I’ve had the same experience in the past. I travel to Japan a lot and outside the big cities many hotels there just don’t have anyone who speaks English, which

I’ve had the same experience in the past. I travel to Japan a lot and outside the big cities many hotels there just don’t have anyone who speaks English, which obviously makes direct interaction with the hotel difficult. Booking.com customer service was always excellent. Never took too long to get connected to a real person, and that person was usually able to solve my problem or at least find a good compromise. If their service declines I hope a new service gets created that replicates what they do, but I worry that if someone was to build a company like this nowadays they’d just not hire phone support staff.