Hakone DMO, a local DMO in popular tourist destination in Japan, and TripX, a AI development startup, officially released ‘RecRing,’ an AI-based restaurant reservation service for international visitors.

As international visitors to Hakone area increase, more accommodations give up conventional plans with dinner and breakfast to meet their needs. According to a survey, about 70% of international visitors choose a plan without dinner, and the ratio is much higher than 26% among Japanese visitors. 

Under the circumstance, a challenge among international visitors is to find and reserve a restaurant they want to go because of the language barrier. 

RecRing helps international visitors to find a restaurant in an instinct way on chat. AI recommends restaurant candidates according to prompts like near a hotel or dinner they want to eat. 

Starting from the hotel where the traveler is staying, the system automatically visualizes nearby restaurants. In addition, it is possible to make reservations directly from the service at some affiliated restaurants.