Aki is a free, alerts-only app (a PWA) that catches the moment a sold-out, highly-rated hotel reopens because of a cancellation — around Japan's big fireworks shows, festivals, concerts, and marathons. It watches Rakuten Travel availability automatically, alerts you the instant a qualifying room becomes bookable again, and takes you to the Rakuten booking page in one click. It's an independent, unofficial tool; the booking itself completes on Rakuten Travel.
For each event's nights, Aki checks Rakuten Travel availability across the host area and nearby towns every few minutes. It compares against the previous snapshot and detects only hotels that have newly become available (a cancellation), then alarms only when the room clears your review-score, price, and party-size filters. If a room sells out and later reopens, it alerts you again.
It can: watch Rakuten Travel for you and surface cancellations fast. It can't: sell or hold rooms, book on your behalf, guarantee inventory, or guarantee delivery of an alert. Openings are contested, so an alert doesn't guarantee you'll get the room. Booking, payment, and cancellation all happen on Rakuten Travel.
Aki watches events that sell out their host city — fireworks shows, festivals, concerts, and marathons. You can pick from the watched events on the home page, and new events are added over time.
No. Aki is an independent, unofficial tool, not affiliated with Rakuten Group. It uses the Rakuten Travel API and Rakuten Affiliate for availability data and booking links, but it is operated separately from Rakuten.
It's free. Aki is supported by Rakuten Affiliate commissions, and there's no added cost to you.
Yes. On iPhone, add Aki to your Home Screen and allow notifications, and Web Push alerts arrive even with the tab closed (iOS 16.4+).
Watched events