Can you stay at NOT A HOTEL without being an owner?

Yes. On days owners do not use, the villas are rented out as a hotel, and you can book through the official site and some booking sites.

How far ahead can you book?

According to the official site, bookings for ordinary guests open three months before the date of stay. Owners’ bookings take priority, so the number of nights released varies by season.

How many people can stay?

It depends on the location and villa. NASU’s MASTERPIECE and ISHIGAKI’s EARTH sleep up to ten, and Kitakaruizawa’s IRORI up to eight. Check each villa’s capacity before you book.

NOT A HOTEL: how to book its six locations

NOT A HOTEL is known as a way to buy a villa, designed by an architect or creator, in shares of ten nights a year. But you do not have to be an owner to stay. This article sets out, from what can be confirmed on the official site, how booking works for ordinary guests and what each of the six locations you can stay at is like.

You do not have to be an owner

NOT A HOTEL lets people own a villa from ten nights a year. Owners book the days they will use through a dedicated app. On the days owners do not use, the villas are rented out as a hotel.

So even without owning a share, you can book a stay like at any other hotel, as long as the dates are free.

Booking opens three months ahead, and owners come first

According to the official site, bookings for ordinary hotel guests open three months before the date of stay. Owners can book up to twelve months ahead, and four months ahead when using another location through mutual use.

In other words, the nights open to the public are the ones owners have not taken. The official site also notes that, because owners’ bookings take priority, the number of nights released to the public depends on occupancy.

If you have dates in mind, check availability around the time booking opens, three months ahead
Owners tend to book holidays and high season, so weekdays are easier to find
Many locations sleep eight to ten in one villa, so booking as a group opens up more options

Source: NOT A HOTEL official site, About NOT A HOTEL (checked 3 October 2026)

Where to book

Besides the official site, some locations are listed on booking sites. As of October 2026, these are the listings STAYLOG could confirm on the sites’ own property pages.

Location	Ikyu.com	Trip.com
NASU	Listed	Listed
AOSHIMA	Listed	Listed
KITAKARUIZAWA	Listed	Listed
FUKUOKA	Listed	Listed
ISHIGAKI	Not found	Not found
MINAKAMI	Not found	Not found

Ikyu.com is a Japanese-language site. Even where a location is listed, there may be no rooms open for some periods. Each location’s page links to both the booking sites and the official site.

How many people each location sleeps, and how to get there

Capacity differs by house. If your group size is fixed, narrowing down the houses that fit makes it easier to find where to book. Travel times are the rough guides on each house’s page on the official site.

Location	Houses and maximum guests	Getting there (official guide)
NASU	MASTERPIECE: 3 bedrooms, 10 guests / CAVE: 3 bedrooms, 6 guests / THINK: 1 bedroom with a detached annex, 4 guests	Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Nasushiobara Station, 68 minutes, then 22 minutes by car. By car, 32 minutes from Yaita IC on the Tohoku Expressway
AOSHIMA	MASTERPIECE: 2 bedrooms, 8 guests / SURF, CHILL, GARDEN: 1 bedroom, 4 guests	Haneda to Miyazaki Bougainvillea Airport, 95 minutes, then 14 minutes by car. By car, 13 minutes from Miyazaki IC
KITAKARUIZAWA	IRORI: 3 bedrooms, 8 guests / BASE L: 3 bedrooms, 8 guests; M: 2 bedrooms, 4 guests; S: 1 bedroom, 2 guests	About 35 minutes by car from Karuizawa Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. About 3 hours by car from Tokyo
FUKUOKA	Eight rooms (ATELIER, BAR, CHEF, DESK, DOMA, PENTHOUSE, RETREAT, SOUND), each for up to 8 guests	17 minutes by car from Fukuoka Airport. 10 minutes on foot from Yakuin Station (Nishitetsu and subway), 6 minutes from Nishitetsu Hirao Station
ISHIGAKI	EARTH: 4 bedrooms, 10 guests	11 minutes by car from New Ishigaki Airport
MINAKAMI	TOJI: 2 bedrooms. Maximum guests not stated on the official page we checked	From Tokyo, 65 minutes by shinkansen, then 13 minutes by car (the station is not named). 135 minutes by car

These figures come from the official descriptions of each house and do not mean a house is available. Check the capacity of the room you book on the booking site itself.

The six locations

NASU (Otawara, Tochigi)

A group of villas on the Nasu highlands, designed by Makoto Tanijiri’s SUPPOSE DESIGN OFFICE. Each villa has its own theme: MASTERPIECE with a pool cantilevered out from the high ground, CAVE with a cold plunge set in cave-like darkness, and THINK with a separate study.

