MetroEngines Inc. (Shinagawa, Tokyo) announced that HotelME, its traveler-facing app for finding hotels through a ChatGPT conversation, can now search for plans eligible for the Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari (Kyushu Recovery Support Discount) using information observed on official hotel booking sites. When a user states their destination, dates and party size in conversation, HotelME returns the eligible plans it has observed on official hotel booking sites, together with official booking links and the time each observation was made. HotelME is free to use and requires no MetroEngines account. This article summarizes the announcement and the search conditions, and uses the Japan Tourism Agency’s published materials to check how the program’s booking windows differ by sales channel.
This article introduces the service based on the announcement by MetroEngines Inc., which operates HotelBank, and the descriptions on the HotelME service site. Program details are based on the Japan Tourism Agency’s “Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari” page (updated October 16, 2026).
- — Search eligible plans on official booking sites by conversation: HotelME shows Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari plans observed on official hotel booking sites, with official booking links and the observation time.
- — Search conditions: 1–5 adults, 1 room, no children, 1 night: Candidate check-in dates can span up to 31 days. Coverage is limited to properties in the seven Kyushu prefectures that HotelME collects and publishes; not every property is included.
- — Information more than one hour old is shown as “checking”: Results with no check time, or outdated ones, are not presented as available. HotelME does not handle bookings or payments.
- — Booking windows differ by sales channel: According to the Japan Tourism Agency, some prefectures set separate booking start dates for “booking sites,” “travel agencies” and “accommodations,” and in Kagoshima the eligible period for direct sales by accommodations runs longer, to February 28, 2027.
Announcement Overview — Finding Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari Plans in ChatGPT
HotelME is an app that lets users find hotels by describing their travel wishes in a ChatGPT conversation. No special search commands are needed: users simply say they want to use the recovery discount and give their destination, dates and party size, and HotelME looks for matching candidates. The newly launched feature searches for Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari plans using information observed on official hotel booking sites.
As background, MetroEngines notes that even when travelers see a coupon marked as closed on an online travel booking site, the situation may be different for direct bookings with the hotel. A “closed” notice on one booking site does not necessarily mean the hotel is fully booked or that every booking channel has stopped accepting the discount. At the same time, checking several hotels’ official booking sites one by one to find eligible plans takes effort. HotelME is designed to let travelers do that candidate search within a conversation.
| Key feature | Description in the announcement / service site |
|---|---|
| Finds eligible plans on official hotel booking sites | Given a prefecture, candidate dates and party size, users can review observed eligible plans and official booking destinations in one place. Ordinary availability and observations of eligible plans are handled separately, and general plans on travel booking sites are not substituted for them |
| Flexible-date requests | Requests such as “one night sometime in these three days” are supported: candidate check-in dates can span up to 31 days, and candidates are shown per hotel and per check-in date |
| Links to official booking pages with observation time | Responses show the observation time and search conditions, and only verified official booking links are provided. If no link is available, this is stated explicitly |
Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from MetroEngines Inc. announcement and the HotelME service site
Booking Windows Differ by Sales Channel — From the Japan Tourism Agency’s Materials
According to the Japan Tourism Agency, the Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari is a discount program to revive tourism demand after the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake (Reiwa 8) triggered a large number of accommodation cancellations across Kumamoto and the wider Kyushu region. It covers travel and accommodation products of one night or more in Kyushu, with a discount of 50% of the travel or accommodation price (60% in Kumamoto and Kagoshima). The maximum discount per trip per person is ¥20,000 for one night of an accommodation-only product or a transport-plus-accommodation product, ¥30,000 for transport-plus-accommodation products of two nights or more, and ¥35,000 for circuit-type products (stays in two or more prefectures).
The basis for HotelME’s focus on “differences between sales channels” also shows up in each prefecture’s booking start dates and eligible periods. In the list the Japan Tourism Agency publishes from each prefecture’s announcements, four prefectures — Saga, Nagasaki, Oita and Miyazaki — set separate booking start dates for “booking sites,” “travel agencies” and “accommodations.” In Kagoshima, the eligible period itself differs by channel: through travel agencies and online booking sites it runs until January 31, 2027, while direct sales by accommodations run until February 28, 2027. How the staggered start dates by channel show up in hotel inventory is covered in our analysis of Saga’s eight-day booking-site head start through inventory allocation rates.
| Prefecture | Booking start date | Eligible period (stay dates) |
|---|---|---|
| Fukuoka | September 24 | October 1 – December 15 |
| Saga | Booking sites Sep 24 / Travel agencies Oct 2 / Accommodations Oct 13 | October 1 – December 25 |
| Nagasaki | Booking sites Sep 15 / Accommodations Sep 28 / Travel agencies, etc. Sep 30 | October 1 – December 25 |
| Kumamoto | September 15 | October 1 – December 25 |
| Oita | Booking sites Sep 25 / Travel agencies Oct 9 / Accommodations Oct 16 | October 1 – December 25 |
| Miyazaki | Booking sites Sep 25 / Accommodations Sep 28 / Travel agencies Sep 28 | October 1 – December 25 |
| Kagoshima | October 14 | Via travel agencies / online booking sites: October 14 – January 31, 2027 / Direct sales by accommodations: October 14 – February 28, 2027 (December 26, 2026 – January 3, 2027 excluded) |
Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from the Japan Tourism Agency’s “Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari” page (updated October 16, 2026; lists information announced by each prefecture). The program ends in each prefecture once its budget is exhausted, and the information may change.
