Yoshiike Ryokan — Hotel in Hakone

To the Spa Hotel Management Team:

Hello!

I checked into your hotel on December 27th. Our family of five traveled from Austria and planned to have a pleasant holiday at your hotel. However, some things that happened during this experience made me very disappointed, and I must report to your hotel, hoping that you can pay attention and improve your service.

My family had booked a table at this restaurant at 6:30 pm that day. My 4-year-old son fell asleep during dinner because he was too tired after a 20-hour flight and had jet lag. Although I tried to wake him up, he was too tired and fell asleep without eating anything during the entire meal time.

In this case, I made a reasonable request to the restaurant: they should pack up the food that my son could not finish and send it to his room so that he could eat it when he woke up. The restaurant staff explained that raw and cold food such as sushi could cause food poisoning if not stored properly, so it should not be packaged. I fully understood this explanation and was told that I only needed to pack up the subsequent hot dishes and white rice. However, what I could not accept was that the restaurant still rejected my request for unknown reasons.

What is even more regrettable is that although the restaurant staff did not give my son anything to eat from beginning to end, they still served the dishes one by one according to the process and did not respond flexibly to the situation. My two daughters, the younger ones are 11 and 12 years old, were so shocked by the food waste that they only ate a small part of the meat. They said that wasting food is disrespectful to the fruits of human labor, especially considering that many people in the world still suffer from hunger.

As a guest, I am very disappointed with the service attitude of your hotel team. On the one hand, the restaurant did not take into account the actual situation, resulting in a lot of food being wasted; on the other hand, due to the rigidity and lack of adaptability of the service staff, we felt that they did not give us due consideration and care.

This incident not only caused a waste of resources, but also made us doubt the service quality of your hotel. We chose your hotel because of its high service quality, but this experience is really disappointing. I hope that your hotel will pay attention to customer feedback, increase employee training, improve service awareness and flexibility, and provide guests with a more pleasant stay experience.

We look forward to your reply and hope that your hotel can learn from the lessons and improve the quality of service.

Sincerely, Greetings

Disappointed...

One of our friends who previously stayed here, recommended this Ryokan for us. We are happy we stayed here. We reached early for our check in and they held our luggage for us. The welcome and check out was fantastic. The staff pay a lot of attention to every thing you need. Very pleasant and welcoming.

We went to the main street and had lunch. Since the weather was good and we had gotten the Hakone Free Pass we did a lot of the rides to be back at the hotel by 5. Next was to try the onsen. This is a public bath within the hotel where you can go from your room wearing a Yukata robe and a hotel by towel. Men and women have separate bathing areas. You remove all your clothes in your by section, place them into lockers and then proceed in your birthday suit to the bathing area. First use the showers and soap and then enter the hot springs to sit and relax and enjoy the soothing warmth. There are two areas one covered and one under the sky. This was a beautiful experience that one should try.

Dinner was at a set time that you can request. It's an elaborate Japanese meal. Be prepared to try new things and tastes. I wish we got some explanation of the dishes and the right way to eat them. The menu was in Japanese and Google Lens helped a bit. You can order beer, wine or other cocktails that are charged extra. 3/4 of our party enjoyed this experience. 1/4 just watched us access nibbled a bit. This experience is not for non-foodies or vegetarians. While we were having dinner our beds were made on the floor with rice stuffed pillows. A very different experience but definitely worth it. Rooms have a hot water machine, coffee, sugar and creamer and other good amenities. They have a nice red bean sweet that was welcome in the room. In the lobby is a lounge with soft drinks and coffee where you can sit and watch the garden. You can order beer in your room with room service but we didn't try it.

Breakfast was again an elaborate meal, this time one of the young men explained a bit about the proper combinations of dishes and sauces which we appreciated.

There's a nice garden as this Ryokan is in a National forest and it was wonderful to walk and see the beautiful flowers and the koi pond.

I have to mention that it felt nice to be able to use any part of the hotel including the restaurants wearing your Yukata robe. A very convenient and practical way to show style and elegance.

This hotel/Ryokan was a once in a lifetime experience and totally worth the high rates they charge. I would recommend this Ryokan for your next trip to Tokyo/Hakone. Go for the room with dinner and breakfast unless you are a picky eater...

We enjoyed our time here very much. You are welcomed in front by a big prominent sign after crossing the cute little narrow old bridge. There are cherry blossom trees in front, we were lucky to see blooms. The koi pond is also lovely.

The lobby is again a beautiful clean design with a huge window looking into the inner gardens. It's so beautiful it is incredible, like those huge windows at aquariums. Amazing and makes you happy immediately. Reception and service is also wonderful. Easy check-in, they will help you with your bags, free parking on site. It's a sprawling property and you don't have indoor shoes. Bit of a confusing walk to our rooms and stairs, so not that disabled friendly perhaps. The rooms were really large, spacious, and super well equipped. We got standard japanese rooms probably the lowest range but it was big. Large sleeping area, big full height dining table, big TV, window into the garden, and the bathroom was incredible. This place was impressive for something called a ryokan, it was like a 5star hotel rolled into one.

Onsen - very large and spacious. Private onsen was easily available, didn't really seem to have to wait at all! It was very cosy and nice, locked doors, adjustable water temperature! We enjoyed this so much. Much more affordable than paying for in-room onsen types. The public onsen was pretty large. The men outdoor onsen was beautiful in the garden but pity you have to dress up and walk across the onsen lobby to the other side. Vending machines available here so bring some cash if you want to buy a drink.

Location - just a few mins walk to yumoto station. Very easy. We went out for breakfast at the station bakery - it's about the only thing open before 10. We also parked our car here and just used the freepass to get around Hakone. Lovely. So happy. The beautiful river outside also gave us so many sweet photo memories.

Price - tad high, but now I understand that it is so worth the total experience. We went for a package without meals.

Food - didn't take the bundled meals, instead we reserved dinner at the steakhouse. There's a inside entrance and it overlooks the gardens. Non-guests are also welcome here. The wagyu teppanyaki was lovely. Great taste, lovely performance, very satisfying meal and also very chill dessert and tea. It's just so nice to sit in the quiet lounge area and have cake and tea. Very relaxing experience. You can go to the steakhouse in your outdoor clothes or yukata. Price is a bit high but it's high grade wagyu, cooked in person and all-in. I think it's worth the experience.

I do...