Tokyo, April 30, 2026 - Rakuten Travel, a leading online travel agency in Japan under the Rakuten Group, today announced the addition of a new booking feature to Rakuten AI, its AI agent offering users tailored hotel recommendations. Users can now enjoy a seamless experience, from selecting preferred accommodations curated by AI via a wide range of options to finalizing their reservation.
Available on both the Rakuten Travel smartphone website and app, Rakuten AI is the latest version of the Rakuten Travel AI Hotel Search AI agent launched in September 2025. The AI agent understands natural language and accurately grasps user requests, offering recommendations that include comprehensive information from web search results along with reviews, accommodation details and booking data. Users can also leverage its user-friendly display to easily compare up to 30 hotel options in a list or on a map. Since launch, both the number of users and the subsequent booking conversion rate have grown steadily.
With Rakuten AI’s new end-to-end booking feature, users can chat with the AI agent about their specific preferences for travel dates and amenities then choose the best accommodation and stay package from AI recommendations, before verifying all requirements are met and easily finalizing their reservation. Rakuten members logged in to their Rakuten ID can check rates with their available coupons and discounts applied, as well as see how many Rakuten Points they will earn, all while enjoying a seamless and efficient booking experience without needing to enter personal information like name, contact information and credit card details.
Based on the user’s booking history, the AI agent can also respond to requests such as, “I want to book my usual accommodation for next weekend.” The AI agent can recommend available stay packages from the user’s previously booked accommodations, enabling seamless repeat bookings. Even if the same stay package or room is unavailable, the AI agent will suggest alternative options with a similar price range and room type. Going forward, Rakuten Travel plans to further enhance the level of personalization provided by Rakuten AI by offering recommendations tailored to individual user's preferences and usage activity, based on their accommodation facility search and booking history.
The number of bookings on Rakuten Travel made through Rakuten AI has been growing steadily since the agentic service was officially launched last year. In light of this trend, Rakuten Travel released the new end-to-end booking feature to enable a simple, one-stop booking process, offering users a more convenient and seamless travel booking experience than ever before.
- Rakuten Group, Inc.
Rakuten Travel Adds New Booking Feature to Enhance Hotel Recommendation AI Agent
Rakuten is leveraging Rakuten AI to fulfill its mission to empower society and individuals through innovation, creativity and collaboration. By leveraging AI agents as a gateway to the Rakuten Ecosystem, the company aims to connect users to a wider range of services and provide increasingly personalized experiences. As part of this commitment, Rakuten Travel is renaming its AI agent to Rakuten AI and will progressively update its chat interface and icon design as part of the rebrand.
In the future, Rakuten Travel will continue to improve convenience for customers by leveraging AI to offer personalized support for each individual user across all travel scenarios.
About Rakuten Travel
Rakuten Travel is a leading online travel agency in Japan. Launched in 2001, the service offers Japan’s broadest selection of local travel accommodation listings. With 14 offices in various countries and regions, Rakuten Travel is expanding its international operations and offers support in nine languages: English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong), Korean, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese. It is part of the Rakuten Group, which operates more than 70 businesses spanning e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications with 2 billion members around the world. For more information visit https://travel.rakuten.com/sgp/en-us/.