Rakuten Readies Itself for International Expansion of its Vacation Rentals Portal

The Japanese e-commerce and technology conglomerate Rakuten is ready to expand its vacation rentals portal Rakuten STAY internationally with up to 10,000 new units that it owns, manages and operates.

Rakuten STAY already has 600 rooms on its portal and differentiates itself by offering "wide spaces" including private villas and apartments. The accommodation "increases operational efficiencies" via technology that integrates other Rakuten services into the living experience.

CEO Munekatsu Ota outlined how Rakuten STAY utilizes QR codes that let residents access services including Rakuten Books and Music—while the company is working on providing solar power and gas via internal Rakuten solutions in the future.

"This is a model only Rakuten can do," said Ota.

Adding 10,000 units of stock will be a hefty jump—Rakuten currently has just 43 properties in its inventory and owns just eight.

But Ota says Rakuten STAY will increase its owned stock via mergers and acquisitions using a data-driven system to optimise ROI.

There's no confirmation on which nations Rakuten wants to expand to but the company does have plenty of international experience, with headquarters in Ontario, California, Barcelona, Montpellier, Paris, Taiwan, India, and wide coverage across Japan.

Rakuten started out as an online shopping mall in 1997 and today offers more than 70 different businesses and services worldwide, including real estate.

Rakuten STAY was founded in 2017 and operated as a joint venture between Rakuten and LIFULL until Rakuten bought out LIFULL's 49% stake in the company in 2022. Rakuten also owns and operates Vacation STAY, which has over 100,000 registered rooms in destinations including Tokyo, Hokkaido, Osaka, and Kyoto.

The company achieved record revenue growth in its Q1 Fy2023 results published in May, with consolidated revenue up 9% YoY to 475.6Bn yen ($3.4Bn) across FinTech, Internet Services and Mobile.