Tabiko: Japan Travel Concierge

I am planning a trip to Osaka for this March. I downloaded the app just to try it out. I thought I would be chatting with a bot. NOPE! I chatted with a real person who was very knowledgeable and pleasant! Mika made some great suggestions for activities and places to visit with my boys. They weren’t canned answers either as she asked about their ages and interests and responded accordingly. She was even willing to recommend hotels, but I didn’t want to take up all her time so I’ll save that convo for another day. The app is simple to use and the information is invaluable! I cannot believe this app is FREE! I am definitely using this app more often to plan our trips to Japan!

The service has now moved to a payment model, where if they are successful with a booking or reservation, they charge a fee. Normally I’d be okay with this, but I think a $10 fee is way too much for a single successful restaurant reservation. I was expecting $1 or so per successful booking (or charge based on a case by case basis). Original five star text below: This app is like having an immediate personal concierge service available to you for anything that requires the Nihongo you don’t have. Haven’t used it yet for recommendations, but using the app for my first reservation was better than my concierge service I get from my credit cards. This app is staying on my home screen while I’m in Japan. Honestly impressed with the live chat - I was expected an automated mess and a big delay before a real person got back to me. They even wanted to confirm they had the right restaurant before they called to book the reservation. I hope this app/service does well, I wouldn’t mind paying a low fee to use it for my vacation next year if it will continue to be this smooth.

I’m planning a trip to Japan for two friends and myself and this app has been a godsend! I’ve been so obsessed with this app for the past two days and have been just bombarding the different concierges with such trivial questions in regards to my trip. They happily answer with courtesy and a smile. John and Kenji have both been amazing! The customer service chat on this FREE app rivals that of Amazon’s! I get real responses from real people regarding questions to flights, hotels, weather, food, regions, culture, planning, etc. John and Kenji have shaved off HUNDREDS of hours of research for me. You COULD be scouring outdated, niche travel forums for days on end, searching for all of your travel answers and itinerary needs. OR you can download this app and fire away all of your questions to these wonderful concierges! They’ve lived in Japan for years and love the culture, and they want you to be able to experience it too. They’re the Siri of Japanese Tourism. There hasn’t been a question they haven’t been able to answer for me yet. I’m excited to use this app while in Japan as well! I know I’m going to need help with directions, trains, restaurants, and proper etiquette, and I’m confident that Tabiko will make the trip go by swimmingly. Thank you! What an amazing app and service.