Hotel Grateful Takachiho — Hotel in Takachiho

If you are not looking for the half-board ryokan treatment but a simple hotel in Takachiho, this one might still be your best bet. It's fairly new, there is a Family Mart downstairs (not many restaurants for dinner in this town, that becomes almost depressingly quiet once the day-tourist have left or retreated to their ryokan), breakfast is okay, too.||||However, our experience at this place was rather unpleasant and annoying due to gross incompetence of the management. We had booked a double room, non-smoker, with two seperate beds. Additionally we had notified the hotel that we travel with a 5 year old child and a baby (who stay free of charge in the parents bed according to the stated hotel policy). Check-in was friendly. When we opened the door to our room we saw to our dismay that the room asigned to us hardly fitted 1 (one) 1,40 m wide bed, very small for two adults alone - quite common for small double rooms in Japan, but still not what we had booked. We went downstairs again to solve this. But there was no easy solution. There was no room with two seperate beds (available), we were told, showing them the photo of the booking I had made before I had gone offline again, showing all details down to the significantly larger room with two beds. This did not make an impression. The rooms were taken and while one receptionist went on/off to the back office that apparently hid a superior manager and was then eager to suggest and phone another (admittedly older) hotel somewhere in town, the other guy at the reception kept just contributing the english word: "No". After a day's journey this dragged on way too long, the rest of the light draining out of the autumn day and we hadn't even seen the the Takachiho gorge. I suggested then I take a single room - this was on another floor and was a smoking room (no non-smoking singles available). The single room (and the bed) was the same size as the one in the double room we had been asigned. And finally, with me agreeing to go into the indeed rather smelly smoker single, the more helpful female receptionist recalculating the fee and downgrading our original double due to the single occupancy and arriving at 2600 Yen we still had to pay (after the 11,000 we had paid for the first room already), everything was finally okay. The female receptionist suggested that we pay the 2600 Yen at check-out. When we finally left into the late afternoon the second male clerk, the "No"-guy, came rushing after us, asking me to send an email with the screenshots and the booking confirmation and I told him I will mail this to him in the evening, when I am back in the room and on their wifi. He reluctantly agreed. The deep Takachiho gorge was too dark for photos when we got there. Admittedly my son and I came back after 9 pm, after the dance at Takachiho shrine - so, "No"-guy may be forgiven for rushing us again at the elevator and reminding us. My wife told me he had also called her room already about it and he had also asked her to come down to pay the remaining 4000 Yen. Wait? Why 4000 Yen, now? The baby was sleeping and my wife had reminded him, that his colleague had said we were supposed to pay this when we check out the next day. I sent the emails with the attachments then around 10.30 pm, refering again to the clear and precise details in the booking. ||||When we checked out the next day, we were not asked to pay additional 4000 yen. We were only asked to pay 3000 yen. That was only 400 Yen more than we were told by the female receptionist. Room rates are nowhere visibly quoted.The reception guy is a new guy. But there is at least one manager who had been in the day before but even if talked to directly does not choose to intervene. 400 yen, certainly not big money. But after all this annoyances, I really felt like discussing this out - but there really was no point to it, just a waste of even more time. I paid the new guy, asked for m receipt and told him, I will notify the hotel booking page and write a review on...

We needed a hotel for a night as we were in the area and Takachiho is quite literally in the middle of no where. This is one of the few hotels that have better reviews.||We had a non smoking twin room on the 4th floor and it was fine. Enough space for the both of us with a small couch and table and fridge. Japanese bathroom was clean and cosy. Bed was comfortable. Breakfast was included and Japanese buffet style - salad bar, boiled eggs, rice, soup and pickles and small items. There was also bread and yoghurt with cereal but not a lot. ||There’s no bath or gym or the likes. There is a large car park that’s free for guests and a FamilyMart that’s connected by the lift at floor B1. There’s a few things around the area like a supermarket up the road (you would need to drive there) and a small restaurant across the road. Otherwise, come prepared as they don’t have a dinner restaurant within the hotel. ||Rated 5/5 for the area and what was available but by no means does it mean it is the best hotel...

This "business" hotel was perfect for my stay on this trip. It was centrally located and had a convenience store on the lowest level where I could grab a quick hot meal. The staff were very friendly and helpful. I had plans to attend the yokagura at Takachiho Shrine and they directed me so that I could walk there in less than 15 minutes; super easy!||||I had been travelling for several days and needed to do laundry--they had a coin laundry room and sold small packets of detergent.||||The room was very comfortable--nice bed, lots of power points for charging devices, pretty much everything I needed. Good wifi service, too!||||The only down side was that the ceiling in the bath/toilet was a little low. There was just enough clearance for a six-footer like me to...