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Designing
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Full-Scale Launch of Tabelog’s Online Reservation Service Fortravelers from Overseas

2024.06.26

Kakaku.com, Inc.
DG Financial Technology, Inc.

– Largest service of its kind*, with more than 35,000 restaurants available for online reservation in English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), and Korean.

– Address reservation related issues by providing payment solutions in collaboration with Digital Garage Group

Kakaku.com, Inc. (Headquarters: Tokyo; Representative Director, President and CEO: Atsuhiro Murakami; “Kakaku.com”) in collaboration with DG Financial Technology, Inc. (Headquarters: Tokyo; Representative Director, President and Co-COO: Hiroshi Shino; “DGFT”) hereby announces the full-scale launch of Tabelog’s multilingual reservation service for overseas travelers, on June 26, 2024.
Over 35,000 restaurants are currently available for online reservation, making this the largest online reservation service for visitors to Japan, and further expansion is planned. Supported languages are English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), and Korean.

*Largest restaurant reservation service (instant reservations) for overseas travelers, as of June 26, 2024 (based on internal research).

Tabelog’s online reservation service for overseas visitors
To offer a more convenient way to find and reserve restaurants for the growing number of visitors to Japan*, Tabelog has launched a multilingual online reservation service.
The service provides detailed restaurant information, photos, and user reviews in multiple languages through automatic translation and a calendar showing seating availability makes it easy to complete reservations.
We hope that our service will provide visitors to Japan further opportunities to visit a wide variety of restaurants in Japan.

*According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the number of visitors to Japan is expected to exceed 3 million in May 2024 (up 60% from the previous year).

Reservation flow:

Demonstration video:

*Ongoing modifications and improvements to the site may result in changes to the user interface and performance.

Addressing reservation related issues through the use of payment solutions
Last minute reservation changes and no-shows, not only have a significant impact on restaurants, but also lead to lost opportunities for other potential guests. To address this issue, Tabelog’s online reservation service for overseas travelers includes a function which allows restaurants to charge cancellation fees (based on the restaurant’s cancellation policy). Kakaku.com, the operator of Tabelog, in collaboration with DGFT, a comprehensive payment service provider, aims to offer solutions that can help improve the profitability and efficiency of restaurants and promote the revitalization of the restaurant industry.

Comments
Atsuhiro Murakami, Representative Director, President and CEO of Kakaku.com, Inc.: “The number of visitors to Japan has remained high since reaching a record number in March of this year. While there is a growing need for restaurants to capture demand from overseas travelers, there has been some reluctance to accept online reservations from them due to issues related to cancellations. Our new service, which utilizes Digital Garage Group’s payment solution, will address the risk of cancellations, and allow restaurants to feel confident in accepting online reservations from overseas travelers. We are confident that this will also be a convenient service for visitors to Japan, as they will be able to search for and make online reservations at various restaurants throughout Japan, in English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), and Korean.”

Hiroshi Shino, Representative Director, President and Co-COO of DG Financial Technology, Inc.: “Tabelog’s reservation service, includes a function which will allow restaurants to charge cancellation fees using DGFT’s payment solution. We believe that this will benefit many restaurants facing the challenges of managing no-shows, as the demand for reservations from overseas travelers increases. Under our “DG FinTech Shift” strategy, centered around payment platforms, DG Group aims to contribute to the growth of more businesses and improving convenience for consumers, while advancing the realization of a safe, secure and convenient cashless society. Regarding our collaboration with Kakaku.com, the promotion of group initiatives in key sectors are part of our growth strategy and we will continue to create and promote new businesses.”

Benefits for restaurants
By launching a multilingual version of Tabelog we hope to help restaurants to attract more travelers to Japan.

  • Start taking reservation from overseas travelers without any special setup
    Restaurants currently using Tabelog’s online reservation service (for domestic customers) and offering reservations for course menus can start taking online reservations from overseas travelers without any additional setup.
  • It is possible to charge cancellation fees (only available on the multilingual version)
    In the multilingual reservation service, credit card registration is mandatory when making a reservation, making it possible to charge cancellation fees, based on a restaurant’s cancellation policy.
  • Offer exclusive course menus to overseas travelers
    The service offers the possibility to offer exclusive course menus tailored to the needs of overseas travelers.

Moving forward, we will continue to provide more convenient and comprehensive services for both visitors to Japan and restaurants, including services to support restaurant operations when accommodating overseas customers.
FAQ: https://owner-support.tabelog.com/–659e06178279ee002ab7b051

About Tabelog
A restaurant search and reservation service that enhances dining experiences. With over 860,000 establishments listed, you can find restaurants tailored to your preferences from a wealth of information such as specialty dishes shared by the restaurants, user reviews, and photos. You can easily check seating availability and make reservations online; at any time and from anywhere.

Additional Information (in Japanese only)

Total no. of listed restaurants: 860,000, no. of user reviews 65.44million (as of June 2024)
Monthly no. of users: 93.5 million, Monthly PV22.93 million (as of March 2024)
Monthly no. of users by device: Smartphone 77.86 million, PC 15.64 million
Note: The number of monthly users is the number of browsers that visited the site, not the number of cumulative visits, during a month. Multiple visits by a single browser are counted as one user. We exclude as much as possible any user access overlap stemming from high-speed webpage loading on mobile devices as well as automated third-party access mainly by web-scraping bots. Tabelog’s support of AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) ended in February 2022.

<Official SNS Accounts>

< Links to the different language versions of Tabelog>　

About Kakaku.com (https://corporate.kakaku.com/)
Company Name: Kakaku.com, Inc.
Representative: Atsuhiro Murakami, Representative Director, President and CEO
Headquarters: Digital Gate Building, 3-5-7 Ebisu-minami, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Established: December 1997
Business description: Planning and operation of sites and applications, provision of various platforms

About DGFT (https://www.dgft.jp/)
Company Name: DG Financial Technology, Inc.
Representative: Hiroshi Shino, Representative Director, President and Co-COO, Executive Officer and SEVP
Headquarters: Digital Gate Building, 3-5-7 Ebisu-minami, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Established: April 1997
Business description: payment processing services, collection agency services, and remittance services
Registrations:

  • Registered as an electronic payment agency or intermediary
  • Registered fund transfer operator
  • Registered business operator for handling credit card numbers and similar data
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