Secret Japan

[sanji]

This thread is to explain you how to use jalan.net, which is probably the largest on line reservation system for lodging in Japan. Understanding this tool will tremendously help you to find available hotels, ryokan, minshuku or pensions when and where you want to stay. It is useful both for travel to the cities and in the countryside...

New version from october 2009.

This guide is ONLY here to help you. You would be much more comfortable using this web site if you can read some Japanese... Use this guide at your risks, and don't complain if you reserved a luxurious ryokan in Hokkaido while searching for a pension in Tokyo...


You first need to register (you will have to do that only once).



Part 1 - Registration on jalan.net

First important thing : registration is free.

Go to the following link : http://www.jalan.net/ji/pc/jit2001.do

Click on the blue button - which becomes orange when you pass the mouse over it.




This will bring you to a new screen, where you will be prompt to enter your email address. Press the button (次へ) at the bottom. You need to use a valid email, and to wait for the confirmation. Once you get that email from jalan.net, click on the first link provided, this will bring you to the registration page.




Fill the following :
- A Password (twice) - you have to use at least 1 letter and 1 number
- Your name and first name. The first line is for kanji, but katakana are acceptable, too. You might want to try romanji (not sure if this is acceptable). The second line is for katakana. You have to enter your name in katakana on that line, otherwise you will be denied registration. Note that if the name is too long, it might cause an error - in that case, try also to remove the space between the family name and the first name, this can help, too.
- Choose a nickname
- Select your birth date
- Select your gender (first button for male, second for female).
- Do you want to receive jalan.net newsletter? I recommend the 3rd choice, "no".
- The last part is to fill in your address in Japan, but this is not mandatory.
- Click on the large button to submit.




Review your information and confirm (right button on the bottom - the left one is to go back and change your personal details). If some of the parameters are missing, you will be taken back to the previous screen and an error message will be displayed.




It is finished. You can either click on the large button to go back to jalan.net home page, or fill your ketai (mobile) email address to get direct contact from jalan.net (no very useful, probably).

[sanji]

Part 2 - Find a lodging on jalan.net

Go to www.jalan.net

Let's suppose you want to find a place to stay in Hakone...





On jalan.net main page, click on the interactive map on the area where you intend to stay. We will for example select the Kanto area, where Hakone is located.





Click on the desired prefecture - in this case, Kanazawa-ken.





- 1. Remove the mark after the date; this will allow you to select a specific date.
- 2. Choose the date of your stay - the first night's date if you intend to stay several nights.
- 3. How many night?
- 4. How many persons per room?
- 5. How many rooms?
- 6. Click on the precise area where you want to stay.





This is the list of all available lodging for your chosen location and date.
In the area marked as "Selection", you can see the selection you made (date, length of stay, persons per room and number of rooms).
In "Price limit & Food", you can further add a price limit (price are written per room and per night). Or select if you want food or not - the possible choices are, from the top:
- 指定しない : do not consider
- 食事なし : without meal
- 朝のみ : with breakfast only
- 夕のみ : with dinner only
- 朝/夕あり : with breakfast or dinner
In "Type", the following options are (among others) available:
- 和室 : Japanese type room
- ツイン : twin room
- ダブル : double room
If you change any option or put some limitation, press the blue button on the left to re-search the database...

The "Availability" number indicates the number of lodging available.

You can press the "Sort by price" button to have the cheapest accommodations first.

For each accommodation, you will have the following details:
- Name of the place - click for details, and don't forget that you can search for that name in google...
- Price - total price, in gray below is the price per person mentioned;
- Button "Map" - click to see the exact location. Always check that it is in the area you are searching, a mistake is still possible...
- List of plans, with indication of "Type of room", "Food included in the plan", "Price per person" and "Total price".





After clicking on a specific plan or on the name of the accommodation, you will arrive on a page with two tabs : "General information" and "Plan details".

The "General information" has pictures, details on the accommodation, number of baths, and at the bottom ratings added by people who stayed in that place - the maximum being 5, usually 4 is an excellent place.





The "Plan details" tab lists all plans available for your selected date, with details on meals included, check-in and check-out times and, again, pricing. Press the RESERVE button under each plan if you want to make a reservation.





Finally you get the total price you will have to pay at the accommodation. With jalan.net, you do not pay in advance, but if you cancel, you have some fee to pay. Those fees are mentioned on that page. Note also the presence of an "Extra charges" total, usually a couple of hundreds yen for the onsen fee, for example.

If you are happy with your choice, select the reserve button on the right.

