HomeAway, Expedia’s AirBnb-style site, recently published an interesting survey into minpaku, private rentals.
The two types of rentals in the survey are first renting a complete dwelling, a flat or a house, and second, the more traditional B’n’B style of renting out a room in someone’s home. In Japan, the term is 民泊, minpaku, and taking the characters literally it might be something like “staying with the people”. There is a long history of minpaku, which used to be more like traditional B’n’B with all the regulation that goes with that, but now it is usually taken as referring to the probably-illegal-in-most-circumstances private rental of rooms and flats.
I am very much anti-AirBnB; traditional B’n’Bs have many regulations covering them, including the obvious one of insurance for guests, but most net-based rentals turn a blind eye on these regulations, and renting out complete units in blocks of flats can often cause friction with the neighbours due to guests being unfamiliar or just ignoring the social norms that apply in Japanese shared accommodation.
Research results
Q1: Have you ever used minpaku? (Sample size=400, multiple answer)
| Yes
|
|---|
Domestic dwelling rental
| 15.0%
|
Overseas dwelling rental
| 14.8%
|
Domestic room rental
| 15.3%
|
Overseas room rental
| 15.0%
|
Q2: Would you like to stay at a minpaku in the future? (Sample size=400, multiple answer)
| Yes
|
|---|
Domestic dwelling rental
| 41.0%
|
Overseas dwelling rental
| 40.5%
|
Domestic room rental
| 26.3%
|
Overseas room rental
| 28.3%
|
Q3: What is your image of minpaku? (Sample size=400, multiple answer)
Q3A: Preferred length of stay
| Short stay
| Long stay
|
|---|
Dwelling rental
| 46%
| 54%
|
Room rental
| 66%
| 34%
|
Q3B: Preferred for solo or group travel
| Solo
| Group
|
|---|
Dwelling rental
| 53%
| 47%
|
Room rental
| 77%
| 23%
|
Q4: What reasons do you have for wanting to/not wanting to stay at a minpaku? (Sample size=400, multiple answer, top five)
Q4A: Want to stay at dwelling rental
Cheap
| 47%
|
Good cost/performance ratio
| 39%
|
Want to stay somewhere I wouldn’t normally stay
| 29%
|
Can get the exclusive use of a great dwelling
| 29%
|
Convenient for a long stay
| 28%
|
Q4B: Don’t want to stay at dwelling rental
Worried about the security aspect
| 48%
|
May be a bother to deal with the owner
| 32%
|
No reception to call up when there’s a problem
| 30%
|
Dwelling may be dirty
| 23%
|
May not have privacy
| 22%
|
Q4C: Want to stay at a room rental
Cheap
| 40%
|
Can get to know the locals
| 38%
|
Want to stay somewhere I wouldn’t normally stay
| 36%
|
Good cost/performance ratio
| 30%
|
Can use when I cannot find a hotel
| 20%
|
Q4D: Don’t want to stay at a room rental
May be a bother to deal with the owner
| 51%
|
May not have privacy
| 40%
|
Worried about the security aspect
| 38%
|
No reception to call up when there’s a problem
| 21%
|
Room may be dirty
| 18%
|
Q5: In which areas might you want to stay at a minpaku? (Sample size=400, multiple answer, top five)
Q5A: Dwelling rental
Domestic hideaway (Karuizawa, etc)
| 33%
|
Domestic beach (Okinawa, etc)
| 27.8%
|
Hawaii
| 23.5%
|
Domestic countryside (Yamanashi, Nagano, etc)
| 22.8%
|
Domestic hot springs resort (Kusatsu, Hakone, etc)
| 20.8%
|
Q5B: Room rental
Domestic countryside (Yamanashi, Nagano, etc)
| 17.3%
|
Domestic non-touristy location
| 17%
|
Domestic beach (Okinawa, etc)
| 16.8%
|
Domestic hideaway (Karuizawa, etc)
| 16.3%
|
Hawaii, European city
| 14.3%
|
Demographics
At some point in time, 400 people of both sexes and aged between 20 and 69 years old who had taken an overseas holiday in the last year completed an internet-based questionnaire. No further demographic information was provided.
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