Hananoya

Really relaxing place. Definitely enjoyed the complimentary ice cream! Excellent service!

There is so much to like about this place. We stayed in the newer separate building called Hanamizuki, just down the road from the old main building. The building is great, very well-kept and tastefully furnished, and very comfortable and unpretentious. The staff are all very friendly, polite and helpful; great service overall. We took our toddler and the staff could not have been more accommodating or helpful with her. The room we stayed in is pretty typical, which means a very clean and spacious Japanese room, with the bed being two comfortable mattresses on a low platform. Lots of floor space for kids to play. The room opens out onto an open-air balcony which contains a shower and your very own private bath, looking out over a forest. Very happy with the room, and the private bath was awesome. Dinner is served in your own private space in the dining area. Pork shabu shabu was top quality and there was plenty to eat as it was served with excellent sashimi and other good food. Breakfast was less impressive but still high-quality and reasonably filling if you don't mind a very Japanese breakfast. Coffee is available on request. Tip: don't pay for any alcohol in the hotel. Sake is free in the shared onsen bath, and you get a free taster set included with dinner. If you want beer or other drinks, walk down to the "michi no eki" about five minutes down the road and you can buy local beer etc. far cheaper than in the hotel itself. So why three stars? The big problem for us was that smoking was allowed in the balcony/bath areas of each room. Twice during our one-night stay the horrible smell of cigarette smoke came into our room from some other balcony, forcing us to close the door and making our own balcony unusable for that time. The single best thing they can do is to make a smoking room somewhere on the site and make all the rooms and balconies entirely smoke free. 全部の部屋を禁煙して欲しい。 Other than that, it was just a couple of little things. If you are arriving and leaving by train, for example, your check in and check out times will be dictated by the train timetable. We wanted to stay right up until 11am but we had to check out at 10am in order to be taken to the train. Additionally, the location is OK but not great. There's very little in the immediate area, so might not be a good "base" for sightseeing. Most people are there for the comfort and pleasure of the hotel itself it seems. Finally, you are given some "free" souvenir gifts as you checkout. Both the ones we got were relatively low-quality and not what we would have chosen, and we basically felt like it was something extra to carry when we already had lots of luggage. Advice to the management: cut the free omiyage and reduce the price by 1000 yen a night. So, for some kinds of people this will be a five star, and great value for that as well. On the other hand, if the smell of cigarette smoke is a deal-breaker for you, I can't recommend you stay here at all, so three stars it is.