Tama Ryokan — Hotel in Tokyo

My mother and I had the pleasure of staying at Tama Ryokan earlier this month.||Michael was incredibly responsive during our booking process and communications were easy and smooth. We wanted a truly authentic and traditional experience in Japan so we really wanted to stay at a ryokan. We found that in Japan, for the very authentic and traditional places, language can often be a barrier (we speak no Japanese at all). Michael comes to the rescue as he speaks better English than my mom and I combined, yet the ryokan itself is as authentically Japanese as you can imagine!!! We felt very lucky to have found the cultural experience that we really craved for, and at the same time having had the comfort/security of knowing that language would not be an issue during our stay.||Upon our arrival, the hostess treated us very kindly. We actually enjoyed learning about the rules around the house because to us, that was all part of the cultural & learning experience. The rules were a great insight into how a real Japanese family lives and you can tell a lot about how thoughtful the culture is through its rules. What a rare, fun and interesting experience to take part in a different culture firsthand for few days. ||The hostess gave us welcome gifts, which was such a thoughtful gesture of hospitality. We also got complimentary cakes (the brandy cake was so delicious that we later bought some for ourselves!!!)||The room itself was fun, charming and comfortable. I loved the sliding doors and tatami mats, and the blankets were heavenly comfortable!!!||The location can’t be beat. Lots of great food around and it is an easy walk to the train station. ||On the day that we were checking out of the ryokan, I received a pleasant surprise that I never ever would have imagined. The hosts actually offered us a discount off of the rates that I had agreed to pay, without me even asking, because we had agreed to pay a higher cherry blossom season rate (which season ended early so we weren’t able to see much of the cherry blossoms). I really thought that even at the higher rates that I agreed to pay, the place and the entire experience was an incredible bargain already, so I felt like the gesture from the hosts was such a testament to their sincerity and incredible integrity.||Both my mom and I were really touched by the honesty, transparency, thoughtfulness and generosity of the owners. Their sincerity really made a strong impression on me, which is the impetus for this review (I rarely ever write reviews).||This was my third trip to Tokyo (my mom’s first). I had previously stayed at the large international chains (Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills and Hyatt Regency in Shinjuku) while paying way more than what I paid at Tama (and I remember nothing from those places because they weren’t memorable). Tama, on the other hand, was fun, authentic, quirky, genuine, comfortable and...

Wow, going to add to the growing negative reviews regarding their booking.com communication (we never actually got to stay here). Myself and my partner have been doing our dream trip of Asia over the last few years, we book flights then accommodation, then make specific plans closer to the arrival time. We booked our dream trip to Japan for late March - April and was so excited to stay here, but the communication with the owners was just strange, straight away demanding to know our specific arrival time, I said around 4pm as it’s the best I can guess right now as the trip isn’t for over 3 months yet they kept sending paragraph after paragraph all in the same rude and patronising tone before then demanding a 55,000 deposit via PayPal 3 months ahead of our stay and refusing to honour the free cancellation!! The whole thing is so strange, never had another encounter with an accommodation quite like this, obviously we ended up cancelling the booking after reading more reviews and the owners aggressive responses to all of them. It’s now been several days since we cancelled and the owner is still sending paragraphs and paragraphs of rude messages, they are actually so aggressive - we re booked somewhere else, it only cost a tiny bit extra and now we have a private ensuite rather than sharing one bathroom with the entire hotel like you have to if you were to stay here - last photo is what they sent to me after my google review, all of these messages from them are only because I said I would confirm my arrival time closer to the time of our stay as our trip is 3 months away and I don’t know if my flight will get delayed 😂 so crazy

Update: at this point I responded with laughing faces because I can’t believe I cancelled and now several days later they are still sending me paragraphs, again, this is all because I said I would arrive around 4pm and I would give them a better estimated arrival time closer to the date, and in return they wished bankruptcy upon me because it would be ‘good for me’ (see last...

This is a very old traditional family house. There are strict rules to keep the house clean and maintained. This is a family home where the owners decided to open up their home for a hospitality business. ||If you cannot follow the rules or keep an open mind about other cultures then this place isn’t for you. The rules include:||-no street shoes in the house. House slippers are out in the foyer for guests to use. |-no house slippers on the tatami straw mats. The mats are fragile and can mold easily. Don’t get water on them, no water bottles on them, and nothing heavy on them. Keep that in mind when you have your luggage. You’ll have to carry it into the closet |-open the doors with dry hands. These doors are made out of paper|-Keep your luggage as far into the closet as possible. The closet door is made out of paper. Luggage sticking out can damage them |-switch into the bathroom slippers when using bathroom |-there is a shared toilet upstairs and one shared toilet downstairs.|-They have one shared shower downstairs. This is an old residential shower so don’t expect an American hotel shower. ||I stayed three nights and had a very comfortable and uneventful stay. This place doesn’t offer food, other than snacks when you check in. They do have a hot water pot and tea. I saw a small fridge and microwave outside my room, but never used it. I think those are for the guests. ||She will show you how to unfold the futon. Since the blanket is nice and fluffy, don’t lay on top or put anything on top of it. The futon is a typical Japanese bed. If you are a side or back sleeper, this bed might be too hard for you. I read that Japanese people like hard beds better because it hardens your body. ||There is a space heater and A/C unit in your room. ||I always try to support local business owners. The owner was very nice and spoke English relatively well. It’s well priced for the area. I appreciate the owners allowing us to open their home to share the Japanese...