Airbnb in Karuizawa

Foliage and river view of Kyu-Karuizawa

     Airbnb, a globally popular platform to find private rental houses, has some recognized popularity in Karuizawa, too.  If you simply search "Karuizawa" in Airbnb, you can find more or less 30 private houses and their hosts who rent a whole or a part of their houses to visitors.  Design of those houses looks very Karuizawa unique and should be fun to stay.  You can find a small cottage look house in forest, or a spacious luxury villas with beautiful garden if you have enough budget.  In most facilities (as far as I went through the search listings), the host of the facility lives nearby, and seems to manage check-in and -out process directly.  On the other hand, some of them (facilities which are owned by remote owners) seem to outsource such process to a local property management company, and to operate like a hotel.  Though the number of those Airbnb registered facilities is limited yet, I think these services are worth trying for people who want to experience Karuizawa life before considering to relocate.  You may also be able to socialize with the host and their families, and learn a lot about the local life.
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   From house owners point of view, Airbnb is practically the only platform choice to rent the houses to short term lessees currently.  In early 2014, Yahoo Japan launched an Airbnb-like private house rental brokerage services for vacant Karuizawa villas.  However, that service was forced to end after a month from its launch, when Nagano prefecture administration guided Yahoo Japan and its Karuizawa local property management partner company to stop the operation due to its illegality.  Though there is nothing clearly defined in relevant national laws, the prefectural administration has so far guided industries to obtain a hotel business permit (which requires strict administrative check on face to face check-in and -out processes, fire safety, etc.) if they are to offer short term facility rental service for the period of less than a month.  So currently, other Karuizawa vacation rental services than those on Airbnb are operated under this rule; i.e, to contract a rental service agreement for the service period of a month and longer, and a hotel service agreement for that of less than a month.  Double standards exist in the industries, where only Airbnb is allowed to brokerage short term house rental without the hotel business permit while others are not.  Very strange, but it is the fact today.  In October 2015, Abe administration began discussion to deregulate these inconsistent regulations on private house rental services to accommodate imminent needs by increasing number of foreign visitors to Japan.   It is reported that the administration will set consistent national rules by June 2016.

    I personally watch the trends in short term villa rental services and its deregulation with strong interest.  Not only will it serve to the travelers' and seasonal residents' convenience, but also it will revitalize the town by reducing the number of unused vacant villas.  I hope Karuizawa could see a new potential for growth by a right policy. 

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