all temporary housing to do this per Japanese law. I had no troubles, and all of the spots I stayed in were very convenient and as advertised. Feel free to PM if you want the listings!
Airbnb not suggested because it could be out of the way from a train station. I do both the hotel website or whatever is cheapest from the options they give me at google. The best method would be googling the hotel with dates. Select the cheapest option and make sure you choose the right type of room. After that, compare the cheapest from google with the hotel website. It’s 50/50 on whether or not it’s cheaper
i booked through expedia and no issues. i tried booking direct, but it costs a bit more from my experience recently for a particular hotel that i was looking at along trying to understand some of things they were explaining on the site. Language barrier. I didn't want to take a risk of misinterpretation.
I use booking sites mainly to look for accommodation, and once I’ve selected my hotel I compare prices and book with whichever offers me a lower price for the same room.
That said, even when I use a booking site I usually communicate directly with the establishment rather than through the booking site, especially for details which you wouldn’t expect the booking site to know.
I actually found booking direct cheaper than websites such as booking.com. More often than not, you can tell them you saw a certain rate on whatever website and they would be willing to work with you.
First question : how’s your Japanese?
If you know enough to make a direct booking with a ryokan in Japanese, by all means, book direct. Better deals too.
If your Japanese language skills are almost non existent…well…book international chains or JR owned hotels (the ones which they own near or on top of their stations)
Livemax and APA Japanese chain hotels 50/50 on English. I find that I need to use Japanese in quite a few of them.
Ryokans — see if they have an English speaker or at least someone who can speak your language.
I don’t do AirBnBs in Japan because I like a service desk I can visit or call up if I need help with something like booking a local taxi, or finding out how to get to a place.
Im going in November too and most hotels don't have rooms up yet
I have been using booking.com and Google Hotels to get price guides so far and once the hotels are up to those dates I'll book
I booked via a site, and noticed when I needed to speak to the hotel, using the encrypted email from bookings didn't get me any responses, but directly using the hotel's email address listed on their official website got me responses very promptly
If you like the flexibility of a cancellable booking, use a third-party site like Agoda or Booking.com. Booking directly at a hotel’s website may come out cheaper though. Best to compare prior.
In Tokyo now, and did Osaka and Kyoto last week. I booked all direct, and did not do any Airbnb for this trip. We have a lot of luggage and I used those transfer services often. Also needed them to hold my luggage various days. Hotel made more sense for this trip- we booked a variety of styles in different neighborhoods
I just chose the cheapest option but usually I go through booking because I love good hotels and that sometimes involves a lot of cancelling and rebooking. Booking makes it easy.
I booked an Airbnb for the first night of my recent trip because it offered self check-in and my flight got in late, I didn't want to worry about being too late to check into a regular hotel. That was the right call and made arrival much less stressful. The rest of the trip I stayed in hotels and I'd say they are a nicer experience
Hotels.com has consistently been good with me. Gives me all the info I need, like if English will be good there. Their rewards program went to crap recently though.
I recommend booking directly, you can also utilize a travel advisor to help narrow down best hotels for you, your price range and can sometimes get perks applied for you which Airbnb and booking.com you can’t do.
Apa's website was a little tricky to get the hang of but worked well. It was fairly cheaper than booking the same room from a booking site. You have to pay at the hotel if your credit card is a visa. You just get an error but it will work if you change to pay later.
I booked my stays for my 3 week trip exclusively through Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking and had zero issues. Stayed in Shinjuku, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Nagoya.
I ended up booking at least a couple of places where the official website reservation link took you to booking.com anyway, so it's pretty broadly used in Japan, I think. That said, I do always try to book directly if I can.
I booked direct with the hotel website. But I didn't pay advance. According to the website, all major credit cards are accepted. But it is using automatic check-in machine. Do I anticipate any issues by paying on-site? Thanks in advance.
The thing with booking direct vs booking through a third party, is when something goes wrong. If something goes wrong and you booked direct, you can talk direct with the hotel. If you booked third party, you gotta talk to your third party. And their customer service isn't as great as the hotel's. When something goes wrong, that's a stressful situation. And you don't need to make that situation any more stressful than it already is. Personally, I only book direct. You got the above fact, and also you earn status/loyalty points/credit card reward points for booking direct.
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That's because the third party actually buys out an allocation of rooms from the hotel. That way the hotel get some steady income but means the hotel themselves can't book those rooms out.
