Question 1

Does a Japanese hotel need a separate English site or a translated one?

Accepted Answer

A separate English version, written for English-speaking guests, on the same domain. A straight translation keeps the Japanese page structure, which answers questions foreign guests are not asking and skips the ones they are: how to get there from the airport, what a ryokan dinner involves, whether tattoos are allowed in the bath, how cancellation works. We write both languages from one brief so each one reads as native, then link them with hreflang so search engines show the right version to the right guest.

Question 2

What should a hotel website have so guests book directly?

Accepted Answer

A visible rate and availability check on every room page, a booking path that works on a phone in three or four steps, and a clear reason to book direct rather than through a platform, such as a better rate, a flexible cancellation policy or an included extra. The site also needs to be findable for the searches guests make while planning, so they reach your page before the listing. Photography helps, but it isn’t what converts.

Question 3

Should a small property build its own booking engine or connect to one?

Accepted Answer

Connect to one. For most properties under about fifty rooms, a hosted booking engine with a channel manager is cheaper, more reliable and easier to keep compliant than anything custom. Our job is to design the site so the handoff to that engine is seamless, and to make sure the engine you choose supports the languages, currencies and payment methods your guests use. We only recommend a custom booking flow when the product genuinely does not fit a standard engine.

Question 4

How do you redesign a hotel website without losing search traffic?

Accepted Answer

By mapping before building. We export every URL that currently gets impressions, decide where each one lives on the new site, set the redirects, and keep the titles and content that were earning the rankings. Then we benchmark the pages that matter before launch and check them again at two, six and twelve weeks. Most traffic losses after a redesign come from changed URLs with no redirects, and from rewritten pages that dropped the phrases people were searching for. Both are avoidable.

Question 5

How do you structure a multilingual hotel website?

Accepted Answer

Subfolders on one domain, such as example.com/en/ and example.com/ja/, with hreflang tags linking each page to its equivalent in the other language. Subdomains split your domain authority, and separate domains split it further and double the maintenance. Every page in one language should have a real counterpart in the other, or no counterpart at all. Half-translated pages are the most common reason a multilingual site underperforms.

Question 6

Which languages are worth adding beyond English and Japanese?

Accepted Answer

It depends on who is actually searching for you, which we check before recommending anything. For many properties in Japan, Traditional Chinese for Taiwan and Hong Kong, and Korean, come next. Each additional language is a set of pages to maintain, so we only add one when the search demand and the booking data justify it. English on its own already covers a large share of inbound guests from outside those markets.

Question 7

What does inbound-ready actually mean for a Japanese accommodation business?

Accepted Answer

A guest who does not read Japanese can find you, understand what you offer, see whether you are available on their dates, and book, without emailing you. In practice that means an English site written for them, a booking engine that takes overseas cards, clear directions from the nearest station or airport, house rules explained rather than assumed, and a way to ask a question in English. A translation on its own covers only the first of those.

Question 8

How long does a bilingual hotel website take, and what does it cost?

Accepted Answer

Four to eight weeks for a standard accommodation site in two languages, with first-round pages in week one or two. It can be as fast as two to three weeks if feedback on your side comes back quickly. Branding takes four to eight weeks, again depending on review time. Cost depends on the number of properties, the booking engine integration and whether branding or photography is included, so we quote a fixed price per project after a free scoping call. A proposal follows within three to five business days.

Question 9

Can our team edit the site ourselves afterwards?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Rates, photos, seasonal pages, news and availability notices should be yours to change the same day. We set up the CMS with your staff in mind, write a short guide, and run a training session before handover. If you would rather we manage updates, that is available too, but it is optional.

Question 10

When are you not the right fit?

Accepted Answer

If you need a Japanese-only site with no international guests, a domestic web company will do it for less. If you are a large chain with an in-house digital team and a global agency on retainer, you already have what we offer. And if the brief is a template site with stock photos and no booking path, we would be the wrong choice. We work best with owner-operated properties and small groups, and with travel companies that need Japan and the English-speaking world at the same time.

Bilingual Hotel & Travel Website Design in Japan

Written in each language, not translated

Built around the booking

Redesigns that keep their rankings