Tokyo became one of the fastest growing markets for private lodging with the lack of hotel availability in Japan and the increase of inbound tourists. In popular areas of Tokyo, tourists have to make their reservation 6 months ahead of their trip. Seeing the gap in supply and demand of accomodation, many property investors shift from traditional rental to vacation rental.
Vacation Rental Industry and Private Lodging
The vacation rental industry has existed since decades ago. It is a type of renting where travelers temporary stay in a furnished house or apartment in alternative to hotels. These apartments can be runned by professional management companies or self-managed.
With the growth of online listing service and agencies such as Airbnb and booking.com, the vacation rental industry has been expanding in recent years. Among the many listing service, Airbnb has made the operation of self-managed vacation rental easier.
Self-managed vacation rental, also refer to private loadging has increased drastically with the support of this new online listing system.
Online Listing Service – Airbnb
There was no strict rules in renting out your apartment. Home owners can rent out part of their apartment or even one bed space.
I have friends who were Airbnb hosts. One of them is a flight attendant and is absent from her apartment most of the time. To make use of her empty apartment, she started hosting on Airbnb and invite guests to stay at her place while she is working oversea.
Another friend lives in a 1K apartment (kitchen space +living room) becomes an Airbnb host renting out one bed space in his apartment. Surprisingly, tourists do come and he makes profits at low (or no?) cost.
Starting the operation of private lodging is easy. You just need to register as a host on one of the online listing service and submit some documents.
New Regulations for Private Loadging
There was no particular regulations regarding private lodging until recently, the Japanese Government decided to create new laws keep this type of operation under control effective on June 15th, 2018.
Below are some excerpts from the regulation.
- All private lodging must meet all safety requirements and register at local manipulates.
- Hosts are only allowed to rent out their home for a maximum of 180 days per year.
- Local manipulates have the final right to make any further restrictions.
For instance, in Shibuya, private lodging is only allowed during school holidays. This is to prevent strangers from wandering around residential area where children might be present.
On the other hand, in Nakano, private lodging is allowed on weekends and holidays in area where hotels and railway stations are not nearby.
The restrictions have contributed to a noticeable drop in Airbnb host.
