Umi no Hotel Shimahana — Hotel in Sumoto

I am a repeat guest in both the main building and their cottage suites across the street by the dog park. The quiet scenic location, facilities, amenities and options, room service, and well-mannered restaurant staff, along with the wonderfully designed and spacious cottage suites made it a favorite getaway that I hoped I could rate with a five, finally, after all these years (I was hovering around a four and they kept improving, so thought I’d wait until I could rate it a five). Unfortunately, our stay at the cottage suites this time was a disaster that was poorly handled by the young and apparently too inexperienced managers at the site (or their sister location across the way). Why? The answer is that there was a loud tone from the spa water pump that did not relent for a second the entire time we were there and they said they could not shut it off without adversely affecting the spa. At the other end of the cottage suites building, we could also hear the unrelenting and nerve grating buzz of some kind of electric generator. Both of these did not quiet down the entire time, day or night. Even though the management was called to experience it for themselves and acknowledged knowing about it before our reservation was made, they basically said “it can’t be helped” and apologized with an offer to switch to a standard room. Of course, we had planned our stay at the cottage suite months in advance knowing the luxury and comfort we were used to there, and making a switch was not what we planned for our small chance at a weekend holiday during the pandemic. They had no trouble still charging us more than ¥100,000 for the night we decided to stay. They did not acknowledge they should have forewarned us (or any guest) in advance that they were having that problem, and they did not offer something like a substantial discounted stay opportunity for a future stay there after repair. No. They told us that other guests did not seem to mind as much as we did (how did they sleep ?? Or enjoy the balcony ??). Excuse me ??!! How insulting ! And that for repeat customers who had sent so much business their way?!? It felt like a betrayal. On that particularl stay, all else was good, as usual, apart from two more things that annoyed. The first was that they substituted several things in the morning breakfast buffet. Having been there so many times, the bread, pastry, and sausage quality, for example, really went down. We thought it must have been due to something related to the pandemic situation and disrupted supply lines, so that could be forgiven. The second was a young inexperience staffer who would only communicate or make eye contact with my Japanese partner, even if I addressed her in Japanese. That was not as forgivable, as that kind of thing had happened once before several times earlier as I paid the bill on checking out of the hotel, and obviously I was the one they were transacting with, so why talk over my shoulder as if I wasn’t even there?! On the other hand, these sorts of things were not something that would otherwise get mentioned (though it, and some torn and dirty seat covers in the BBQ area of the restaurant were the reasons I had still been hovering at a 4and waiting to for the day I could rate it a 5). But waiting months to get our long hoped for holiday at the cottage suites and then having it turn into a torturous stress experience with unceremonious dismissal by the management and having then to pay more than ¥100,000 for it and leaving with a headache and tension… no… sorry… that was not a move up… that was a move way down. Even so, I will rate it 3 keeping in mind how good it had been and how good it could still be if the untrained and inexperienced young managers could actually understand how to handle a situation like this …in the true sense of hospitality and service for a...

Prior to my trip to Japan, my niece who lives there arranged a 1 night stay for me and brother in-law at this hotel located at the entrance to a port. She knows I like Onsens and this place has a great location and multiple Onsens located there (multiple hotels make up this property which spans both sides of the port entrance). She also notified the hotel that a tall (6'3") Gaijin would be staying.||||From Check-in to departure I never spoke English so I can’t rate the staff’s English proficiency. The staff at all of the properties was courteous and very helpful from Check-in to Check-out. When I arrived at the room I found the two western style beds were long enough. The staff also provided an extra long Yukata for me that fit perfectly. Even the top coat fit. The stay included Dinner and Breakfast which was more than enough for the average Gaijin.|||| During the evening I tried 3 different Onsen at two of the properties. All had sea views and one was right next to the water. The following morning I tried the private Onsen in our hotel.||||Helpful hints/info: ||- During the day a free glass bottom boat shuttles guests between properties. It’s a shuttle not a tour boat so don’t expect to see anything. At night a hotel bus provides free shuttle service between properties which is less than 10 min.||- Inform them if you are larger than the average Japanese and they will do their best to accommodate you.||- I never did see any menus or brochures in English.||- Toliet/bidet controls ARE...

My boyfriend and I stayed in Shimahana hotel in September. This review is so late because I have been trying to get an apology/response from the hotel management but this has not been acknowledged.||||My boyfriend and I have lived in Japan for over a year and can speak a fairly decent level of Japanese. Despite this, we received a hugely biased and racist level of customer service from some staff members. ||||Yes, the hotel room was beautiful and the onsen looking over the sea was great, but it was completely not worth the expense considering my holiday ended with the receptionist making me cry in the public lobby, due to his lack of compasion and hideous service. For example, when we wanted to be served, the receptionist just threw his hand up at us and pulled a stern face - an action similar that people usually use when communicating with their dogs. Yet, the following Japanese customers he was happy to serve with a smile.||||When we emailed the hotel about our experience , they would not acknowledge this at all. They stated they DO NOT have racist staff, and it was our problem for not understanding about Japanese food and culture. Clearly we do, and we usually experience fantastic customer service in Japan as the customer is always respected. It was an ignorant response from managment that are not able to accept their flaws and critisms.||||It's such a sad reflection of Japan when situations like...