| 作者 |
 Discovering Japanese inns (from japantoday.com) |
 |
暗八仙
头衔: 海归上校
声望: 院士
性别: 
加入时间: 2005/08/19
文章: 5359
来自: 北京
海归分: 76190
|
|
|
作者：暗八仙 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
Jeff Aasgaard
CEO
Rediscover Travel Inc
January 26, 2006
For the millions of foreigners who come to these shores each year wishing to sample a taste of the real Japan, visiting Akihabara, Ginza and Tokyo Tower often just does not quench the thirst of those wishing to discover the Land of the Rising Sun. Furthermore, when English-speaking foreigners venture into the Japanese countryside where foreign languages are rarely spoken, the situation isn’t likely to improve.
The language barrier can simply become too much and cut tourists right off from experiencing beauty spots, tour businesses and accommodation that is absolutely Japanese.
So, how can foreigners soak up real Japanese culture without knowing Japanese? And in the process, how can they find somewhere to drop their bags, relax, and enjoy traditional Japanese hospitality?
The answer is only a mouse click away. Rediscover Travel Inc. (www.japaneseguesthouses.com), established in 2000 by American entrepreneur Jeff Aasgaard and his partners, helps tourists by making reservations at ryokan (traditional Japanese inns) throughout Japan. With approximately 10 staff working out of Kawanishi (in Hyogo), this web-based enterprise was launched after Aasgaard realized that Japan had much to offer foreign travelers but no one to really help them discover Japanese culture.
Business reporter Jonathon Walsh interviewed Aasgaard to discover how Rediscover is tapping into a growing niche market, and helping foreigners experience more of Japan.
Why did you start your own company in Japan?
Japan has so much to offer foreign travelers. People who only stay at Western style hotels sleep in a room that looks like the ones back home and are offered the same services offered back home. They only see the sights and do not experience or feel Japan. They cannot experience Japanese hospitality. We decided that someone must help so we started our business.
What are your company’s primary products/services?
Rediscover makes reservations for English speaking guests at ryokan throughout Japan. We also have a few cultural tours in Tokyo and Kyoto.
Who are you marketing to?
Our target is travelers who want to do more than just sightsee. They want to experience something that they cannot do at home. Western style hotels are the same all over the world but a ryokan is something truly Japanese.
What did you need to start a business here?
Rediscover just started as an idea and all we had to do was make it come to life so we worked hard, built a website, and established relationships with ryokan all over Japan. It is a service so we did not have a lot of capital investment.
What are Rediscover’s main points of difference?
We are not a computer program like most reservation services. We are people and individually answer all e-mails. This is critical because many visitors to Japan have questions that a computer cannot answer. The answers that we send are from a foreign point of view so we are better able to explain Japanese culture in a way that our guests can understand.
Also, there are a few other services that help guests make reservations at ryokan but these are usually run by Japanese or the government. We only use native English speakers to communicate with our guests and only native Japanese speakers to communicate with our ryokan.
How do you make contact with ryokan?
Initially, Rediscover did not have any ryokan at the time so we purchased some books and simply listed what we could find with the ryokan contact information. This process was not easy and the staff had to make many phonecalls to find ryokan that would work with us. We then kept working on our database of ryokan and fine-tuned our office procedures.
We found that there were no set prices, room styles or meals. Each ryokan was offering many different kinds of rooms each with different prices that would change depending on the season and day of the week. We could not do anything about this so we just changed our business to suit this situation.
What are the main methods you are using to market your products and/or services?
There have been many articles about Rediscover in Wall Street Journal, Time - Asia Edition, the Chicago Tribune, the Yomiuri, The Times, the Guardian, The Independent, CNN Traveler, Kansai Time Out, Metropolis, Hiragana Times and many other publications in English, Chinese, and German. These articles have driven a lot of traffic to our site. We are also ranked highly in Google and Yahoo. We also recently started to advertise in Google and Kayak magazine and have been very happy with the results. It is a great and inexpensive way to promote your company.
How is business going?
Business is going well and we are growing almost too fast. In February we had to move to a new office because our staff grew and we could not fit any more people into the old office. We now have a large enough office for a few years of growth.
What are some of the biggest challenges facing your industry?
Japan is not really seen as a tourist destination but this is changing and the government is working hard to make Japan more accessible.
What were some of the difficulties you encountered working in Japan and how did you overcome them?
It is not cheap to do business in Japan once you reach a certain point. You need office space, phone lines and so on. None of this is cheap but you get used to it and move on.
What motivates you the most about running Rediscover?
When guests write to us about their stay and how the ryokan was the highlight of the trip. This makes it all worthwhile.
What one thing would you never do again in business?
Try to do all the accounting on our own. It is so much easier to just hire someone to come in and do the books and taxes than to do it yourself unless you are a CPA.
Are you on the lookout for more staff?
Now we are entering our slow time but once the first of the year comes we will be looking for more staff in the Kansai area.
How do you stay motivated?
By visiting the ryokan and new areas of Japan. We work in an office all day so it is nice to get out and see what our guests see. I also exercise and do aikido which helps me forget about the day and focus on a something different.
Please briefly describe the office working environment and mix of staff.
We try to keep the mood light and joke around a lot. The office is the standard kind so we hung pictures and posters of beautiful places in Japan. We also opted for wooden desks instead of the standard gray ones. I want this to be a fun place to work where people are happy but tired when they go home.
作者：暗八仙 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
|
|
|
| 返回顶端 |
|
 |
|
-
 Discovering Japanese inns (from japantoday.com) -- 暗八仙 - (6699 Byte) 2006-2-01 周三, 05:56 (523 reads)
|
|
|
|
您不能在本论坛发表新主题, 不能回复主题, 不能编辑自己的文章, 不能删除自己的文章, 不能发表投票, 您 不可以 发表活动帖子在本论坛, 不能添加附件不能下载文件, |
|
|
