Toya Kohantei Hotel — Hotel in Toyako

This hotel has received a number of negative reviews which do not bear out with the experience my family and I had last week. We stayed two nights. The Kohantei is a need of a little renovation, but overall, it is very well presented, very clean with impeccable staff. The cost per night does appear expensive - approx. 30,000 Yen per night for a family of four, however this includes breakfast and dinner and bus transfer from and too Sapporo Station or the New Chitose Airport. ||||I will discuss each aspect of the Kohantei experience in detail.||||Bus transfer. We departed from Sapporo Station at 1.30pm and arrived in Toyako at approximate 4.30pm. It should be noted that in the height of winter, the bus is often only travelling at 40kmh with maybe a max speed of 60kmh. It is a long trip but very picturesque. The driver stops for one comfort break as there is no toilet on the bus. The return trip departs the Hotel at 9.45 am and arrives at Sapporo Station at approximately 12.45pm.||||Arrival.||Hokkaido gets dark early in the winter and Toyako is no exception. So 4.30pm means the whole resort town is in late dusk. The front desk staff were courteous and professional. Most members could speak English. The staff advised on meal times and hotel and town diversions.||||The Room.||We had a 14 tatami mat room overlooking the mountains. If possible, opt for the lake view. It is glorious as the mountain view is more the view of the side of snow bound land feature. The room fittings were a little frayed but overall in good order. A bottle of cold water was in the fridge and tea and rice crackles were waiting on the main room table. Yukata robes for four were in the robe. Note - kids size and extra large yukata are available in the lobby. Also available in the lobby are the colourful summer girls yukata with silk obi and zori sandles. Yukata are worn throughout the hotel. You wear them to the Onsen, you wear them to dinner, you wear them in the lobby. You wear them to sleep. They are very comfortable. The heating in the hotel is sufficient that you can wear the cotton yukata without a jacket. After you return from dinner on your first night, you will find the hotel staff have laid out the futons for sleeping. The linen is clean, fresh and crisp. We found that the 14 mat room was very roomy for a family of four.||||Onsen.||The 9th floor of the hotel is the onsen floor. There are two - one for males, the other for women. The onsens are switched so the guests get a chance to experience both types of bath as they are different. Both have epic views over the lake. One though has its outdoor section under cover with two large round baths and a stone lined Rotenburo (outdoor natural pond style bath). The other onsen has a big outdoor area that is completely open to the world. It has a big round bath and three bathroom type baths on a deck as well as the Rotenburo. When we were staying, this outdoor area was covered in snow. Very beautiful and an amazing experience sitting in the 47C onsen water with snow falling on your hair. Both onsens have indoor baths as well, with a huge plate glass window separating the bather from the world and the magnificent view. The onsen facilities are spotless.||||Dining||The room fee includes breakfast and dinner in a buffet restaurant. Contrary to the other reviews, we found the buffet to have a good selection of various Japanese dishes including fresh sashimi. Breakfast had both Japanese and western options available. The food was fresh, well made and presented. The house miso soup was an outstanding prawn/shrimp made broth packed with flavor. Soft drink, hot and cold tea and coffee is available on the buffet. Beer, sake and shochu is available, however is a little on the expensive side by Japanese standards, with a chu-jockey coming in at 650 Yen. A 2000 Yen drink package is available for one hour.||||Hotel facilities.||There is a shop that sells a very good array of local products as souvenirs as well as array of minor groceries including alcohol. Prices are very reasonable with 500ml cans of Sapporo Classic selling for 310 Yen. Drinks purchased from the shop can be drank in the hotel lobby. The hotel bar was closed during our stay. There is a games room with karaoke booths, pool and table tennis. These can be paid for at reception.||||Hopefully readers will find this review helpful. My family and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Kohantei and would recommend...

