When I started mapping the FAQ library structure for Ikura, I kept returning to the same question: what do guests actually ask before they arrive? The answer, across the properties in our early-access pilot network, is remarkably consistent. Whether we were looking at a 6-room machiya guesthouse in Kyoto or a 14-room traditional inn near Matsumoto, the same question clusters appeared over and over. Understanding those patterns is the first step toward answering them faster.
What follows is a working list of the 12 pre-arrival questions we see most often in foreign-language guest messages at Japanese properties. They are grouped by category. Each category also carries a note on what separates a useful answer from an unhelpful one, because the question type matters less than the quality of the response.
Getting to your property (Questions 1 through 3)
The largest single cluster of pre-arrival messages is about transport. The three questions that surface most often are: how do I get from the airport or major station to your property? Is parking available, and what does it cost? Can you arrange a pickup or shuttle?
These questions are not surprising, but the consequences of answering them poorly are often underestimated. A guest who cannot find the property can arrive late, miss the dinner service, or send a cascade of panicked messages on check-in day. For properties outside central city areas, a clear access guide attached to the confirmation message, written in the guest's language, eliminates nearly this entire cluster.
The specific detail that matters most is which platform or exit to use, not just which line or direction. "Take the Sagano line to Saga-Arashiyama station, north exit, then follow the cedar lane for 5 minutes" is more useful than "we are near Arashiyama." The more specific the instruction, the less likely you are to receive a follow-up at 11pm from a confused guest standing outside the wrong building.
Onsen access and etiquette (Questions 4 through 6)
For properties with onsen facilities, three questions dominate pre-arrival communication. Are tattoos permitted? Are there private bath options, and how are they reserved? What are the onsen hours, and is there a bathing order or any dress requirement?
These are questions where the guest has a real stake in the answer. Someone traveling from Germany specifically to use an onsen needs to know the tattoo policy before they pack, not when they arrive at the front desk. Vague answers here create on-arrival problems that are more difficult to resolve than a straightforward pre-stay response would have been.
The tattoo policy in particular benefits from a direct statement of the actual situation: "our private baths permit tattoos, but the communal baths do not" is far more useful than "please contact us to discuss." Guests will make their decisions accordingly. Properties that give honest, specific answers to this cluster see fewer cancellations and fewer uncomfortable conversations at check-in.
Meals and dietary requirements (Questions 7 through 9)
The meal cluster generates more follow-up messages than any other category. The core questions: do you accommodate vegetarian or vegan diets? Can you handle halal requirements or severe food allergies? What time is dinner, and can the timing be adjusted for a late arrival?
A guest with a vegan requirement who receives a non-committal response will spend the weeks before arrival anxious about whether they will be fed. Properties that respond with concrete options, such as "we can prepare a full vegetarian version of our kaiseki course with 48 hours notice," see significantly fewer follow-up messages and fewer arrive-day complications at the dinner table.
Halal and kosher questions require honest answers. If your kitchen cannot guarantee halal-certified preparation methods, say so and offer an alternative. Guests are capable of working with an honest answer. What they cannot work with is an answer that promises something the kitchen cannot deliver. This is one area where being straightforward builds more trust than being accommodating.
Check-in timing and luggage (Questions 10 and 11)
The check-in time question sounds simple, but it generates significant follow-up when the answer is "check-in is from 3pm, please contact us if you need anything." Contact you how, and to say what? Guests arriving from long-haul flights want to know: if I arrive at noon, where do I go, what are my actual options, and is there somewhere to leave my bags?
A complete answer to this cluster covers three things: the standard check-in and check-out times; whether early check-in is available and what it costs if applicable; and whether luggage storage is possible for guests who arrive before their room is ready. For properties with restricted storage space, a straightforward "we can hold one bag per party until your room is ready" is useful and honest.
Language and communication (Question 12)
The question many foreign guests ask, often toward the end of a pre-arrival message, is whether the property has English-speaking staff, or occasionally Korean-speaking, Chinese-speaking, or French-speaking staff. This question usually reflects a specific anxiety: I cannot read Japanese, and I am not sure how we will communicate once I arrive.
An honest answer is always better than a vague one. If the front desk is staffed by one person with limited English, say so, and explain what communication options are available. If messages are handled by an AI concierge in the guest's language, that is worth mentioning. Guests are not expecting a five-language concierge team at a 9-room ryokan. They are expecting to understand what they are getting into before they book.
Building your answer library around these patterns
Knowing which questions to expect is useful. Having well-written, language-specific answers prepared before your next peak season begins is better. For each cluster, a good answer does three things: it states the actual situation directly; it gives a next step if the situation is conditional; and it provides a clear escalation path for edge cases that the template cannot cover.
One of the properties in our pilot network, a 10-room inn south of Kyoto, built their FAQ library by going through the last two years of guest messages and writing a specific answer for every question that appeared more than three times. The resulting library covered 42 entries. Before peak season 2025, their front desk was responding to the same core cluster manually every day. After the library was in place, those questions were handled within seconds in the guest's language, at any hour. The staff time freed up went toward preparing the property for arrival, not answering the same access question for the fourteenth time that week.
What not to automate
Automated responses work well for factual, bounded questions. Transport routes, check-in times, tattoo policies, meal option lists: these are good candidates for templated answers in multiple languages. They are not a substitute for judgment.
A guest who sends a detailed message about a complex allergy, or whose situation falls outside any template you have built, needs a human to read and respond thoughtfully. We are not suggesting that all pre-arrival communication should be handled by templates or AI responses. The goal is to eliminate the repetitive majority of questions so the front desk has time and focus for the ones that genuinely require it. The 12 question types listed here are good candidates for consistent, language-specific answers. What you do with the remaining edge cases is a staffing and judgment question that only you can answer.