The foreign angle

[Hachiko]

The Shizuoka Shimbun responds angrily to a recent survey in Shizuoka that found a whopping 40 percent of hotels not interested in welcoming foreign visitors in the future.
Many of the hotels claim they cannot properly communicate with foreign guests and that their facilities are not appropriate for non-Japanese. The paper argues, however, that special facilities or language skills are not necessarily required in order to accommodate foreigners.

Japan Times

[stephenmunday]

That is their problem if they are turning away business.

Of course, the hotels that say they do not want foreigners to stay also have no way for foreigners to find them and book a room. If you are fluent enough to do alll that online and over the phone, they would probably view you as an honorary Japanese and I am sure there would be no problem.

The crazy thing is that if they sought tourist business from foreigners, they could smooth out the huge ups and downs in the internal tourist market (ie packed out in Golden Week and August and empty the rest of the year.)

[Mandylion]

Originally Posted by stephenmunday

Of course, the hotels that say they do not want foreigners to stay also have no way for foreigners to find them and book a room. If you are fluent enough to do alll that online and over the phone, they would probably view you as an honorary Japanese and I am sure there would be no problem.

Yes, it would make sense like that, but I assure you that is not the case - both from stories from friends and my own experience.

[stephenmunday]

What do yu mean, Mandylion? Do you mean that you have tried to book hotel rooms in Japanese and they have not let you make a reservation? I have booked a number of different styles of places that I found online in Japanese and I made the bookings entirely in Japanese with no problems. One place my wife and I have since returned to (as the people we so friendly) and another place we would be returning to this year if their Obon prices were not so high and we had a bit more time.

[Mandylion]

Oh yes, the vast majority of the time people are great, but I would not put things in as broad of terms as you did regarding how smooth things go if you speak/read Japanese.

I have had friends refused service and I have been held to what I think is the credit card double standard as soon as they find out I am not Japanese. I have also been flat out lied to by one inn keeper in particular on an issue I really don't feel like going into.

But for example, the credit card thing. Book a hotel in Japan from overseas and you will be asked to hold a room with a credit card. If you book from Japan, even on-line, you don't have to give out a credit card or even place a deposit (which is what, in theory, you do when you leave a number to hold a room). So what's the deal? Why when my wife calls the exact same place she is not asked for a card number?

I'm not saying this is out-and-out racism, but why do you need to make special rules for foreigners, even ones living in Japan? Do foreigners change their hotel reservations more often than Japanese people? I think that is quite unlikely. Just because you speak Japanese, doesn't mean you are going to be an honorary Japanese.

I grant you that I have been happy with my treatment more than 90% of the time in Japan. 90 is not the same as 100. It is more of a case of a few bad apples giving everyone the wrong impression of the rest. Customer service in Japan is great, and I hope my posts don't put people off coming to Japan.

[stephenmunday]

Hmmm... It seems like you have had some bad experiences. I have never had to use a credit card as I have booked from Japan. I was able to do a ginkou furikomi to pay for a deposit. Maybe the other reason I have had better experiences is that the places I have booked have not been that large.

It does seem like they are missing out on a very large potential market as I said in a previous post.

[Mandylion]

Originally Posted by stephenmunday

Maybe the other reason I have had better experiences is that the places I have booked have not been that large.

Perhaps you are right, but I have either had or heard of bad experiences with both types.

It does seem like they are missing out on a very large potential market as I said in a previous post.

Yes, they sure are.