Yamadaya — Hotel in Hakone

Can’t erase this place from my memory. Sad but true.

By far a disappointing experience for first time Japanese onsen ryokan for my family.

This review is written based on our stay in September 2024.

You get what you pay for as they say, yes this was the more budget friendly and suited our group.

However let’s dive into the particulars of why I am being so negative.

From the moment we entered the establishment, we were greeted with the stench of external mould, followed by the mis-placement of our rooms we booked for four people but gave us a 3 person room. After intense negotiations they were able to fix this by adding extra refurbishments to suit for four people. This room had no shower, the toilet stunk for whole time we were there.

After being ‘influenced’ by social media experts, we thought to languish the Ryokan Inn experience and hospitality, but it was a sore experience that left us wondering if we had paid more for other places, could it have changed the outcome.

Perhaps we have come at a time this establishment’s life cycle is overdue for redevelopment and the owners are still trying to stretch out their profit to customer expectations ratio, that is way unbalanced.

Anyhow back to describing the room, everything is far overdue for a serious make over just putting it politely - the place needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Just imagine you are in a horror themed video game and the setting is a dark dimly lit sketchy room and every thing creaked and moaned, there are mould stains on the walls that looked like dried blood, futons and bedding we slept, the furniture had an unpleasant sticky tacky feel to it. The setting in the room was definitely uninviting coupled with the eternal smell of mould and greeting of sewerage at the rooms entrance is unforgiving. Photos for context.

Food service was average, however the food quality was poor and sub standard, edible but aeroplane food would still fair better.

Now to the onsen bath rooms, dirty, filthy, grimy, and mould stains to the ceiling, floor tiles and stench of external mould lingering around followed you. It was that dirty that if the white bath towel touched the wall or the stone steps, it would leave a brown mark. The water in the onsen baths was cloudy opaque milky look, and I could not help thinking of the sludge of dead skin cells built up over time that contribute to the baths water condition, your imagination of what goes on in here by other sweaty people is wild.

I can understand why the mixed reviews from others, but we must review this as what we see it for and hopefully give others an informed insight before considering staying here. Pictures hopefully with tell the story better.

The staff were nice and friendly and helpful, but looked like they were only buying time before moving on from this establishment. They looked like they had basic training at a fast food chain and was only there to do the bare basics.

Well to the positives points, the air conditioning worked flawlessly although looked run down, the dehumidifier was a great addition, however the overflowing collected water in the tank may have been sitting there brewing bacteria and possibly was in the initial stages of spreading legionnaires. The toilet was the only thing I thought held this place together, it was newish and worked perfectly like every other obedient citizen, however looked like an abandoned orphaned child placed in an abusive home.

I did not need to write this many words, however I have to get it out of my head.

Hopefully the photos and this write up will help you make your mind up while doing your homework and evaluating whether to stay...

Overall the Yamada exceeded expectations. The service was kind and accommodating and thoughtful. They checked us in quickly and had Green tea prepared in our room waiting. The room was tidy and functional and the bathroom had the fanciest bidet I have ever used.

Dinner was brought to our room and presented beautifully. The chef that works there is truly exceptional. The ingredients were the star of the dish and flavored subtly to enhance the experience. The food was out of this world! I would go back just to have one of their meals again! That's saying alot considering how long it took to get there.

Speaking of location, although the Yamada is located only a few minutes from the cable car station in Sounzan, we had to travel a fair way to get there from Odawara station. We took the Shinkansen from Tokyo station, transferred to the Hakone-Yomoto line, then transferred to the rail car to Hakone, then another to Gora, then another tram to Sounzan. That being said, our plans included three loop covered by Hakone free pass which we purchased from Odawara (the pass covered all transportation we needed and have access to all local attractions). Yamada was close enough to one of the points in the Hakone loop so it was convenient for sight seeing. If you are going to visit some attractions I recommend at least 3 nights. We stayed for 2 and ran out of time. Be prepared to spend some time commuting between locations. The trains (20 min avg), cable cars (15-20 min), and boats (25 minutes 1 way, 40 minutes back) are lovely opportunities to sight see but do take some time.

The onsen at Yamada was wonderful! The first night we tried the private onsen and I wouldn't recommend it. There is an extra charge and it's not as enjoyable as the public onsen in the Yamada. The public baths are for guests only and are beautiful! You have an open air tub and an indoor one. If you can, use the outdoor! The scenery is beautiful and fresh air truly refreshing while you have your hot spring bath.

The staff are all so helpful and come to change the room from day use to night use (setting up the beds). English is limited but the front desk staff are able to help. We speak next to no Japanese and we managed just fine. I would highly recommend learning basic phrases though.

Overall this was an exceptional experience. Don't be disappointed by the historical building and be prepared for some rustic accommodations but it is all so worth it. Please go! Yamada is not to be missed! A diamond in the rough that really surprises with exceptional amenities...

This is probably the toughest review I've opted to write. On one hand the staff were extremely welcoming, friendly and willing to go the extra mile and I feel guilty not being able to give a 5* review for that. Whilst the ryokan is older in nature, and we knew this in advance, it has a certain old school traditional charm.||However... we struggled to enjoy the otherwise highly spacious and tidy room due to the heavy presence of black mold in a handful of places, particularly the toilet area where we were surrounded by it on two sides when you sat down. The stench from the toilet/sink area invaded the main room and on the first night (of our two night stay) I was genuinely looking up alternative accomodation after the stench hit critical point. I eventually sussed out a solution for the second night involving a noisy dehumidifier, open window and some earplugs, but it completely ruined what we hoped would be a relaxing stay. We genuinely weren't looking forward to returning to the room, but we had to before 9pm when the front door gets locked. I should however note that I found the 24hr spacious shared onsen area clean enough and particularly enjoyed the outdoor single-person tubs which were very relaxing with nice views. I ended up going into that at 5am for escapism.||My 3* overall score is an average of 5* for the service and 1* star for the 'cleanliness'. The latter word is difficult to interpret as the room was very tidy and clean in that sense, just spoilt by mould and an associated(?) smell. Sadly it's leaked out into the hallways, giving the entire hotel interior a musty smell that's evident as soon as you leave the front door area.||I felt really bad ticking 'No' in the 'would you stay here again?' section of their feedback form, but I'd have felt worse for lying. There's so much potential here with a bit of basic renovation though (even just replace the panelling and flooring in the toilet area), and although I feel they're trying to tackle some of the problems by adding dehumidifiers to the room, it's like sticking a plaster over a deep wound. Although this site is relatively cheap for the area, and what I describe may well reflect that, I expected a better overall experience for what was still a pricey establishment. I'd personally file this review in my 'harsh but...