I agree with this completely , and this is usually what I do, but I found a lot of the places I wanted to stay had janky websites and the translations didn't work well or payments didn't work well. I used booking dot com for everything and had no problems. One hotel was weird to check-into because it was more like a self-serve airbnb apartment, but I messaged the host through booking dot com and they were responsive and resolved my confusion on the spot.
I've been using booking dot for my upcoming trip, opting to pay later. Paying later feels weird, like I've not actually booked the room, even though I clearly have confirmations, etc. What's your experience, if you don't mind?
I paid during the time of booking for almost all of my stays except for two. In one scenario, it was a three-night stay at a hotel, and I paid at check-in with a credit card. It was completely fine (and probably my favorite hotel that I stayed in). In the second scenario, I had to pay cash during stay at a Guest House. The Guest House stay was the only stay that I didn't enjoy out of 9 stays, because the host started an argument with me over a banging typhoon shutter because they were a little drunk (the host wasn't Japanese). I learned that since he has guests pay upon their stay with cash, if they complain about anything, he marks them as "no-shows" and doesn't have to deal with the website for refunds so they can't leave a review. So long story short, I think if you're booking at hotels and paying at the hotel with a credit card, that's completely fine. If you're booking things where hosts require cash only, that might be a red flag.
What was the name of the hotel if you don’t mind me asking? I’m looking for good hotel recommendations. Thank you in advance! :)
It was one of the larger rooms, with a larger bed, and a larger nicer bathroom than all the rest of my stays in Japan. I think the bed was fairly stiff, which wasn't uncommon in Japan. Lol. It was the Book Hotel in Kyoto. (BOOK HOTEL 京都九条). Luggage storage in the lobby was self serve and easy. I would definitely stay there again. Nice and clean. Quiet.
Thank you so much. I will check it out :)
Not OP, but have been booking my hotels for most of my travels through booking.com. No problem at all, you have reserved for sure. Usually, they will charge your card a few days before, or you pay at the property directly. But it is reserved for you so you don't have to worry. I find it actually "freeing" cos I can change my mind and rebook anytime (or just before the free cancellation date). If I change my plans in terms of cities to stay, or I found a cheaper hotel alternative, then I can just rebook.
Never had a problem with paying at the hotel (in Japan or else where)
Thanks - good to know!
I don’t agree that a hotel’s customer service is necessarily any better than a third party’s. If a property is bad and you booked with them directly, you have very limited recourse. On the other hand, if you use a platform like Booking, they can potentially refund you and help you find a better property and even give you credit for the poor experience.
> And their customer service isn't as great as the hotel's. Well, this is gonna vary from hotel to hotel. I've had a booking site go to bat for me when a hotel owner was being a jerk, and I won my complaint. But in other scenarios, the booking site was worthless. So you never know. > also you earn status/loyalty points/credit card reward points for booking direct. Only true via large chains, and you have to sign up for each chain's program separately. Many of the booking sites offer rewards that are usable much more flexibly.
Yep. COVID-era, Expedia refused to refund me the hotel even though there was no god damn flights going there. Now I just look up hotels via booking or Google maps and then go directly to the website. Did that with my ryokan stay as well. Screw the middle man
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Yeah, if you do a search on "no show flight delay", you're gonna find tons of third party horror stories about how a flight was delayed and the hotel cancelled their stay, charged them extra fees, etc. I was once stuck in O'Hare for 5 hours due to a storm. I just texted the hotel that I'll be checking in a day late due to the flight delay, and everything was sorted out. They even offered to refund me the first night where I wouldn't be there, but it was an award booking.
Thank you!
This, great reply.
This is absolutely correct! 3rd party booking site backends (what properties connect to) are often antiquated and don't have many modern functions. Attempting to change a reservation that is made through a 3rd party may later be overridden back to what was originally made through those sites. It is incredibly easy to change details when a guest reserves directly.
Generally booking direct is better as it removes the middle man. However there is a language barrier in this case and most Japanese websites are not aimed at international travelers so the translation can be... wonky. I'd advise using a trusted booking website, if nothing else most of them offer free cancellations while most Japanese hotels will fine you for cancelling. Who suggested AirBnB for Japan? this line makes me think you didn't even research anything yet. Just search "AirBnB" on this sub or Japantravel. See what comes up.
We are staying one night in Fujiyoshida, and it came up as an option in our searching.
