XYZ Private spa and Seaside Resort — Hotel in Shirahama

Me and my husband stayed here for four nights to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. This little place is just outside of Shirahama so you'll be sure to get some peace and quiet. Transportation seems to be pretty nonexistent in the area unless you have a car. However, the resort doses offer a free shuttle/taxi service operating from 11am to 5pm so don't let that deter you. Upon check out, the resort were kind enough to bend the rules so we didn't miss our train. This was just one of the many things they did to ensure our stay was as comfortable as possible. ||||The view from the very well-kept traditional Japanese style room was utterly beautiful. The balcony overlooks a private beach which guests have access to. If you're lucky enough to be staying during a clear night you'll be able to see countless numbers of stars. And if that isn't tempting enough, all of this can be enjoyed from your very own private onsen. In terms of the food, everything previous reviewers say is true. It was all so delicious and I would've happily paid double for the whole experience.||||It's probably important to note that we are English speaking and know very little Japanese (just enough to get by without forgetting our manners) and I cannot praise the owners and staff enough for the lengths they went to to make sure we were enjoying our stay in spite of this. The owners gave us a warm reception. They both speak more than enough English to hold a conversation, and they currently employ one English speaking employee. This particular employee was so helpful, he even gave us a portable WiFi device upon learning we had no way to connect to the internet. This turned out to be his personal WiFi which I think is a testament to the dedication the staff here have to their job. ||||Overall I think it's fair to say our little stay was perfect. Nobody made us feel unwelcome or out of place. Nobody made us feel silly for being foreign to the food. Everyone made an attempt to greet us, even if it was just a smile. It was also refreshing to see the owners play such an active role in the operation of their business. I'd love to come back one day and learn more about how this little paradise came to be. It truly was an unforgettable stay so massive thank-you to the whole team here at XYZ Private Spa and...

A very different experience. There's no getting away from the fact that it's in a beautiful place and you get a private bath on your balcony. That in itself will be enough for most people. For me though, I'm not sure if the entire experience was worth the 40,000 yen I paid. ||||Firstly the good:||||The location is beautiful.||||The staff seem to be trying really hard||||The bath on the balcony was great||||Having a small beach in front to relax on was great||||The food was pretty good||||However,||||It really is quite expensive for what you get||||There are no closets in the rooms for storage||||The shower units are just a glass cylinder put inside the rooms. Difficult for tall people to use, and you need to literally step over your futons after your shower to get out to the tubs.||||The rooms don't really have any windows at all, so unless you are actually on the balcony, there is no view at all.||||The lighting in the rooms was very dark, even with all lights turned on||||The view from the top tier of rooms was half of the blue tarps and first tier below. You had to really stand up in the tub to actually see the ocean||||While sitting on the beach, the foul-smelling runoff from the hot tubs periodically comes gushing out of a hole in the wall beside you, splashing onto the rocks next to where you are sitting||||The staff seemed overly wanting to please, and yet kind of unprofessional at the same time. Did not feel like I was in Japan for some reason||||The whole place feels a bit cobbled together||||Overall we had a good time here. I'm just not sure it was worth the...

Stayed here two nights before our Kumano Kodo hike. We cannot rate this property highly enough. ||The hotel suffered from the recent typhoons and some parts of the hotel were being repaired but it didn’t interfere in any way with the amazing view of the beach at the back of the the hotel. ||We stayed on the top (second) floor and had our own hot tub (onsen) with adjustable temperature which we used during the day and at night. We turned all the lights off, gazed at the stars above (thanks to a retractable roof) and even saw a few shooting starts! Do watch out for mosquitoes though, don’t leave the door to your room open or you’ll end up with some uninvited guests in your room. ||We had breakfast and breakfast at the restaurant downstairs (no view from here). The food was impeccably presented and the best, highest quality shabu shabu (shaved wagyu beef boiled in onsen water) we’ve had in Japan. The breakfast was an assortment of sandwiches (too many for us to eat) with lots of fruit, yoghurt and pastries. The hotel was kind enough to give us a lift to a restaurant for lunch where we also took a couple of hours to walk around, and they dropped us off at the bus stop in time for our onward journey on our last day. They also kindly arranged for our luggage to be forwarded to Tokyo. If we are ever in this part of the world again, we will definitely make a point of coming to XYZ resort again. ||Thanks to all the smiling kind staff for an...