Villa Kitakaruizawa L wing

The public bath was my favorite, with so many skincare products available. We stayed as a family, and I really liked our clean, lovely room. The service was brilliant, too. There was a Wi-Fi problem in the room, but the staff handled it very well.

The hotel's location was so remote that we asked about a shuttle bus before booking. We were told there wasn't one, but on checkout we found a shuttle right in front of the hotel. We spent thousands of yen on public buses getting there and back over three days because of what we were told. There were no streetlights on the roads nearby either, which felt scary. To me, it looked like a ghost town. The management was the worst I've experienced, honestly, and racism exists. I strongly do not recommend this hotel, especially for foreigners. We paid 52,000 yen for two nights. After traveling around Japan for about 20 years, I know what to expect at that price, so the advertised room rate had me expecting a good stay. Instead, the place was very old with few amenities, more like a big hostel than a hotel. No breakfast was included, and the advertisement hadn't made that clear. The room smelled bad, and the toilet washlet didn't work properly. Internet was advertised in all rooms, but it only worked in the hotel lobby, not in any of the rooms. The hotel was also disappointing about check-in. I had emailed to ask if we could check in anytime since we were coming from another prefecture, but I couldn't check my email until we arrived an hour early. I asked again at the hotel and was told no, so we waited in the lobby. A few minutes later, they started checking in other groups, and only after everyone else had checked in did they approach us. Before heading to our room, I asked about nearby restaurants. To be fair, the woman who helped me was accommodating and gave me a list of restaurants and cafes. We were excited to try them, but none of the places on the list were still open. There were convenience stores, but they were too far away. For two nights, we had to go out to get food and buy breakfast for the next day, which was really disappointing. The onsen on the top floor was one of the highlights in the advertisement and a reason I booked. I emailed twice to ask about its rules, once on the first night and again on the second, and got no reply either time. I was trying to see how helpful and hospitable they'd be, especially to foreigners. I know they speak English well, since they'd replied to my earlier emails in English and most of the front desk staff spoke it well too.

We've never had such a bad experience in a hotel in Japan or anywhere else. I can't believe we had to make our own beds, just like in the picture.

Check-in staff were very helpful. The room was clean and roomy, with a beautiful view, and the elevators had glass walls. The public bath on the 13th floor was lavish.