SEN.RETREAT CHIKATSUYU — Hotel in Tanabe

I was about to give bad reviews due to some poor check-in experience, but everything after check in is so good that compensates this journey.First, the check-in process that brings me with bad experience: it is self-served and there is no any staff. By rights you should receive an instruction email with check-in PIN in advance, which I heard from other guests. However, I didn’t receive anything but Trip’s confirmation letter and I was unable to check in. And my sim card in Japan is just an internet card unable to make phone calls, which means I have no way to contact the hotel directly. My partner and I were desperately locked out of the hotel in the evening, after 7h hiking, with no other available hotel in the mountain. After waiting for over 1 hour, other guests helped us to enter the admin room where there is an ipad to call the hotel (why not make it available to guests without checking in?), and with the help of Trip’s agency, we finally checked in successfully.Then here is the staying experience: so good that makes me almost forgive the poor check-in experience. Each room is a spacious individual house and ours has a garden for BBQ. The food is also self-served, with the cooking stuffs and ingredients in the fridge. It was unexpected that you need to cook yourself (I don’t think it was listed on room info when I booked it), but it’s not bad that Wagyu, chicken, and vegetables are served. The rooms are big and cozy, and you can do the laundry after hiking.Everything is good about the hotel itself, just be aware of the self-checkin process and make sure you get the instructions...

Beware. This dystopian botched luxury adventure box could work out great for you as some of the other reviews attest. But our experience was anything but that. Arriving at sundown exhausted from our kumano journey, the poorly designed check in system nearly broke us. We pre-registered, got a code, but when entering, tablet #1 instead told us to talk to the remote call center on tablet #2. For 5 minutes no one answered. Then on they came, trying to be helpful until the internet went out. Finally reconnected and i had to talk the guy in india to just give me the 4 digit code. 15 frustrated minutes later we were in thanks in part to a lovely german couple who explained additional things. Phew. Almost. Turns out what their Booking.com description called "dinner and breakfast included" or "half bored" is ingredients to cook your own pizza... in the outdoor wood fired oven no less. Fun under the right conditions, but not when it's dark out and you're tired and hungry. Yes, the container lodging has great luxurious bedding. And a lovely outdoor setting, decked out in astroturf (!). But beware too about the road noise early in the AM when the trucks start rolling though making the place audibly rumble. All this for WAY too much money. Everywhere else in the Kumano we loved (especially J Hoppers in Yunomine). I rarely write negative reviews at this length, but i feel that folks should be aware, and the management needs to prioritize a welcoming honest experience rather than max out on gadgetry they dont really know...

A great place if you’re open to cooking some food yourself. Yes, the dinner options are basically non-existent, but that really doesn’t matter if you’re open minded and willing to do something yourself. My partner and I walked for 8 hours and were exhausted when we arrived, but we still decided to get some food from the shop across the road (very nearby!!) and cook. It ended up being a lovely way to end the day which also surprised us. We sat atop our container-home and looked to the mountains as we ate our food. The room has everything you need other than knives and maybe more options for plates, but it’s doable. Everything is compact but that’s part of the charm, and it’s really quite incredible how they organise the entire room. The only issues we encountered were the lack of knives (only one chef’s knife, no normal knives for spreading butter etc), and the plates, but no other issues. The lack of staff to talk to face to face can be a bit of a shock to people, but it’s all about your own attitude to trying it out, as this isn’t a hotel where you can get anything you want just by asking. You can ask, but it’s all done via a couple of iPads. Just be prepared and keep an open mind. If you do that, this might be one of the most comfortable and personal stays...