Benton Guesthouse: Now Open! Before and After

We’re happy to announce that Benton Guesthouse is now available for bookings on AirBnB! After bringing this house back to life after 10 years abandoned, we’ve successfully navigated the Japanese ‘minpaku’ short-term rental license process. There were lots of ups and downs, but here we are. As with much of the Japanese immigration and business incorporation process, it was complicated, but not impossible. We have a really helpful and talented team of Japanese professionals helping us every step of the way. Let’s take a look back… these before and after photos tell more of the story:

I’ll mention again, this is the end of what we’re calling “Phase 1”. It’s comfortable, livable, and ready for guests. But we have many more things we’d like to continue to repair and improve! Mostly the bathroom, bathtub, toilet, as well as adding a second bathroom for when we host large groups. Also, we’d really like to do something cool to the doma entrance room floor, which is pretty unsightly. We’d like to restore the engawa sliding doors so they’re all wooden once again. There’s some walls that need repaired with historic material. You get the idea!

Our YouTube photo slideshow showing before/after photos ⌄