Booking with Rakutan

Well one hiccup is that Rakuten Travel doesn't seem to support Firefox anymore, at least the last several times I've used it.

I've been registered with them and used them for several years but I don't think I've ever given them credit card details; I always pay at the front desk when I check in. Then again I have a Tokyo address and a local phone number, so perhaps that helps.

Why not booking.com ? It includes most places in Japan, and it worked very well for me. The prices will not be lower on Rakutan.
Also Rakutan accepts discrimination. The only time i tried it, there was a remark that that accomodation only accepted people who speak Japanese. I think booking.com never accepts listing places that practice discrimination.

Hi
I have used it a couple of times when either they offered the cheapest option or they were the only one having a free room in the particular area on short notice
Pre-paid by credit card without any issues and didn't experience any difference at check-in compared to using hotels.com, booking.com or agoda.

Thanks for the tips. I don't have a phone, so I guess I'll have to see if that's an issue. They do seem to offer some good deals, though it can be difficult to determine from the website what exactly the final price will be.

Why not booking.com ?

Rakutan's Japanese language site has far more extensive coverage of hotels in Japan than booking.com

The only time i tried it, there was a remark that that accomodation only accepted people who speak Japanese.

I'm thinking of using Rakutan's Japanese language site, which is essentially only accessible to people who speak (or at least read!) Japanese. Rakutan's Japanese language site and English language site are very different from each other. The Japanese site has far more hotels on it.

Also Rakutan accepts discrimination.

If the staff at some tiny inn spoke no English and I spoke no Japanese, I'd prefer having a notice to that effect rather than being surprised when I checked in and no one could communicate with me. I understand though that a lot of travelers demand that everyone they encounter must speak English - perhaps that was the motivation for the notice in the first place.

Why not booking.com ? It includes most places in Japan

This is certainly not true, the Japanese Rakuten site has far more listings.

The prices will not be lower on Rakutan.

This is certainly not true - I have often found that Japanese Rakuten has the lowest prices for a particular property on a particular day.

If you encountered a notice about non-Japanese-speaking guests, it sounds like you used the English-language Rakuten site, not the Japanese site, so I'm wondering why you felt compelled to answer this particular question about how to use the Japanese site.

And by the way, it's Rakuten, not Rakutan.

You learn something new every day.

I've used Rakuten a few times after it was recommended. I found its very poor second to booking.com. I was surprised ask know it is a very big company, I think they even sponsor a European football team. Now I know why it was a poor second, I used the English version.

I only used it when:
It offered something in a place where no b.com option
It was cheaper - about 50/50

Also, it didn't need credit card details.

I think turning up somewhere where they speak no English is a bigger problem for them than me. They will be embarrassed, etc. I don't care. After all, most hotels, Ghs are pretty standard and it's fairly easy to suss out what's what.

I booked a hotel in a tourist office and as they made the booking over the phone, there was a whole list of things they had to explain to me. Really difficult and unusual stuff like use your key fob for room power. I guess the hotel owner thought I had never stayed in a hotel before.

I apologize, the initial spelling mistake was mine.

The English language Rakuten is certainly a poor second to the Japanese language version; I don't know exactly what the connection between the two is.

Even before I could speak any Japanese, I still managed to stay in some very remote places in Japan where the hosts couldn't speak any English; I never had any significant problems. When I've booked guesthouses through tourist offices before, staff have spent most of their effort ensuring that I 100% planned on actually showing up at the guesthouse. They mostly seemed worried about foreigners making a booking and then disappearing.

On the subject of discrimination, two notes:

1. Many hotels in Japan - mostly more expensive and/or traditional places - explicitly don't accept people who are not Japanese. I've never come across such a hotel personally, but if you look at lists of accommodation provided by tourist associations around the country, maybe will have information telling you whether or not the accommodation accepts foreigners. I don't know if such places are to be found on booking.com or other English language booking sites.

2. Hundreds, if not thousands of Chinese hotels on booking.com only accept Chinese citizens. It's a huge irritation when trying to use booking.com in China, since many of the listings that pop up are Chinese-only. This has been discussed several times over on the China branch. I don't know what it's like in Japan, but in other countries, booking.com certainly accepts this kind of discrimination.

I have found, in the past anyway, that laterooms.com has a very thorough lisiting of cheap lodging in Asia. But I haven't used it in a while.

I haven't booked accommodation in remoter areas in the past year, but I have found in the past that if I know the local govt. areas that I want to stay in, the local govt. website sometimes has a 観光 section that lists local places that are not on other websites. I have been able to find accommodation in this way even at golden week when everywhere on the main sites seemed booked out.