Some online reservation services can be used without membership registration. However, as in any industry, if you have to register as a member and obtain a user ID and password every time you want to use an online service, the management of such registration becomes a hassle. It is not very nice to be asked to register for membership every time you want to use a service on a one-time basis, let alone if you use it frequently on a daily basis. Of course, if a point service is provided for frequent users, membership registration is a must. However, not all users are like that. If it is a one-time use, there is no merit to the point service. Also, if paper tickets are collected from a ticket machine, it is sufficient to prepare cash or a credit card at the time of collection, reducing the necessity of registering a payment method in advance. In fact, when I used Swedish Railways (SJ), as I wrote before, “Please purchase tickets online, even ticket vending machines will be abolished,” but the online reservation could be used without membership registration. Membership registration is required to use the point service, but this is of little benefit to foreigners on a short-term visit.
Basic Concept of Using the Service without Membership Registration There are several patterns of online reservation services that can be used without membership registration. First, when the premise is to receive a paper ticket at the ticket counter or ticket vending machine before boarding. In this case, the user only needs to enter information such as e-mail address, telephone number, and reservation number to inquire about and confirm individual reservations. The e-mail address and telephone number are indispensable for notifying, inquiring about, and changing reservation information. However, the trend is toward a ticketless system. In this case, not only reservation but also purchase and payment must be completed on the Internet, so credit card information is also indispensable. SJ in Sweden followed this pattern. The advantage of the ticketless system is that there is no need to stand in line at ticket counters or ticket vending machines. In Japan, there are currently many cases where ticketless discounts are set up, perhaps to induce people to go to ticketless services, so this should also be included as an advantage.
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