Bettei Koyoi — Hotel in Hakone

Cons||-15 mins away from the bus stop made it difficult to get to because Hakone is filled with steep hills. Strolling your luggage will not be easy||-Did not offer a shuttle bus||-Charged us double because we were a couple even though we ordered a double bed, they thought it was for one person.||-The breakfast buffet is $20USD per person but they will only give you 3 raw eggs and a bowl of rice||-You cannot cancel your food reservation even though it's a day ahead, they will charge you, but they won't tell you this.||-The bathing area is the scariest and most disgusting thing I ever seen (see photos)||-Mildew and mold everywhere, place has not been clean||-Wifi only available in the lobby area, not your room.||-they dont have hair ties ||-They have one massage chair pad||-Our room smelled like damp mothballs, ||-The lighting is super bright and eerie, cannot dim, no ambiance lighting.||-weird pubic hair in the sink, did not clean well||-room had no water when we arrived||||Pro||-come here for a haunted...

Usually don’t write reviews but want to make sure other travelers know what to expect when booking this ryokan. The room was as expected but the open air bath was not clean and didn’t feel worth it to use it, which is a shame because that’s a big reason we were excited for the hotel. The onsen in the hotel was small and a little disappointing compared to facilities I’ve seen in cheaper hotels in Kyoto and Tokyo. The hotel advertises having a lounge but when we asked where it was, we learned that the lounge was the non-desk part of the lobby. There is a smell of sulfur in the air when outdoors. I’m surprised to see so many positive reviews of this ryokan which motivated me to share the experience so they know to improve the customer experience. Beyond the hotel experience Hakone is very small, not that walkable, and has shops that close fairly early. Unfortunately would not recommend this hotel (at least for this price) and would recommend either staying at a more inclusive ryokan or not...

Getting to Gora in general and this hotel in particular demand some effort! After a couple interesting train rides, we arrived in Gora. From there it’s an uphill slog to the hotel so don’t do it! Grab the hotel shuttle from the station instead. You don’t need to call, it just comes, but you do need to lug your bags down and up the underpass stairs. The shuttle only operates between 3-6 pm so if you bought the Hakone Free Pass, you can also ride the cable car up two stops, get off on the left (facing uphill) and walk down a minute to find the hotel on your right. The hotel is AKA the Hakone Manor, FYI. What we didn’t realize was that the hotel is all inclusive! (We wondered why it was so much more expensive than the other hotels we booked.) Happy hour, dinner and breakfast are all included and they are quite the experience! The room itself was good but the AC didn’t work very well so we were both warm at night. Otherwise it was quiet, clean and...