I stayed in this onsen hotel for 1 night, hotel provided two publc onsens, one is very big and other is normal size. Two private onsens, you need to book in advance if you want to try private onsens. Both public & private onsen with indoor & outdoor pool.
High standard services of Staffs,
Rooms included buffet breakfast & dinner, you can paid extra to upgrade for crabs dinner.
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We spent 1 night in the room 310. It is the corner room on the third floor that have huge space and nice view. Unfortunately that our room has many problems. First it should be nonsmoking room but it has smoking smell. Second, the internet in the room can not use because of the problem of the machine. Lastly, air condition in the bed room has no air coming out that can not fixed. The Kaiseki food for dinner is very nice. The onsen is so so. One down thing on the night that we stay, at 9-10 pm in the bar lounge it is very noisy from the group of 6-8 person guests that chat and laugh very loud. We choose this hotel because it is a small boutique and peaceful hotel.
During our trip to Hokkaido in June/July, this was the most expensive hotel that we booked.
We saw the great reviews and decided to give it go with their private onsen room with massage. It was last stop before we headed home so we were looking for a relaxing time to unwind.
We were greeted at reception but it was unclear where we could park. We ended up having to get out of our car to ask for help while our car was left on the side of the road.
Check-in was quick and our room was clean and tidy.
We had a private dinner in one of their restaurants with the chef's menu. While the food was okay, it was very bland and only two dishes out of eight were to our taste. The waitress also missed dishes in our menu and we had to remind her.
We had just come from Furano and wanted to cut open a melon that we had purchased at the farmer's market. Keep in mind, we've done this our entire trip and every hotel has brought up knives and plates for us.
We called reception at around 11 pm and we asked for some utensils. The guy on the phone simply said "No." Unclear, we went down to the reception in our pyjamas and asked again. At this time we were greeted by a burly Japanese man (we were two girls) who crossed his arms and shouted, "No English, no service."
So we then asked another man who was at the reception, and he proceeded to say yes to my demand only to chase us down in the elevator and tell me no. Throughout this entire process, I still didn't understand why it was so difficult to bring me a butter knife.
He even told me that there was not a single knife in the entire hotel.
I suggested that perhaps they could cut it for us, but I was refused too.
I've been to various parts of Japan and stayed in numerous different hotels all over the country and never have I been treated with such disrespect. I would certainly never expect that from a Japanese operated hotel. Even if, for some reason, they couldn't give us a knife, they still didn't have the right to treat us like aliens.
If you want to refuse foreign guests, please say so on your website/booking sites/ review sites.
My husband and I spent two nights in a private onsen room (#718). As neither of us speak Japanese, I had a friend help us make our room reservation, arrange for us to take the shuttle, as well as chose our meal plan - we chose the standard 'plum' course based on on-line photos. From reading previous reviews, I didn't expect staff to be able to speak a lot of English, but having lived in Asia for the past 4+ years, I find that we can usually get by with a translation app, and a little bit of patience.
As we missed the afternoon shuttle from Sapporo to the hotel, we managed to take the bus to Jozankei. It stops right in front of the hotel, so that was a plus! Upon arrival, there was an English speaking staff that was able to communicate all the information to us without any issues. We have visited a ryokan in Hakone area before, so were familiar with overall 'rules and procedures'. I would say if it's your first time to a ryokan, do some on-line research if you don't speak Japanese to avoid doing anything out of the norm.
Meal time was a bit trickier, as on the first evening the lady serving us did not speak any English; however, as it was a set menu and we have no allergies, we figured we'd just try everything. At following meal times we did end up with an English speaking server who was able to tell us what we were eating. Presentation of food was beautiful, and although ryokan food is not always our favorite, everything was of good quality. .
We popped into the private outdoor onsen one evening, but found that what we enjoyed the most was our in-room onsen. We could open the windows in that room without an issue, and on one of the days it snowed which made it completely picturesque.
In the evenings for a change of environment, we'd go to the lobby level lounge/bar area. There, you can enjoy a selection of teas, coffee, and small cakes. There is a super friendly bartender who speaks a little bit of English and makes great martinis!
As one other reviewer mentioned, getting from hotel shuttle drop-off point in Sapporo to the train station that goes outbound to the airport can be a bit tricky. Give yourself some time to get lost...
We had a very pleasant stay here, and highly recommend. As long as you are open to not having a fluent English speaking staff, and going with the flow when you can't communicate details, you will have a very relaxing stay.
Didn't stay here overnight, just came to use their onsen. Cost for common bath area: ¥1,036 per adult (until 3pm)
Top up for private bath area: ¥1,080 (for 40 mins)
Towel rental: ¥216
So all in all S$28.50 per person for a private bath, not too bad! Especially when it’s the same price for both indoor or outdoor private bath and of course we went for the outdoor one.
I love how quaint the private bath is, with a view of the mountains afar. The outdoor bath isn’t too high above (Level 7, highest level at this building) and I can actually see the car park below rather clearly, I wonder if people from below can see us too. But aside from that, it’s a pretty nice private setup. We could also use the open bath on Level 2 after our private session ended but we didn’t. Did go by to take a look, inside seems very authentic too.
This is one of the better hotels in Jozankei and I gladly paid the extra for it.
However, staying at this hotel was the worst hotel experience ever.
First of all, I booked a non-smoking room 4 months in advance and via a booking agency, I made a separate request for non-smoking room. Also before I finalized my booking, I did my homework and went to the hotel’s website and checked the room type very carefully (well…this hotel has 17 different room types and only 5 of them are non-smoking) and made sure that I was booking the non-smoking room.
When I checked in, they assigned me a smoking room and the smelt really really bad. Despite that I left the large window open for the entire afternoon and evening and had an air purifier at full power, I woke up in the middle of the night and had to open the window again and leave it open throughout the night.
As soon as I went into the room, I asked for a room change and the hotel asked for an upgrade fee of 9,000 Yen (about $90). At first I was willing to pay extra and I asked if I could check the non-smoking room first and then decide, the hotel refused to do so. The hotel asked me to pay first and only then they could show me the room. At that point, I just gave up the room change. Of course the hotel did not do anything about the smell that I mentioned earlier.
Later that day after checking all the emails and booking details, I realized that I indeed booked a non-smoking room, so I tried again at the front desk to verify the fact that I booked a non-smoking room and pointed out (by showing pictures) that the room that I was assigned to was different from the one that I booked. However, the hotel manager kept saying that the booking agency did not request for a non-smoking room and blamed everything to the booking agency.
To make it worse, this hotel does not speak English. The person who speaks the best English does not even understand the word ‘decide.’ Luckily, I was able to speak a little Japanese and had a translation app to help me out.
Last, the service mind at this hotel is non-existent. As I was having a bit of trouble communicating with the hotel staff regarding the room change, I asked for another staff who speaks better English. I did not mean to be rude and I think my request was a reasonable one since this hotel is not a small boutique ryokan with a few rooms. This hotel has 60 rooms!! However, I guess the staff was rather offended by my request and she just snapped. Ever since, she was giving me this attitude throughout the dinner (well…we has Japanese Kaiseki Dinner and she was serving us since she was the only one who speaks English at the hotel) and refused to communicate in English and kept using Japanese.
I had a very strong feeling that this hotel neither cares nor wants foreign tourists at their place.
Please avoid this hotel, especially if you are a foreigner like I am.