Tochigi · Villa · NOT A HOTEL

NOT A HOTEL NASU

A group of private villas on the Nasu highlands, designed by Makoto Tanijiri's SUPPOSE DESIGN OFFICE. Each house is built around a different idea: MASTERPIECE (three bedrooms, up to 10 guests) has a pool cantilevered out over the plateau, CAVE sets its cold plunge in a dim, cave-like room, and THINK adds a detached study. Every house has its own sauna and fireplace.

2 stay reports · 2 videos

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AOSHIMA (Miyazaki)

Villas on the coast at Aoshima in Miyazaki, built around closeness to the sea: MASTERPIECE treats a terrace of more than 560 sqm as an outdoor living room, and SURF lets you wait for the waves in the pool and step straight out to the sea.

Miyazaki · Villa · NOT A HOTEL

NOT A HOTEL AOSHIMA

Villas on the seafront at Aoshima, Miyazaki, designed by Shin Ohori of General Design. MASTERPIECE (two bedrooms, up to 8 guests) treats a terrace of more than 560 sqm as an outdoor living room, while SURF is a house for waiting on waves by the pool, a few seconds from the water.

7 stay reports · 4 videos

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KITAKARUIZAWA (Tsumagoi, Gunma)

Villas scattered through the forest of Kitakaruizawa. IRORI sets a sunken hearth in a glass-walled space, and BASE has a rock bath fed by a hot spring. One of the two IRORI villas has a dog run and takes dogs.

Gunma · Villa · NOT A HOTEL

NOT A HOTEL KITAKARUIZAWA

Villas scattered through a large forest in Kitakaruizawa. IRORI (three bedrooms, up to 8 guests) is a glass-walled house built around a sunken hearth; BASE, directed by Yosuke Aizawa, has a rock bath filled with hot-spring water. One of the two IRORI houses has a dog run, so you can bring a dog.

4 stay reports

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FUKUOKA (Yakuin, Chuo-ku)

An urban location in the residential streets of Yakuin, made up of eight rooms, each with a different character. Every room has a private sauna, and the top-floor PENTHOUSE has a rooftop terrace with an outdoor kitchen.

Fukuoka · Hotel · NOT A HOTEL

NOT A HOTEL FUKUOKA

An urban property in the residential streets of Yakuin, Fukuoka, made up of eight rooms with different characters. Every room has a private sauna; some add a study, others a bar counter. The PENTHOUSE on the top floor has a rooftop terrace with an outdoor kitchen and a fireplace.

4 videos

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ISHIGAKI (Ishigaki, Okinawa)

EARTH, a single villa on a 3,000-tsubo plot, designed by Sou Fujimoto, with four bedrooms for up to ten guests. With an infinity pool facing the sea and a sauna lit by light falling through the pool, it is the brand’s flagship.

Okinawa · Villa · NOT A HOTEL

NOT A HOTEL ISHIGAKI

EARTH is a single villa on a 3,000-tsubo plot on Ishigaki Island, designed by Sou Fujimoto. The round building has a bowl-shaped roof, so it reads as a low hill. It has four bedrooms for up to 10 guests, an infinity pool facing the sea, and a sauna lit by light falling through the water of the pool above.

2 stay reports · 1 videos

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MINAKAMI (Minakami, Gunma)

TOJI, five villas on a mountain in the headwaters of the Tone River. Planned as a “modern hot-spring village” of triangular roofs clad in copper, it has a 15-metre infinity pool, natural hot-spring baths and a sauna.

Gunma · Villa · NOT A HOTEL

NOT A HOTEL MINAKAMI

TOJI is a group of five villas on a hilltop in Minakami, near the source of the Tone River. SUPPOSE DESIGN OFFICE planned it as a modern hot-spring village under copper roofs laid in the traditional ichimonji style. A 15-metre infinity pool wraps around the living room, with a natural hot-spring bath, sauna and cold plunge alongside.

1 stay reports · 5 videos

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FAQ

Q. Can you stay at NOT A HOTEL without being an owner?: A. Yes. On days owners do not use, the villas are rented out as a hotel, and you can book through the official site and some booking sites.
Q. How far ahead can you book?: A. According to the official site, bookings for ordinary guests open three months before the date of stay. Owners’ bookings take priority, so the number of nights released varies by season.
Q. How many people can stay?: A. It depends on the location and villa. NASU’s MASTERPIECE and ISHIGAKI’s EARTH sleep up to ten, and Kitakaruizawa’s IRORI up to eight. Check each villa’s capacity before you book.

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