Hotel New Okabe — Hotel in Ito

Visited in Dec 12 with my elderly family and it is easily accessible from Tokyo by train. On your arrival at Ito train station, their mini bus will pick you up every 30 mintues (during the day only) and after 5 mintues drive, you are already there. (It is about 15 minutes walk.) Our room seemed to have been recently refurbished and had fresh "tatami" mats in there. The size of the room was 12 "tatami" mats + seating area by the window, so it was plenty for 3 of us. There have 2 indoor and 2 outdoor onsen bath for both men & wemen due to 2 building were connected together. Their main selling point is their buffet dinner & breakfast. Comparing with other ryokan who offer the same, the quality and variety of food is exceptional and there are even cooking steaks, tempura & sushi on live! Being by the sea, they also offer their local and very fresh sashimi and you can help yourself as much as you like. (They were constantly filling up the food, even 5 mintues before the closing time!) There are aslo a small selection of non-Japanese food (ie: chinese, pasta etc) and you can finish off with some dessert / soft cream / fruits and tea / coffee. Again, morning buffet was excellent with many to choose from and after 2 nights stay, we really could not eat any more! Only the down side is that they are not right in front of the sea and situated in the town. So, if you are thinking of visiting to a beach in summer, it may be a bit too far away if you don't have a car. All in all, very good value for money and my elderly parents were also really...

Visited in Dec 12 with my elderly family and it is easily accessible from Tokyo by train. On your arrival at Ito train station, their mini bus will pick you up every 30 mintues (during the day only) and after 5 mintues drive, you are already there. (It is about 15 minutes walk.) Our room seemed to have been recently refurbished and had fresh "tatami" mats in there. The size of the room was 12 "tatami" mats + seating area by the window, so it was plenty for 3 of us. There have 2 indoor and 2 outdoor onsen bath for both men & wemen due to 2 building were connected together. Their main selling point is their buffet dinner & breakfast. Comparing with other ryokan who offer the same, the quality and variety of food is exceptional and there are even cooking steaks, tempura & sushi on live! Being by the sea, they also offer their local and very fresh sashimi and you can help yourself as much as you like. (They were constantly filling up the food, even 5 mintues before the closing time!) There are aslo a small selection of non-Japanese food (ie: chinese, pasta etc) and you can finish off with some dessert / soft cream / fruits and tea / coffee. Again, morning buffet was excellent with many to choose from and after 2 nights stay, we really could not eat any more! Only the down side is that they are not right in front of the sea and situated in the town. So, if you are thinking of visiting to a beach in summer, it may be a bit too far away if you don't have a car. All in all, very good value for money and my elderly parents were also really...

(English follows Japanese)

香港からの友人家族と共に宿泊。鬼怒川や熱海など、昨今のインバウンド需要で賑わっている地域は価格が高騰しているので、消極的な理由で選択した。

かつて、関東地方ではCMが盛んに流れていた「ホテルニュー岡部」が、巡り巡って「大江戸温泉物語」傘下になったもの。

コストと人手をふんだんにかけた高額な和風旅館ではなく、和洋折衷で旅館的な雰囲気を醸しつつ、ホテル的な合理的運営により、「そこそこの価格」で「そこそこの満足度」を得られる路線の宿。ホテル三日月グループが同様のコンセプトといえる。

おそらく内装等の見えるところはそこそこリニューアルされている。キチンとメンテナンスされるべきところはされている。客室も汚くはないし清潔である。しかし建具や設備はやっぱり「昭和」なのだ。そもそもの構造が、高度成長期の「団体旅行」を前提にした作りだから、小さな子供連れの家族旅行には向いているが、大人の個人旅行には向いていない。これを「味」と捉えるか、「安っぽい」と捉えるかでこうしたホテルの評価は分かれるのだろう。

設備やサービスでよかったと思う点は３つ。１つは本館（相模亭）と別館（駿河亭）にそれぞれ風呂があり、清潔に保たれていたこと。２つはロビーの広さを生かしてフリードリンクやマンガ喫茶的なコーナー、マッサージチェアが数台置かれていて、思い思いに寛げること。３つめは浴衣の種類がたくさんあり、柄とサイズを選んで持っていけること。

反対に、これはどうなのかと思ったのは４つ。まず、客室には布団がシーツもかけられた状態で三つ折りで置かれており、寝るときは自分で広げて寝ろ、というスタイル。これはコスト削減策としてはやりすぎだ。最初に部屋に入った時の美観を損ねるし、部屋も狭くなる。２つめは部屋のエアコン。ダイキンの家庭用エアコンが使われている点はまだいいが、このエアコンの効きがすこぶる悪い。３つ目はフロントの対応。あまり外国人が来そうな宿ではないが、それにしても英語対応が稚拙すぎる。４つ目は食事。まず、ビュッフェ形式の料理を並べるスペースが狭すぎる。一つ一つの料理について並べられている量が少ない。目の前で調理してくれる料理の種類も少ない。また、もともと宴会場がいくつもあったところを流用しているのか、食事スペースがいくつにも分かれていてわかりにくい。これらのせいで、ビュッフェ会場の人の密度が高く、非常に取りにくくて不快である。

先ほど、ホテル三日月グループと同様とは述べたものの、このあたりの目の配り方は、ホテル三日月の方がはるかに優れている。「安い」ことと「安っぽい」ことを混同している点で、総合的な満足度は高くない。

I stayed this hotel with my friend from HK and his family. I chose this passively because of irrationally higher prices of hotels in Kinugawa and Atami etc. due to recent “inbound” boom.

This hotel was former “Hotel New Okabe” which was very famous in Kanto area through TV commercials and joined under “Ooedo Onsen Monogatari” after it collapsed. It is not a high class Japanese Ryokan style, its intention is “moderate satisfaction” with “moderate price” operating semi Western-Japanese style hotel with rational cost management of Western style hotel. “Hotel Mikazuki Group” operates similar concept of hotels.

Interior of hotel is “moderately” refurbished. The facilities which should be properly maintained are properly cared. Guest rooms are well cleaned. But fixtures and facilities of the room is of “Showa-era” after all. This kind of hotel is designed to deal with large group travels in Japan’s high economic growth period, therefore it does not match adults’ personal trips but maybe better for family trips. Evaluation of this hotel will depend on if you feel this atmosphere is sort of “taste” or simply cheesy.

3 good points are; (1) They have large bathrooms in both main building (Sagami-tei) and annex (Suruga-tei) respectively and well cleaned, (2) Free drinks are served, many comics and several massage chairs are available at lobby and can spend relaxed time, and (3) They prepare many kind and size of Yukata and you can pick up according to your favorite.

4 regrettable points are; (1) Futon are set folded in three and already put in the guestroom then you must spread it when you sleep. This way is too shabby even considering cost reduction. It spoils first impression of the room and actually it makes the room narrow, (2) The air-con is same as home appliances and it doesn’t get the room cool, (3) hotel front person are not good at even English, (4) Food served space of buffet is too narrow, number of dishes for each food are a few, the kind of food of “cooked and served” is less. Maybe this restaurant space is created by combining Japanese style ball-room which once flourished and it makes complicated. These points make restaurant always crowded and cannot enjoy dinner comfortably.

Although I earlier mentioned “Hotel Mikazuki Group”, Mikazuki takes much better cares about these points than them. They mix “less expensive” and “cheesy” made me...