Hatago Itouya — Hotel in Obanazawa

I never stayed at Hatago Itoya, but I had the worse experience with trying to make a reservation with them that I felt I needed to share with anyone trying to come here during peak season. I am not usually the type to give a bad review to a business based on the inability get a reservation, especially at a popular establishment. However, I have to leave a review this time due to their lack of communication, inefficient business model, and lack of effort to accommodate for their error. I have been following their website for the past 6 months hoping to better my chances of get a spot during January. It was so frustrating as there were no guidelines on when they release their availabilities. Sometimes 1-2 months were released and it was released any time whether it was beginning or towards the end of the month or sometimes availabilities were released daily at midnight their time. There is no sense of consistency what so ever. I tried reaching out by email, on social media, and even asked my credit card concierge to reach out on my behalf, but no response. Not to mention their site is constantly down at least 40% of the time. I eventually caved and asked a friend in Japan to help and she called on my behalf. They answered and said the date I was hoping for was already booked out which is very deceiving since their calendar only released out until end of December at this point. I felt like I was at such an unfair disadvantage. At least other popular businesses in Japan that favors locals provide the same release dates or is very clear they don't take international guest. I wasted SO much time checking their site everyday for availabilities. I was about to give up until I checked this morning and they released their availability in January. I immediately submitted my reservation request and even received a confirmation email before their site crashed again. I was ecstatic until I received an email saying they overbooked my reservation and told me to find a different date/room. I was so confused because their reservation site was down and when I logged in, it showed my status was confirmed. I responded to that email and to my surprised they basically said I don't have a reservation and to find a different date... HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND ONE IF YOUR SITE IS DOWN?! By the time their availabilities showed back up, less dates were available. I mentioned I am there for my honeymoon and was only in Yamagata for 2 days, so I asked them politely if I could at least be added to a waitlist or help me out somehow since its their system error. All I got was "We are booked out, you have to find a different date." I am lost for words. I tried to be understanding, but this was a terrible experience and I even canceled a reservation I had with another Ryokan at Ginzan Onsen. Hope this helps anyone who is trying to stay here and hope you have a better experience...

I stayed here with a friend. It was pretty great, but they couldn't prepare Celiac friendly food for her. She brought her own dinner and breakfast so she didn't have to pay for the fancy meal, but they did serve her rice. The evening meal was really good, with many courses, and took about 90 minutes to eat. Breakfast was also delicious. The baths were great, both private so you just go in when it's empty and you get it all to yourself. The one on the second floor is definitely best. (There are only 4 or 5 rooms, so it's not that hard to get into them.)The hotel is located at the end of the Ginzan Onsen strip, which made popping out for photos very convenient, not to mention going for walks . We went for a walk in the morning along the path by the waterfall and it was also lovely. Parking was not so far away either, and they offered to take our luggage back to the car when we left in...

I stayed here with a friend. It was pretty great, but they couldn't prepare Celiac friendly food for her. She brought her own dinner and breakfast so she didn't have to pay for the fancy meal, but they did serve her rice. The evening meal was really good, with many courses, and took about 90 minutes to eat. Breakfast was also delicious. The baths were great, both private so you just go in when it's empty and you get it all to yourself. The one on the second floor is definitely best. (There are only 4 or 5 rooms, so it's not that hard to get into them.)The hotel is located at the end of the Ginzan Onsen strip, which made popping out for photos very convenient, not to mention going for walks . We went for a walk in the morning along the path by the waterfall and it was also lovely. Parking was not so far away either, and they offered to take our luggage back to the car when we left in...