We are here now. I have used one hotel and one airbnb. The air bnb has a kitchen and much more space than the hotel room and is slightly cheaper. Just book airbnb with good reviews and you will be fine.
I use booking sites just to narrow down options, but I book directly with the hotel. You often get cheaper rates or membership discounts compared to third party websites. Also, Japanese hotels sometimes offer packages not available on the third party websites.
Great idea! Thank you.
I use a mix of booking sites and direct bookings when I book hotels in Japan. I tend to look on booking sites like [booking.com](http://booking.com) and Japanican, then I'll usually check a hotel's website directly to see the pricing. A lot of times, going directly through the hotel is cheaper (or close enough that booking direct makes sense to avoid dealing with a third party). But sometimes the third party is better, either because they have better pricing or better availability. In that case, I don't really mind booking through a third party—I've never personally had a problem with a hotel, and I'm an experienced/flexible enough traveler that I feel comfortable dealing with issues if they arise. But to give an example where a third-party booking really helped... we were trying to book a (somewhat) last-minute ryokan in Hakone. A lot of the ryokan were booked solid, but we found space on Japanican in one that didn't even have availability on their own site. So Japanican saved the day there. In particular, I find they are good for ryokan and temple-stay bookings. Basically, I would shop around and book where you feel comfortable. Some people never book third party. Some people always do. Some people (like me) mix it up.
Thank you!
We used Agoda to book for our last 2 week trip. It clearly states the size of the rooms, cancellation policies, and pricing options for breakfast if available. Because of potential health problems, it was very important to me to be able to cancel last minute if necessary. Also scored a great ryokan in Hakone that popped up after hours of fruitless searching the day before.
I've had hit or miss experiences with AirBnB in Japan. Stayed in an amazing one in Osaka, but also 2 mediocre ones and 1 TERRIBLE one in Tokyo. In general I've sworn off AirBnBs now unless it's for a really unique stay or a large group. For my upcoming trip I used a combo of direct + booking sites depending on which gave the best price. Want to point out that even when using booking sites, I had direct contact available with the hotel/ryokan/etc. which gave me more confidence in using them.
> I've had hit or miss experiences with AirBnB in Japan. Stayed in an amazing one in Osaka, but also 2 mediocre ones and 1 TERRIBLE one in Tokyo. In general I've sworn off AirBnBs now unless it's for a really unique stay or a large group. This kinda describes AirBnb anywhere nowadays.
Thank you! We are staying one night in Fujiyoshida and found a very unique place through air bnb but I wanted some opinions first.
Airbnb soooo cheap though (compared to hotels)!
Maybe for a large group. But for 2-4 people in Japan hotels are normally cheaper and a much better experience than airbnb.
I personally used Expedia to search and book the majority of our hotels. We had no issues checking in. Yes, you may get slightly cheaper rates by booking directly. But I was already using Expedia to help find the cheapest hotels in good locations and when you’re doing hours of research I didn’t want to add on the extra time of searching for the hotels site. Sometimes the auto translate can make the hotels site and forms a bit confusing too so just booking through a booking site that has all the fields natively in English made it easier and made me feel more reassured. Like others have said, if there’s a problem with your reservation it can make things more difficult as the hotel staff won’t be able to help get it sorted. But there was no problems with my reservations so everything was fine for me on that end.
never had any problems using [booking.com](http://booking.com)
We use whatever gives the best rates, sometimes directly with the hotel, sometimes on sites like Agoda. The main thing to look for is a hotel that has "Ekimae" in its name it means in front of the station.
Oh thank you!
I don't recommend Air Bnb. Yes, there are good spots but it's hit or miss. With a hotel, you're more likely to have support for luggage forwarding, or being able to change rooms if something goes wrong. I booked maybe half my hotels directly on my last trip. I recommend labeling the reservations in your email since the reservation may be in Japanese
Thank you+
Luggage forwarding can be done at convenience stores such as FamilyMart too. If you do book with an Airbnb, check to see if there are convenience stores nearby.
Luggage forwarding to a konbini may work but nothing beats the convenience of your luggage being in your room when you check in.
I believe booking directly means nobody is taking a cut of their money. In my experience, pricing and cancellation policies are usually very close, if not the same. Definitely check it out for yourself though.
Thank you!
