箱根湯本大平台温泉 満天の星 — Attraction in Hakone

Better than expected due to low expectations after seeing other reviews. Indeed, while the facilities and cleanliness are not the best, they have their own charm and authentic feel. Walls are thin, sure, my friend was kept up by the snoring of a dude from the other room. A tiny cockroach crawled on the table, and while lying down watching TV, a spider crawled onto my hand. It definitely may gross some people out, but to me, that's part of the experience. Because that experience also included freaking out at some blob in the window, only to realise a neighbourhood cat had somehow spawned on the 2nd floor outside our room. Having the main lamp flicker occasionally. I think it was just charming.

There's not much to say about the area. The place is a short walk from the station, very convenient. There are two pokestops and a gym nearby for pogo players. An alcohol store and general store are also very nearby, carrying some nice selections. I recommend grabbing some beer to accompany your dinner.

Speaking of dinner, meals served were pretty nice. Pick a timing and they'll serve it to your room. They'll give a call a few minutes before the selected timing, and the nice staff will come in and lay out all the dishes. Pretty tasty, nothing to complain about.

Speaking of staff, one thing about the place is that while they do serve and clear the dishes for you, they do not help lay out the bedding (Japanese futons) for you. The items are stored in a cupboard, and we had to figure out which goes where since there were some bits that seemed extra. Part of the fun and charm. Waking my friend up to pack up the futon so we could have space for breakfast wasn't part of it though.

The hot spring bath is nice. It isn't the most well maintained and it kinda shows from the algae on the ceiling and walls. Probably because the two available baths are open 24 hours, as an excuse not to have staff carry out daily maintenance? Despite that, including having the occasional water drip on me from the ceiling in one of them, I think it was pretty nice an experience, where as long as either baths are unoccupied, you can head it and use it privately after locking it.

If I could rewind time and somehow decide not to go for this, would I? I don't think so, it was a pretty interesting experience. Yet, I don't think I would recommend staying here in summer, as I would imagine the bugs would be more prevalent and the low maintenance of the baths would show. If you are icky about things like what I've described above though, it's what you pay for and you'll probably want to pay more for a...

cockroach in the bathing area, clumps of hair in the bath. nice shampoo/conditioner but I wasn't really feeling it given the cleanliness situation breakfast was included allegedly but they never offered it and it was "gone" by the time I asked horrible florescent lighting, generally run down, stained carpets and walls, etc. thin walls, clearly a party house for bachelors or whatever was going on next door (no way of asking the clerk to handle it since there's no desk staff at night, so I had to knock on their door at 1:30 am to ask them to keep it down, which luckily they were super sweet about) bed was super uncomfortable, which granted might have been in part my western wimpiness since I'm used to actual beds and this is a tatami/futon situation. however, these are not futons, they're like very thin little pads, like sleeping on a comforter someone put on the floor. wouldn't refund my second night since my back was killing me and I had to switch hotels. overall, just stay in a hostel. it'll be more comfortable and a third the price. what a waste of two hundred bucks. And BTW, if you're visiting hakone and trying to figure out whether to get an affordable hotel that has an onsen or get a cheap hotel and then go to a nice onsen for a day visit, there is no such thing as an affordable hotel with a nice onsen apparently, so get a cheap hotel or hostel, and spend your savings pampering yourself at one of the nice spa/onsens close by. I couldn't decide on my strategy when trip planning and I chose wrong! No point in having a hot springs at your hotel if you don't want to...

This is a traditional Japanese hot spring hotel which offers traditional authentic Japanese breakfast and dinner. The hotel room does not have private bathroom, only shared washroom, however the room itself does come with a bathroom sink. Visitors have to have shower before hot spring. Hot spring is shared by each family with locked doors. Honestly speaking, this hotel is dated and needs renovation. The 70's land line phone is still available in each hotel room. Food was super good, pretty and authentic. We could tell the staff have put their passion and time to make the food to serve their customers. For $230, we have no complaint at all, need to be fair, and ask yourself how much you are willing to pay. Just the food itself already justifies the price. If one really wants nice hot spring hotel room with nice authentic Japanese food in Hakone (keep in mind this is a tourist place), be ready to pay $500+. The hotel is sitting in a quiet neighbour, room is comfy and quiet. Staff were polite although they barely speak English. Although the building is old, we still can tell the staff are trying to make the place as clean...