[HIS] I saved about 17,000 yen on a hotel + flight booking through an in-person consultation!

For the year-end and New Year holidays, I am going on a
7-day, 6-night trip to Shanghai, and
compared to the online booking price on the official HIS website,
booking through an in-person consultation
saved me about 17,000 yen.

So, this time, I will
write about patterns where in-person booking is cheaper!
*This is based on what I personally asked an HIS staff member out of curiosity.
It may vary
depending on the store and the time of year.

Prerequisites

The hotel is the same
whether booked online or in person.
Also, my preferred arrival time in the destination (Shanghai) is around noon, and
my preferred arrival time back home (Tokyo) is in the evening.

Online booking price

When I checked around 10:00 PM on 2025/09/18,
the hotel + flight set
was about 137,000 yen.

Note that I chose the hotel
based on its distance from tourist spots and
convenience for travel.
The airline for the flights at that time
was China Eastern Airlines for both the outbound and return trips.

In-person consultation booking price

At 3:30 PM on 2025/09/19,
the hotel + flight set
was about 120,000 yen.

Note that the airline for the flights at that time
was ANA for both the outbound and return trips.

Reason for the price drop ①

From here on, this is what I heard from the HIS staff member.
The reason it became cheaper is
because there are things that can only be seen
on the store's computer.

Personally, looking at my booking document,
I feel this reason applies.
This is because a "single room," which was not in the room plans when I searched,
was booked for me.

Thanks to the in-person consultation,
I didn't have to book the
"twin room" that appeared when I searched myself,
and I'm really glad I did!

Reason for the price drop ②

Simply put, a limited-time discount was applied!

It seems these aren't always available, but
the timing of my visit to the HIS in-person consultation
happened to be perfect, and with the hotel + flight simultaneous purchase discount,
it was 4,000 yen cheaper.

By the way, without that 4,000 yen discount,
it would have cost about 124,000 yen, so
this was a pleasant surprise!!!

People who are likely to benefit from this

People who want to keep costs down as much as possible
People who want to purchase a hotel and flight at the same time

People who are less likely to benefit from this

People who change their travel destination every 2-3 days
e.g., UK today and tomorrow, Italy the day after and the day after that

According to the staff member,
for those who prefer this style of travel,
booking online
is often cheaper.

The reason is that bookings made through in-person consultations
incur a "handling fee",
which tends to make the price higher.

A side note.

If you also arrange
rental Wi-Fi during an HIS in-person consultation,
you can rent it at a very good price.
For my recent 7-day, 6-night trip to Shanghai,
the rental fee was 6,780 yen!

Personally, I think that was quite cheap
for a stay of nearly a week.
Also, since I chose to
return it at the airport,
it was super easy, as long as I remembered to return it!

Finally.

I am definitely not affiliated with HIS, but
if you are thinking about trying to keep your
year-end and New Year travel costs down,
you should definitely try using the HIS consultation booking service!