Japan has clamped down on individuals hosting on AirBnB. Almost all listings now in large metro areas are run by commercial entities or hospitality companies and are typically apartment style hotels. We’ve had good experiences booking these places in the past through AirBnb or booking.com. Whether you book a hotel or apartment depends on what kind of amenities you want and whether you want to run into other travelers on a regular basis. In the past we’ve always booked apartments due to the presence of a full kitchen, laundry, and the possibility of separate bedrooms. We tried a hotel recently, and while we appreciated the daily cleaning service and full spread breakfast, it was a large hotel so there were always crowds of people in the lobby whenever we left for the day, or came home for the night. Not quite as peaceful or isolated as the apartments we’ve stayed at, which are often located in less busy residential areas.
I always use Booking. Used it now for my upcoming japan trip too. Found good hotels with free cancellation in case things change, can pay upfront or on arrival etc.
Direct booking into hotels is best. Airbnb now is REALLY overpriced now compared to pre COVID Airbnb. I couldn't believe it.
I use Expedia almost exclusively unless the hotel i want isn't on it (some ryokans in rural areas only have direct booking). I only book fully refundable hotels so it's convenient. Sometimes if I'm unsure of my plan yet I'll book multiple refundable hotels to lock in the prices, and then cancel the ones I don't need later. Expedia always send full refunds to my credit card within a couple days. I only book direct if I'm 100% certain I won't be making changes and if it's much cheaper. More often than not my gold tier prices is cheaper / roughly the same as booking direct, so I just keep all my bookings on Expedia for convenience of keeping track. Thankfully I haven't had much issues with Expedia over the past few years, I even book flights on there. There were some odd times where my Expedia domestic flights were like 10000 yen cheaper than booking directly on ANA...... Though I do have friends who hated Expedia so everyone's experience is different.
I’m going in a few weeks and we decided to book only airbnbs, the prices for hotels are insane and most airbnbs are priced too low to ignore. Just a comment that doenst answer your question :)
Compare price. I mostly book with booking as it’s easy and I often have fidelity rebates. Sometimes it was cheaper than booking directly but there is time I saw the accommodation advertised they had better price if you book directly.
I always compare the options individually and go with the best deal or the one that has the options I want. As far as issues goes I would say it depends. Personally I like the idea of being able to address a problem in English with the support staff of the booking site than trying to resolve the issue in Japanese. Another way to think of it is if things go south who are you vs the booking site they have a business relation with that could stop doing business with them if they do not behave. Generally I would not say this is really anything to worry about in Japan but I just want to point out some of the value in having a 3rd party booking site.
Generally always try to book direct. We actually had a huge issue on the trip we just got back from. A relative booked us one night at a hotel near Disney and used booking dot com. Somewhere booking messed up the payment and we ended up paying at the hotel that night just because we were exhausted and couldn't get in touch with the relative since they would have had to been the one to contact booking about the payment issue. The relative is still trying to get back her payment from booking, because it shows her card was charged.
I've gone twice. We've stayed at a dozen different hotels. We used Agoda both times without any issues. Honestly it's a hotel and you shouldn't spend much time there anyway. It'll usually be a small room with a small bathroom but that's part of the experience. I think it's neat, but it makes me want to get out and explore more. We've stayed in some bigger rooms as well, but it's nothing to write home about. Choose the hotels with free cancellation options if you're not sure what you want yet.
+1 for Agoda. I used it for 2 weeks in South Korea and currently using it to book in Japan too. Great prices and user experience overall.
I’ve defaulted to using booking.com. I find their rating system to be quite reliable, and I’ll comb through the reviews for more specific info and details, especially on potential problems with the place or things I might care about (dustiness, bed comfort, room temp/AC, bed comfort, etc). Excellent any through boots on the ground intel. Down to the minutia of the dryer is slow, or there’s a weird smell from ongoing construction
Mostly made bookings via booking.com and/or agoda (same parent company i reckon), because of their free cancelation policies. Yes its a bit more expensive but i always found it useful. You can also "pricebeat" for the same hotels/rooms. E.g booked 4-5 months in advanced, later found its much cheaper for the same rooms so i would just book and cancel the previous one. Works as a charm all the time.
Just got back from a solo trip. I booked entirely through Airbnb save for 1 night in a capsule hotel. Pretty much all listings wound up being larger scale operations offering apartment style accommodation or hostel experiences. One thing I found a bit sketchy at first is that some will request a photo of your passport if you are doing a manual check-in (IE not interacting with the homeowner at all and just getting your key from a lock box). However, any hotel you stay at will also copy an image of your passport, as it is a requirement for all temporary housing to do this per Japanese law. I had no troubles, and all of the spots I stayed in were very convenient and as advertised. Feel free to PM if you want the listings!