[sanji]

This is the screen you will see when you click on the reservation button :




Since you already registered (part 1 above), you can now connect to your account using
1. Your email address
2. Your password







The next screen display your reservation details. Normally, the form is already filled, but you might have to add some extra information.
- Typically, you are normally asked to select the check-in time, that is the time you expect to arrive at the ryokan/hotel.
- You also have to mention the gender of the people staying at that lodging, but filling the boxes that read "male" for the first one and "female" for the second one.
- If you have not entered an address in your profile, you might need to do so here, too. You will not receive anything by postal mail, so I guess you can put anything if you do not have an address in Japan...

Finally, confirm with the blue button at the bottom.





If there is an error or some precisions needed, you will get the message on this screen, just above : "Your reservation is not completed yet". This is usually just to attract your attention on some point, like an extra charge for the onsen... You normally can directly click the blue button again!





jalan.net allows you to get points when you do a reservation, and use them later to get discounts. 1 points = 1 yen of reduction. If you have points in stock, you might be offered to use them on the screen, as seen above. Choose whether you want to use your points or not, and how much you want to spend if you choose to do so.



A final message will indicate that your reservation is completed. You can print this page, write down the reservation number of just wait for the confirmation email that you will receive in the following 60 minutes...





This is a typical email you will get from jalan.net once your reservation is confirmed...


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
※本メールは、じゃらんnetより自動的に配信しています。
こちらのメールは送信専用のため、直接ご返信いただいてもお問い合わせには
お答えできませんので、あらかじめご了承ください。
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
このたびは、チサンリゾート石垣（旧名　石垣グランドホテル）をご予約いただき誠にありがとうございます。
ご予約いただいた内容をお知らせします。

予約受付日時：2007年09月25日11:32

予約番号：0A040476
宿泊代表者氏名：山田　純　様     Guest name
宿名：チサンリゾート石垣（旧名　石垣グランドホテル）     Hotel name
電話番号：0980-82-6161     Hotel phone number
所在地：〒907-0004 沖縄県石垣市登野城1番地     Hotel address
チェックイン日時：2007年10月02日15:00     Check-in date and time
宿泊日数：2泊     Length of stay
部屋タイプ：シングルルーム     Room type
部屋数：1室     Number of rooms

プラン名：★★朝食付きシングル★★     Plan name
プラン内容：ご朝食付きです。
食事：朝あり
夕なし
パンフレットの送付希望：あり

キャンセル規定：     Cancellation fee
当日：宿泊料金の100％
不泊：宿泊料金の100％

悪天候他、緊急時はご連絡いただければ当日でもキャンセル料0％

料金明細

（1泊目）
（1部屋目）
10,500円（大人）× 1名
小計：10,500円
（2泊目）
（1部屋目）
10,500円（大人）× 1名
小計：10,500円

合計：21,000円（税込・サービス料込）
利用ポイント：0ポイント
ポイント割引後：21,000円（税込）
支払料金：21,000円（税込・サービス料込）     Total to pay at the hotel
料金特記事項：共済等の割引券の併用はできませんので御了承下さい。

★チェックインの時間の変更や予約金・料金確認など詳細のお問合せにつきましては、
下記宿泊施設まで直接ご連絡下さい★
宿名：チサンリゾート石垣（旧名　石垣グランドホテル）
電話番号：0980-82-6161     Usual information : if you are late, please call the hotel

[sanji]

This is a typical email you will get from jalan.net once your reservation is confirmed...


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
※本メールは、じゃらんnetより自動的に配信しています。
こちらのメールは送信専用のため、直接ご返信いただいてもお問い合わせには
お答えできませんので、あらかじめご了承ください。
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
このたびは、チサンリゾート石垣（旧名　石垣グランドホテル）をご予約いただき誠にありがとうございます。
ご予約いただいた内容をお知らせします。

予約受付日時：2007年09月25日11:32

予約番号：0A040476
宿泊代表者氏名：山田　純　様     Guest name
宿名：チサンリゾート石垣（旧名　石垣グランドホテル）     Hotel name
電話番号：0980-82-6161     Hotel phone number
所在地：〒907-0004 沖縄県石垣市登野城1番地     Hotel address
チェックイン日時：2007年10月02日15:00     Check-in date and time
宿泊日数：2泊     Length of stay
部屋タイプ：シングルルーム     Room type
部屋数：1室     Number of rooms

プラン名：★★朝食付きシングル★★     Plan name
プラン内容：ご朝食付きです。
食事：朝あり
夕なし
パンフレットの送付希望：あり

キャンセル規定：     Cancellation fee
当日：宿泊料金の100％
不泊：宿泊料金の100％

悪天候他、緊急時はご連絡いただければ当日でもキャンセル料0％

料金明細

（1泊目）
（1部屋目）
10,500円（大人）× 1名
小計：10,500円
（2泊目）
（1部屋目）
10,500円（大人）× 1名
小計：10,500円

合計：21,000円（税込・サービス料込）
利用ポイント：0ポイント
ポイント割引後：21,000円（税込）
支払料金：21,000円（税込・サービス料込）     Total to pay at the hotel
料金特記事項：共済等の割引券の併用はできませんので御了承下さい。

