Shiretoko Noble Hotel — Hotel in Shari

This is a review of the onsen only.

We popped along the Tourist Information Center upon arriving at Utoro, and the lovely ladies were able to whip out a map in answer to the question of which onsens (is it onsen or onsens - I have a feeling in my waters that “onsen” is both singular and plural… can anyone confirm?) accepted day visits.

When we told them we were on foot, they suggested a hotel nearby - the Noble Hotel. Myself and my travelling companion went off in search of the Noble Hotel, a feat made slightly tricky by the fact that this quite sizeable hotel’s signage was all in Japanese (not unreasonable given we were in Japan). We only knew we were in the right place when we were upon the door mats which curiously sported bilingual messaging. Wacky, but true.

We went in, and there wasn’t a soul to be found. At 3pm, a lass appeared and turned the lights on, and we approached the counter, Google Translate app at the ready. She indicated that we should wait, and after a minute, went to fetch another lady. Much discussion ensued and the second lady went to fetch a man, who spoke some English. Not enough English for us to make ourselves fully understand, but as luck would have it the guests checking in at that very moment were able to translate for us.

Cost was ¥1,200 including towels, which we had to go with the aforementioned gent to the 4th floor to collect, and then proceed under our own steam to the 7th floor where the onsen was located. It was medium sized, and clean, and had both indoor and outdoor pools. The outdoor pool afforded great views over to the sea. None of the water appeared to be mineral In nature. In the two hours we were there, only two other people came in.

The view was the only strong point of this onsen. It was altogether clear that we were the first day visitors they’d had in many a long year. This is not to say don’t go, but just expect to be met with general...

A little old and the lights in the room was dim but the hotel made up for it with its fantastic dinner and breakfast.

There do not seem to be plenty of hotel choices in Shiretoko. Chose the Noble hotel as it was just opposite the cruise center so the location was fab.

We arrived a earlier than the 3pm check in. We travelled during the off peak season and it was generally quiet in all of Hokkaido. But as with the Japanese, they are strict to the point of being inflexible with the check in timing. But they are also so courteous when rejecting you :)

So we parked our car at the hotel and went for our 2-hour brown bear cruise before returning for the check in.

The hotel is rather old and tired and the room lights are dim. The bathroom was nice and clean though.

The weather was quite warm for May but the central heating was switched on. We were roasting inside the room, so we had to open the balcony door to let fresh air in.

The food at the hotel was nice. Scrumptious and fresh dinner and breakfast. We totally enjoyed the food.

I knocked a star off because the housekeeper threw away my shower cap and dental floss after the first day of housekeeping.

You see, the hotel provides paper cups at the sink. We used the toothbrushes provided and then placed them in the paper cup so we could reuse them. Unfortunately, I also placed my shower cap and dental floss inside the paper cup. I’m surprised they would dispose of the toothbrush and provide a new set (such a waste). But before disposing the toothbrush and paper cup, the housekeeper didn’t keep the eyes peeled to see that my other stuff were in the cup. I have no qualms replacing the dental floss but problem was, I couldn’t find the thread ones. What was common were those on a stick and where one end is a toothpick, which I am unable to use. I didn’t find the right ones until the day before the end of my trip, in a drug store...

My family stayed there 2 nights on 22-24 May. Only about 6-8 rooms were occupied in this hotel and the aircon wasn’t on in the whole hotel. When I called the Front Desk (22 May at 6.30pm) to ask why my aircon controller is not working, it took a long while before a man answered the phone. |He just say “no aircon. Open the window”|Mind you it was 30 degrees that day, hot and humid. When I asked him how could a hotel not have aircon on such a hot day, he say the aircon is not working. When I was half way asking him about the aircon, he hung up on me. I was totally shocked. How could the front desk hung up the phone when the guest was still speaking! |I recognised the voice on the phone as the same person who checked us in earlier. |That same man was at the restaurant during dinner and we asked him how could he be so rude to a hotel guest. He try to pretend he couldn’t understand us. |In fact he denied he was the one who spoke to us earlier. Total lies. There was no one else at the front desk except him. |That evening, he brought us a fan to make the heat more bearable.|The rude service by the front desk gives us a bad experience at the hotel. |The restaurant staff were very good and dinner and breakfast was good. |We notice there were very few guests in the hotel. Probably only 5-6 rooms were occupied in the whole hotel. |They had probably not turned on the aircon to cut cost. |Plus side is I am the only one using the onsen. |I paid a premium for sea view which is really unnecessary as there is lots of construction for the sea view that you get. |A cheaper room with a mountain view will do. |Location of hotel is convenient though. |The photo below shows the fan that the hotel...