Toba Kokusai Hotel — Hotel in Toba

For Westerners reading this review, bare in mind that this is a Japanese owned and operated hotel catering to Japanese travelers. You will not feel welcomed at this property and they will make sure that you get the message. Toba International Hotel is a failure in every aspect of the hospitality industry. Starting from the check in process. No one at front desk speaks English. NO ONE! I mean, they have “international” on their name but there is nothing international about this property. And then there is the annoyed attitude from all the staff when you approach them - one feels like you are disturbing them. The bed is like sleeping on plywood - I’ve never seen a hotel that provides a bed this hard. So I went to front desk and asked for some kind of padding for the bed. With an annoyed expression on his face, front desk employee said to me in broken English: “That’s the only mattress we have.” We also asked front desk to call a restaurant for reservation and we got another rude answer: “You should call them yourself.” Every single request seemed to be a burden and the answer was always NO. When we asked for information about the attractions around the hotel, they seemed lost and confused like they had no idea about what to tell us. We booked two rooms for three nights. One ocean view and another one “mountain view”. Note that the pictures on their website and booking sites are photoshopped. The “Mountain View” room is actually “parking lot view” - see picture attached to my review. If you stay at the ocean view room you get two bottles of water per day, but if you stay at the parking lot view room you don’t get any water and you have to pay $5 for one bottle at the room’s mini bar. Talking about being out of touch with current hospitality rules - you are trying to nickel and dime your guests over a 20 cents bottle of water?! The room itself is updated and look nice but they must have run out of money when they got to the bathrooms. Think Motel 8 bathroom but worse. Minuscule area, dark with plastic sink and shower area, towels that look and feel like old rags. See pictures attached to this review. Breakfast is basic with very few western options and every morning of our stay it was the same food. Service is almost non-existent during breakfast. You have to help yourself even for coffee. Dinner at the hotel’s restaurant was a complete rip-off. Around US$200/300 per person for a pre-fix menu. I had chicken a la carte one night US$30 and I got 50g of chicken with three small veggies. See picture. There was 4 people dining at the restaurant that night as most of the guests go into town to eat local food at reasonable prices. Shuttle ends at 6pm, so if you want to go to town you’ll have to rely on taxis since the hotel will make no effort to help you go out or return to the property.

We talked to management on the last night of our stay to report our concerns. He shook his head. That was the response we got.

This was a total disaster stay for me and my group. We’ve been traveling in Japan and we were always in owe of the Japanese hospitality. Toba International Hotel is a management disaster, a unwelcoming hotel and a stain in Japan’s...

This hotel is one of the most famous in Toba…and probably was a real gem 40/50 years ago when the Japanese Emperor and even Queen Elizabeth II stayed here…but like Toba itself is probably not what it once was!|The hotel is in 2 wings (the Ocean wing and the Harbor wing)|At first we booked a Harbor wing room.|The room,while offering a view of the water,looks out onto the back of the ferry terminal in the distance.Also it seems that the sightseeing boats sometimes come into this area to turn or park up.From about 7 am you will hear boarding sounds to announce the different ferries leaving….which certainly makes it a more lively experience.|We were offered an upgrade (unfortunately not free) to an Ocean View suite for ¥2500 per person…and after seeing the room we jumped at the chance.|A huge room (two big beds) with uninterrupted views out to sea.Probably refurbished about 4 or 5 years ago…the bedroom and sitting area were very nice with a telescope for birdwatching if you are interested.Also a Nespresso coffee machine and free water.|The bathroom and toilet seemed older and while it was lovely to have a bath in the morning with the sun streaming in and the wind blowing,these rooms could probably do with an upgrade to put them in line with the bedroom/sitting area (don’t look too carefully at the floors…carpets…tatami flooring or the big green bathtub)|Package included breakfast. There was good English signage on the different foodstuffs on offer.|The Japanese food selection seemed good/the western options a little disappointing (omelettes…cooked to order if you ask/fish and chips/pizza/sausage and grilled bacon)|There is no hot spring in this hotel itself.The sister hotel - Shiojitei - a beautiful looking Japanese style ryokan hotel houses the baths.Guests can use the pearl baths by either walking easily from the Harbor view rooms (about 2-3 minutes) or take a shuttle bus from the reception area.|The baths were very nice…but if they are the purpose of your stay then stay at Shiojitei as you can wear your yukata and just pop up/down from your room.You have to dress/undress appropriately if you stay in the International and this might be a little too much trouble to go to the baths a number of times!|The staff are excellent.Very friendly and welcoming(a few spoke English)Their shuttle services to/from the train station are frequent and they will even do outside of the schedule if you are lucky!|Also they take guests to/from Shiojitei at the drop of a hat.||All in all.Beautiful views from the Ocean wing suites.If that s what you re looking for worth the upgrade from the Harbor wing rooms.|The ocean views are better from the International…whereas for a Japanese feeling hotel with the main focus on the hot-spring baths I would stay...

Let me start by saying that the staff, particularly in the restaurant, had good English and we had no problems communicating generally, which I know has been mentioned in other reviews.||We stayed in an Ocean Suite room for our engagement weekend, the view was amazing! Watching the sun rise over the sea was beautiful and the panorama of the islands and sea was so peaceful. The room was plush and the furniture felt relatively new. The bathrobes and pyjamas provided by the hotel during our stay were very comfortable, though something of a shame to not be able to go from room to onsen without outdoor clothes (other robes are provided at the onsen). ||I and my partner both have various food allergies or intolerances but the hotel has an exceptionally good way of managing allergies by asking you to submit a form beforehand. As a result of this, we were both able to have full, proper meals with no issues. For the breakfast buffet, we were given a sheet, in English, of all the dishes on service and all allergens. The food was excellent and the wine list was the best I have seen anywhere in Japan.||There are regular shuttles from the hotel to station, and the reverse. However, these stop after a certain hour and the hotel is not easily walkable from the station. I am still not really sure how this would normally be done, I assume the hotel will pick you up if asked but we were not sure how to arrange (and originally thought from the map that it would be walkable).||Honestly, I am looking forward to going back there - hopefully for an...