★チェックインの時間の変更や予約金・料金確認など詳細のお問合せにつきましては、
下記宿泊施設まで直接ご連絡下さい★
宿名：チサンリゾート石垣（旧名　石垣グランドホテル）
電話番号：0980-82-6161     Usual information : if you are late, please call the hotel

[Ball_siu]

Sanji San,

I just make a series of reservations through jrlan. I received their confirmations. What else would I need to do? The confirmation did not ask me for any form of re-confirmation or payment information. From North America, we are used to be asked for payment details, such as credit cord number, after you make the reservation. Is the confirmation number is all I need when I arrived the hotel in Japan?

[sanji]

Hello Ball_siu,

Indeed, you do not need to send your credit card details, although you can be charged if you cancel the room too late or just don't show up. You just arrive at the hotel with your reservation name, they usually do not ask for the reservation number; I still would recommend having a copy of the confirmation email with you in case of problem...

sanji

[Ball_siu]

Hello sanji, thank you for your information, I know Japanese are very true to their honest system. I'm just not custom to it.

ball_siu

[sanji]

The registration process was changed by jalan. This guide has been updated to reflect those modifications.

[alexjp]

1 - i am sorry for my "bad english langage" ............

Jalan net is a good site.

but, please don't forget that with a booking with jalan net , negociation about diner time, or menu etc ......are not possible or the owner of the hotel lose money.

for my pension, i use jalannet. so i know exactly the problem.

if you accept a "plan" you must accept all condition about those "plan"

i am sorry to explain that, but a lot of owner of hotel, pension etc ... have problem with non japanese guest who have a booking via Jalanet, but but know exactly what is the plan they reserved.

(for exemple: a jalanet plan: 1 night with diner and breakfast , guest reserve those plan but don't know exactly what sort of diner or breakfast, or what time is the diner etc .....
the guest arrive one hour after diner , want the diner, but he isn't happy because it's not a japanese diner and want to cancel diner and only keep the night.

other case: a guest think he reserved a room for 2 personn for X yen and don't understand that X yen is for 1 personn and not for the room.

so, please, be carrefull, and really understand the Jalannet plan before reserved

thank you

[marcoajello]

Thanks for this! Very helpful.
One thing I've been trying to figure out is how to stay in a ryokan for two nights, but only have dinner there once. I have a place in which I want to stay and they offer packages with and without a meal, but there doesn't seem to be any way to combine them - unless I make two separate bookings, one with a meal and one without. It looks like that's what they're saying in the link below, which I got form the jalan.net faq. Maybe a better Japanese reader than me can figure out if that is in fact the case. I would hate to create confusion by not following the proper booking procedures. Thanks.

http://www.pa-engine.net/recruit/jalan/faq/detail.asp?Option=0&FAQID=960&baID=9&NodeID=133&DispNodeID=100&CID=0&Text=&Attrs=&Field=0&KW=0&KWAnd=1&AspPage=LST&strkind=9&Page=0&Rows=50&NB=1&SearchID=&Bind=FALSE

[sanji]

Thanks for your comments. To the best of my knowledge, reserving several plans in one step is not possible. When I have to do so, I either :

- Make two separate bookings, reserved almost at the same time;

- Call directly the ryokan, explain that you saw their plans on jalan.net and would like to combine them. If you give them the exact amount that was written on jalan, they will give you the same rate, and even sometimes a better one, as they do not have to pay a commission to that company...

[leeks]

below is an example of an address i am supposed to key into jalan.net for booking of an accomodation in kusatsu
(例） 中央区銀座９丁目９番地　じゃらんビル１０１号室

since i dont have a japan address, i am trying to key in below hotel which i will be staying in.
http://tochigiya-hotel.com/
台東区西浅草2-25-2

and i tried below but kept having error. (now, there is a address checking system that will detect "fake" address..sigh..)
台東区西浅草2丁目25番地2
i think i have the postal code done correctly, just the format of chome and unit number and the last digit (not sure what is the last digit for though)

can anyone help pls?

[sanji]

You can enter directly the address as "台東区西浅草2-25-2", there is no need to use the kanji for chome.

In fact, I believe you can enter almost anything there, so probably "台東区西浅草" might be enough, too.

If you can a specific error message, please post it here.

[leeks]

when i hit submit near the bottom of the page, i get this pop-up error messgae.



this is what i key in

[sanji]

The error message is "please enter your answer to the ryokan's questions". Are you missing some of the questions that might be written below the screen shot you posted, like the question about getting a pamphlet? Press the button next to the postal number to check if it is correct. The final error could be due to the type of characters used to enter the names and number are correct, especially for the address, try to enter full-sized numbers (half vs. full sized kanji)...