You may want to make your hotel reservations a little earlier this summer.
That's according to Sho Soma, a specialist in Japan's minpaku (private lodgings services) market, who predicts that the recent suspension of tens of thousands of Airbnb listings may leave visitors with fewer options for lodgings over the busy summer tourist season.
"July is usually around the time when hotels are full for reservations, but because almost 40,000 Airbnb listings cannot operate, there is a good chance that hotel rooms will be filled earlier in the summer," said Soma, an employee at Recreator, which operates a website specializing in minpaku.
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