Itoen Hotel Hakone Yumoto

There was no room cleaning during our two-day stay, and the staff felt robotic. They were friendly enough but didn’t go out of their way. The free drinks advertised didn’t include beer, and we were told we had to buy dinner to get beer. One of us doesn’t drink much water before bed, so we asked if we could pay for a child’s meal, but they said no. There was an electric jug in the room but no bottled water, tea, or coffee. When we asked why, we were told those were in the restaurant, which wasn’t always open. We also asked which bus went to the train station and were told 7am, but no bus came. There were no taxis available either, so we ran for the station and had to ask a local for a ride or we would have missed the train. For what we paid, it wasn’t worth it.

Our room was huge and clean, with a balcony, dining room, tatami bedroom, and full bathroom. There’s a mini market about a five-minute walk away. We took a bus to get there, and the road was super narrow with no sidewalk, which felt a bit scary.

The price was unbelievable: €500 for one night for three people, including food, and the place felt nowhere near worth it. The building was in terrible shape, with outdated tech, dusty rooms, dirty sheets, and a really strong smell. I'm a tourist spending 16 days in Japan, and this was the first problem I'd had with the country or its culture. It was a traumatic experience, and I won't return. There are other, better and cheaper hot springs around here.

The walk to Hakone Yumoto station looks like about 20 minutes on Google Maps, but be ready for a lot of stairs on the way there and back. Our room was clean, nicely decorated, and had a good view. There were four of us in an eight-person room, and we could sleep in separate rooms. Both the men's and women's onsens had indoor and outdoor pools, though the men's outdoor one was being maintained during our stay, which disappointed my husband. Breakfast was a little underwhelming compared with other onsen hotels: not much choice, and the taste was just okay. I'm glad we had dinner elsewhere. Service felt standard and robotic.