This hotel has received a number of negative reviews which do not bear out with the experience my family and I had last week. We stayed two nights. The Kohantei is a need of a little renovation, but overall, it is very well presented, very clean with impeccable staff. The cost per night does appear expensive - approx. 30,000 Yen per night for a family of four, however this includes breakfast and dinner and bus transfer from and too Sapporo Station or the New Chitose Airport. ||||I will discuss each aspect of the Kohantei experience in detail.||||Bus transfer. We departed from Sapporo Station at 1.30pm and arrived in Toyako at approximate 4.30pm. It should be noted that in the height of winter, the bus is often only travelling at 40kmh with maybe a max speed of 60kmh. It is a long trip but very picturesque. The driver stops for one comfort break as there is no toilet on the bus. The return trip departs the Hotel at 9.45 am and arrives at Sapporo Station at approximately 12.45pm.||||Arrival.||Hokkaido gets dark early in the winter and Toyako is no exception. So 4.30pm means the whole resort town is in late dusk. The front desk staff were courteous and professional. Most members could speak English. The staff advised on meal times and hotel and town diversions.||||The Room.||We had a 14 tatami mat room overlooking the mountains. If possible, opt for the lake view. It is glorious as the mountain view is more the view of the side of snow bound land feature. The room fittings were a little frayed but overall in good order. A bottle of cold water was in the fridge and tea and rice crackles were waiting on the main room table. Yukata robes for four were in the robe. Note - kids size and extra large yukata are available in the lobby. Also available in the lobby are the colourful summer girls yukata with silk obi and zori sandles. Yukata are worn throughout the hotel. You wear them to the Onsen, you wear them to dinner, you wear them in the lobby. You wear them to sleep. They are very comfortable. The heating in the hotel is sufficient that you can wear the cotton yukata without a jacket. After you return from dinner on your first night, you will find the hotel staff have laid out the futons for sleeping. The linen is clean, fresh and crisp. We found that the 14 mat room was very roomy for a family of four.||||Onsen.||The 9th floor of the hotel is the onsen floor. There are two - one for males, the other for women. The onsens are switched so the guests get a chance to experience both types of bath as they are different. Both have epic views over the lake. One though has its outdoor section under cover with two large round baths and a stone lined Rotenburo (outdoor natural pond style bath). The other onsen has a big outdoor area that is completely open to the world. It has a big round bath and three bathroom type baths on a deck as well as the Rotenburo. When we were staying, this outdoor area was covered in snow. Very beautiful and an amazing experience sitting in the 47C onsen water with snow falling on your hair. Both onsens have indoor baths as well, with a huge plate glass window separating the bather from the world and the magnificent view. The onsen facilities are spotless.||||Dining||The room fee includes breakfast and dinner in a buffet restaurant. Contrary to the other reviews, we found the buffet to have a good selection of various Japanese dishes including fresh sashimi. Breakfast had both Japanese and western options available. The food was fresh, well made and presented. The house miso soup was an outstanding prawn/shrimp made broth packed with flavor. Soft drink, hot and cold tea and coffee is available on the buffet. Beer, sake and shochu is available, however is a little on the expensive side by Japanese standards, with a chu-jockey coming in at 650 Yen. A 2000 Yen drink package is available for one hour.||||Hotel facilities.||There is a shop that sells a very good array of local products as souvenirs as well as array of minor groceries including alcohol. Prices are very reasonable with 500ml cans of Sapporo Classic selling for 310 Yen. Drinks purchased from the shop can be drank in the hotel lobby. The hotel bar was closed during our stay. There is a games room with karaoke booths, pool and table tennis. These can be paid for at reception.||||Hopefully readers will find this review helpful. My family and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Kohantei and would recommend...

Forget any of the typical Japanese hospitality of having everything clean and incredible attention to detail. This is absolutely the worst hotel I've ever been in during my trips to Japan. The hotel is an extremely old building that hasn't seen proper maintenance and cleaning, everything is worn down and nothing is kept clean.||We stayed at one of the larger rooms which fits up to 6 futons and it has been anything but pleasant. None of us have been able to sleep and this stay felt like a complete waste of money. ||Listing just some of the things wrong with this place:||1. Lots of uncleaned dirt and grime everywhere, check attach photos. The biggest ones were that there was literal MOLD on the ceilings from what seems to be water leakage and they DID NOT CARE to clean that. So that tells you how much they do not care about anything. Which can be seen from the disgusting mold and dirt even on the sink in the bathroom (which was also cracked).||2. A lot of the furniture and building itself is worn down and they did not bother to fix them to be presentable.||3. Aircon doesn't work and the room got very warm, was especially unpleasant after going from the hot spring.||5. No blackout curtains means light coming in and disturbing your sleep from 5am in the morning.||6. There was one toilet in the hot spring area and it was left uncleaned with pee on the floor.||7. There are no lounge or any free food or drinks available, unlike in other onsen. They have a "tatami relaxation area" which is literally just an empty tatami area and a vending machine beside it. You can't even get an extra towel in the hot spring area itself, you have to bring your own towel from the room. ||The only redeeming thing was the buffet had a lot of selection and was somewhat interesting, but I am not worried about how clean they even kept the kitchen. ||You might see good reviews for this onsen, but I really wonder if they are paid/bot reviews or just from people who has never been to better. In the hotel I see a lot of large tour groups from SE Asia countries, which to me seems like they are just here because they got a good deal and they didn't...