The Japan Tourism Agency states that the program will end in each prefecture once its budget runs out. Because availability can vary by prefecture and sales channel, the HotelME service site also states clearly that program rules and booking conditions differ by prefecture and channel, and encourages users to check each prefecture’s official guidance. HotelBank has also covered the conditions for reaching the discount caps and which channels were open in each prefecture as of October 16.
Search Conditions and How to Read the Results
HotelME’s recovery-discount search comes with defined supported conditions and display rules. The service site repeatedly explains that it will not change or convert a request to an unsupported number of guests, rooms or nights on its own, and that it will not present anything it cannot confirm as available.
| Item | Description on the service site |
|---|---|
| Covered prefectures | Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima. Searches cover properties that HotelME collects and publishes; not every property is included |
| Search conditions | 1–5 adults, 1 room, no children, 1 night. Candidate check-in dates up to 31 days. Requests are not changed or converted on their own to multi-night stays or conditions including children |
| Reading the check time | Shows the start time of the collection cycle. If an eligible plan has no check time, or the information is more than one hour old, it is treated as “checking” and not presented as available |
| “Checking” and zero results | Do not necessarily mean fully booked. The information may not yet be collected, may be outdated, or no eligible plan may have been observed. Dates outside the covered period are marked separately as “not searched” |
| Official booking links | Only verified links are provided. Users confirm and select the date, number of guests and eligible plan at the booking destination |
| Booking, discount and payment | Completed at the booking destination. Final price, membership requirements, discount eligibility, subsidy budget and cancellation terms must be checked there. HotelME does not handle bookings or payments |
Source: Compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from the HotelME service site
The information shown reflects the time it was collected and does not guarantee current availability, application of the discount, or that a booking will be completed. Even for hotels that appear in the results, sales status may change after collection, and having ordinary rooms available is not the same as being able to book a recovery-discount plan. Users need to check the eligible plan, conditions such as membership registration, and the post-discount price on the official booking page.
How It Works — Three Steps
First, the user connects from the HotelME page in ChatGPT and selects the app in the conversation; on supported screens, HotelME can also be selected via “@”. Next, the user states what they want in a single sentence such as “I want to use the recovery discount in Kumamoto,” then answers any missing conditions among prefecture, check-in date, number of nights, number of guests and number of rooms. Finally, the user reviews the candidate hotels, dates and eligible plans along with the official booking links, checks the latest price, availability and discount terms at the linked page, and books.
The service site gives example prompts such as “One night from November 14, 2026 in Kagoshima, 2 adults, 1 room, no children. Show me hotels where Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari plans were observed, with official booking links.” and “One night sometime between November 13 and 15, 2026 in Kumamoto, 2 adults, 1 room, no children. Show me recovery-discount candidates by hotel and check-in date.” The latter compares one-night candidates for each date; it is not a multi-night search.
Also Supports Hotel Searches Beyond the Recovery Discount
Beyond the recovery-discount search, HotelME lets users compare hotels in Japan by review trends by theme and by observed prices for each date. The feature that compares strengths and concerns based on theme-level aggregates — such as food, rooms and service — presents analyzed trends rather than individual review texts. Users can also compare up to three properties side by side by location, review trends and collected prices.
The standard price search covers eligible hotels nationwide for 2 adults, 1 room, no children and stays of 1–14 nights, collecting data for the next six months, but does not guarantee information for every property or every date. As with the recovery-discount search, dates that have not been collected are not treated as ¥0 or fully booked.
What It Means for Hotels — Direct Channels Compared Within the Conversation
For accommodation providers, the announcement bears on how their direct sales channels are seen. What HotelME presents are eligible plans observed on official hotel booking sites and verified official booking links. Some prefectures, such as Kagoshima, set a longer eligible period for direct sales by accommodations, and the program’s availability differs by sales channel. In Oita, too, bookings through accommodations opened on October 16, three weeks after booking sites (September 25); the impact is covered in our article on Oita’s direct-sales window and remaining rooms in early October. If more travelers narrow down candidates in conversation and go straight to official booking pages, the names and sales conditions of eligible plans on official sites, and how up to date their availability is, will be seen by travelers in more situations.
On the use of generative AI for travel planning and booking, HotelBank has covered the move toward completing hotel bookings inside AI and preparing hotel data for visits via AI. In September 2026, MetroEngines also launched build-and-operate support for hotel-brand ChatGPT apps.
Pricing and Contact Information
HotelME is free to use and requires no MetroEngines account. ChatGPT’s supported plans, regions and terms of use, as well as accommodation prices on external booking sites, are subject to each provider’s terms. Changes and cancellations are handled by the site or property where the booking was made, while questions about using HotelME or technical issues are accepted through MetroEngines’ consumer inquiry form.
- HotelME service site: https://metroengines.jp/hotelme
- HotelME page in ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6ab70fd430b48191bdc6b213acfae55c
- Inquiries for individual customers: https://metroengines.jp/hotelme-support
*ChatGPT is a service of OpenAI. HotelME does not imply endorsement by OpenAI or any partnership between MetroEngines and OpenAI.
*HotelME is not an operator or sales channel of the Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari. For program details and booking conditions, check the guidance of each prefecture and each sales channel.
References and Sources
- Japan Tourism Agency, “Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari” (updated October 16, 2026): https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/page13_00002.html
- MetroEngines Inc., “HotelME — Find hotels in Japan by reviews and prices”: https://metroengines.jp/hotelme
- MetroEngines Inc. announcement (launch of Kyushu Fukko Ouenwari eligible-plan search in HotelME)
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