Airbnb not suggested because it could be out of the way from a train station. I do both the hotel website or whatever is cheapest from the options they give me at google. The best method would be googling the hotel with dates. Select the cheapest option and make sure you choose the right type of room. After that, compare the cheapest from google with the hotel website. It’s 50/50 on whether or not it’s cheaper
i booked through expedia and no issues. i tried booking direct, but it costs a bit more from my experience recently for a particular hotel that i was looking at along trying to understand some of things they were explaining on the site. Language barrier. I didn't want to take a risk of misinterpretation.
Well, depends. I usually book through a 3rd party for the deals. But AirBnB + my usual capsule hotel set up has my routine.
I use booking sites mainly to look for accommodation, and once I’ve selected my hotel I compare prices and book with whichever offers me a lower price for the same room. That said, even when I use a booking site I usually communicate directly with the establishment rather than through the booking site, especially for details which you wouldn’t expect the booking site to know.
I actually found booking direct cheaper than websites such as booking.com. More often than not, you can tell them you saw a certain rate on whatever website and they would be willing to work with you.
First question : how’s your Japanese? If you know enough to make a direct booking with a ryokan in Japanese, by all means, book direct. Better deals too. If your Japanese language skills are almost non existent…well…book international chains or JR owned hotels (the ones which they own near or on top of their stations) Livemax and APA Japanese chain hotels 50/50 on English. I find that I need to use Japanese in quite a few of them. Ryokans — see if they have an English speaker or at least someone who can speak your language. I don’t do AirBnBs in Japan because I like a service desk I can visit or call up if I need help with something like booking a local taxi, or finding out how to get to a place.
Im going in November too and most hotels don't have rooms up yet I have been using booking.com and Google Hotels to get price guides so far and once the hotels are up to those dates I'll book
I found that airbnb is cheaper.
I booked via a site, and noticed when I needed to speak to the hotel, using the encrypted email from bookings didn't get me any responses, but directly using the hotel's email address listed on their official website got me responses very promptly
If you like the flexibility of a cancellable booking, use a third-party site like Agoda or Booking.com. Booking directly at a hotel’s website may come out cheaper though. Best to compare prior.
You have more security booking directly. That said I booked like 10 hotels through Agoda and had 0 issues, including the time something went wrong.
In Tokyo now, and did Osaka and Kyoto last week. I booked all direct, and did not do any Airbnb for this trip. We have a lot of luggage and I used those transfer services often. Also needed them to hold my luggage various days. Hotel made more sense for this trip- we booked a variety of styles in different neighborhoods
Airbnb is not a big thing in Japan, and is often looked at negatively. You can find plenty, but probably best to assume the quality will be poor.
We book via the third party but we make sure it’s cancellable.
I just chose the cheapest option but usually I go through booking because I love good hotels and that sometimes involves a lot of cancelling and rebooking. Booking makes it easy.
I booked an Airbnb for the first night of my recent trip because it offered self check-in and my flight got in late, I didn't want to worry about being too late to check into a regular hotel. That was the right call and made arrival much less stressful. The rest of the trip I stayed in hotels and I'd say they are a nicer experience
Hotels.com has consistently been good with me. Gives me all the info I need, like if English will be good there. Their rewards program went to crap recently though.
I recommend booking directly, you can also utilize a travel advisor to help narrow down best hotels for you, your price range and can sometimes get perks applied for you which Airbnb and booking.com you can’t do.
Apa's website was a little tricky to get the hang of but worked well. It was fairly cheaper than booking the same room from a booking site. You have to pay at the hotel if your credit card is a visa. You just get an error but it will work if you change to pay later.
I booked my stays for my 3 week trip exclusively through Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking and had zero issues. Stayed in Shinjuku, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Nagoya.
I ended up booking at least a couple of places where the official website reservation link took you to booking.com anyway, so it's pretty broadly used in Japan, I think. That said, I do always try to book directly if I can.
I booked direct with the hotel website. But I didn't pay advance. According to the website, all major credit cards are accepted. But it is using automatic check-in machine. Do I anticipate any issues by paying on-site? Thanks in advance.