Terahaku, a service offering Buddhist temple as an accommodation launched

The situation of hotel business industry has dramatically changed in recent years. The rise of AirBnB may have the strongest impact. At the same time, several websites started to offer the information in which many hotels are compared in their cost and quality. Thus, accommodation business has become competitive more than ever before.

In Japan, hotel business legislation was amended recently. People planning to offer a bed to travelers have to register their information to get the permission of the business. Instead, individual houses and other types of accommodations are accepted as a subject of the hotel business.

And recently, Buddhist temples seem to enter the competition. Waka, a China-based company managing hotel reservation services, built Terahaku, an accommodation matching service. "Tera" means temple, and "haku" means stay. Thus, Terahaku lists up many Buddhist temples which offer the stay.

South China Morning Post: Japanese company Waka to launch Buddhist temple-stay website as spiritual answer to Airbnb

There are many foreign travelers in Japan. Some of them are interested in traditional Japanese cultures such as samurai and Buddhist priests. For them, stay nights at a Buddhist temple is a splendid experience.

I myself, stayed a night at an old castle in Germany. I felt fantastic then as if I had been a knight in the middle age.

On the other hand, there are already several temples which offer the bed and dinner, called Shukubo. Their services are excellent, as well as luxury hotels, in my experience. I am doubtful if temples newly started to offer hotel service will match them.