Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice from people who have experience with Oakhouse / sharehouses in Japan, especially in Kyoto (for 3 months there).
My partner and I are arriving in Tokyo on March 16 (for a 8 months trip). We already have temporary accommodations booked until April 6, so we’re covered for the first few weeks in Tokyo and Kanazawa.
After that, our plan is to move to Kyoto and rent a private room in a sharehouse/guesthouse, ideally through Oakhouse. We found a room we really like in Kyoto, but here’s the issue:
The room becomes available on February 8 and we would need it starting April 6.
Oakhouse told us they can only hold a room for 10 days, after that, we must start paying rent even if we’re not there.
That means we’d have to pay around 1.5 months of extra rent (Feb 18 → April 6) for basically nothing, just to secure the room.
The problem is that:
Rooms on Oakhouse seem to disappear very fast.
We’re worried that if we wait until late March / early April, there may be nothing available, or only very poor options, but paying 1.5 months of rent in advance for no use is obviously painful 😅
So my questions are:
– Is it risky to wait and try to book closer to our arrival date?
– Do good Oakhouse rooms in Kyoto usually pop up regularly, or is it very competitive?
– For people who have done this before: would you rather pay early, or take the risk and wait?
– Are there good alternatives to Oakhouse for medium-term stays in Kyoto that we should consider?
Any experience or advice would be really appreciated. Thanks a lot!
by uscopic