Kamenoi Hotel Tazawako

The East Building room was comfortable, and the hotel was clean, though the property itself feels a bit tired. We came to explore the local onsens, especially Tsurunoyu Onsen, and don't ski. With so few facilities nearby, guests are pretty much reliant on the hotel's meals. Dinner was excellent, but nothing in the hotel was open in the middle of the day. The shop was shut most of the time and had very few snacks, food, or drinks. The nearby convenience store seemed to be closed for good, though perhaps it was just shut for winter. The outdoor onsen was out of service for most of our stay for maintenance. One bath did open for short evening periods, switching between men's and women's use. The Google Maps pin is misleading: it marks the East Building, which is a separate old hotel now linked to the main building, reception, dining area, and outdoor onsen by corridors and stairs. A shuttle from Tazawako Station is available if you book at the station's information centre.

The building is dated, though it looks like some parts have been renovated. We stayed in a Japanese-style room with tatami floors. The staff really earned my five stars, they were super friendly and always ready to help. The food was amazing, and we were glad we booked both breakfast and dinner. If good service, meals, and an onsen are what you're after, this could suit you. If you want a modern new building, you may want to skip it.

There are indoor and outdoor baths, and meals come as breakfast and dinner buffets. The hotel is near the ski slopes and about 7KM from Lake Tazawako. Room sizes suit solo guests, couples, or groups of four, though most single rooms don't offer much of a view. The souvenir shop has a pretty good range of Akita alcohol and other goods.

We booked two rooms with half board through Booking.com for 27-28 Oct, but the hotel canceled on the 23rd because of overbooking. That part would've been manageable since they offered another place and said they'd arrange the transfer. On check-in day, though, the alternative accommodation told us nobody from KAMENOI had contacted them. We managed to book a new room ourselves, but when that hotel called KAMENOI, they were told we had canceled. KAMENOI had canceled us and hadn't arranged the replacement stay as promised. Unprofessional.