Reservation trouble details

heads up

Thank you for always using MACHIYA HOTEL KAKUNODATE.
Recently, some TV and online news have reported on the issue of vacant rooms offered on affiliated websites being resold by certain agents. It has been confirmed that a similar case has occurred at MACHIYA HOTEL KAKUNODATE.

This trouble is...
For the past few years, we at MACHIYA HOTEL KAKUNODATE have not offered or sold vacant rooms to "affiliated sites" (especially travel sites with overseas capital) due to the high number of problems they have caused.
This is because there have been several cases in the past where people have had trouble with cancellations and refunds, where people have been slow to get refunds from the travel site they booked through, have been slow to respond, or have been passed around from one call center to another, despite canceling earlier than the cancellation policy stipulated.

As a countermeasure...
To prevent any trouble, Machiya Hotel has a policy of not offering or selling vacant rooms on overseas websites, and only offers or sells vacant rooms on domestic websites.

The problem that is occurring this time is...
·MACHIYA HOTEL KAKUNODATE is being sold on an unaffiliated "overseas booking site."
·A customer made a reservation through an "overseas booking site""The information was not provided to the hotel."
·As a result of the above, your room has not been secured.
·On days when the hotel was fully booked and not available for sale on its official website or on domestic travel sites with which the hotel has partnerships (Jalan, Rakuten Travel, Ikyu (Yahoo Travel), JR East View (VTS), Aeon Compass), the reservations were sold on overseas websites with which the hotel had no contract.

For these reasons, we ask that customers who have made a reservation at MACHIYA HOTEL KAKUNODATE through an "overseas booking site" please contact the "reservation site" themselves.Even if you contact the hotel, due to procedural reasons, the hotel will not be able to confirm, change or cancel reservations (including prepayment by credit card) from sites that are not affiliated with the hotel.Additionally, Machiya Hotel contacted the problematic reservation site and asked them to contact the reservation site because "our customers are having trouble," but they were told, "We can't contact you through the reservation site," and "Please explain to the customer that they should contact the reservation site directly."In this day and age where there are so many scams, I also feel it's a little safer to make a call yourself than to have someone call you.
It seems that you will need the 10 or so digits following the reservation number "Reference#for Guest:" that was sent to you by email when you made the reservation.I recommend you check.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and concern caused to our customers.
We hope to be of some help to you in making your stay and travel experience smoother.Thank you for your understanding.

June 18, 2025
Shigeru Kikuta, Manager of MACHIYA HOTEL KAKUNODATE