Rakuten Travel Japan Hotel Booking Review

Japan ranks as one of the most expensive countries in the world to visit. For travelers planning a trip to Japan, you will surely notice how expensive hotel costs are there. But you can easily find more affordable and even cheap hotels and charming ryokans (guesthouses) in Japan if you know which company to choose to book online for Japanese hotels.

Rakuten Travel Inc. is one such company where you can find discount hotel rates in most parts of Japan. Today, almost everyone makes their own travel reservations through Internet travel agencies. And they will typically target the more well-known companies with names like Priceline.com or Travelocity.com. But you won’t find the best room rates through their services. Although they are reputable companies, they do not specialize in any region and their reservation services are too general and not focused on the Asian hotel market.

While Rakuten only deals with hotels and hotels only. So whether you need an affordable business hotel in Kyoto or a rustic Ryokan in Osaka, you’ll find that their services are much more specialized.

Since Rakuten Travel specifically connects travelers to the Japanese hotel market, they are able to offer low, up-to-date hotel rates across the 24,000 accommodation listings in the country. With so many accommodation options, Rakuten makes it easy for travelers to find the right accommodation that fits their budget needs.

They can also provide hotel reservation services in China, Korea and Southeast Asia, in a total of 47,000 hotels. Although their rates for those regions are not as competitive, it is worth checking price comparisons.

Is Rakuten Travel’s a reliable hotel agency?

Rakuten (established in 2002) operates the largest online hotel reservation website in the country with 200 employees. They are also a publicly traded company on the Japanese stock market. With offices in Tokyo and Osaka, Rakuten is closely linked to the country’s hotel industry. They handle almost 2 million hotel reservations per month. Today they are partnering with All Nippon Airways to simplify travel planning to Japan.

How does Rakuten offer better rates than booking the hotel directly?

Hotel booking agencies like Rakuten are hotel room wholesalers. Since they have a much broader presence on the Internet than any specific hotel, they are more easily found by travelers planning a trip to Japan. Because hotels, large and small, know that Rakuten can provide their property with a greater online presence, they partner with Rakuten by offering deeply discounted room rates. So every time you book a room through their website, you’ll also receive those discounts.