The Lake View Toya Nonokaze Resort

Absolutely loved this hotel! The lake views are unbeatable, and you can see Mount Yotei right from your window. The best part was being able to watch the fireworks display from the comfort of our room! Both the breakfast and dinner buffets were delicious and offered a wide variety of thoughtfully prepared dishes. The service was also excellent, truly impeccable! Five stars all around! ✌️

The value for money here isn't great. All the points are for the view. It wasn't off-season nor peak season during summer vacation, and 3000 a night for a high-floor twin room isn't exactly cheap. You can see the high-floor view from room 711 in pictures one and two. The rooms booked through Trip.com seem to be in this specific vertical stack. Don't choose the cheaper standard rooms on lower floors; my second picture clearly shows that the lower floors look out onto dilapidated platforms. Then there was differential treatment – I wouldn't call it outright discrimination, but it felt like it. When I checked in, they gave me a number tag and said they'd call me when the room was ready. They called numbers 1-4, all other nationalities, promptly. But when it came to me, they 'accidentally' forgot they'd given me a number tag. I had to go and ask myself, and then they remembered the room was ready, with the keys already behind the counter. It was similar with the buffet dinner. The first few people in line, all foreign, were led to central tables, even if not by the window, they still had good views. When it was my turn, I was directly led to a corner by the entrance, next to a partition with no view whatsoever. I asked to switch tables but was refused. (I'm not sure if this was due to nationality or room category). As for the rooftop open-air hot spring, it's nothing to write home about, way overhyped. In short, I won't be visiting again.

Since the club floor doesn't allow children, we only booked two rooms without private onsen, which felt more open and spacious. We had access to the lounge, and the snacks and cheese were delicious, with very Japanese-style coffee. Each floor had a small exhibition, which was fun to browse. The scenic open-air bath on the onsen floor offered unbeatable views. Dinner and breakfast were excellent, a Japanese-leaning international buffet with a rich variety perfect for sampling a little of everything.

Today I checked into the Toya-koh Hananoyu Hotel in Hokkaido. The hotel is right by the lake, so it's quite convenient for a stroll along the shore. However, due to the protruding third-floor platform, the lake view from rooms on the fourth and fifth floors isn't great. The hotel's service attitude was very mediocre. The bath towels in the room even had yellow stains (see pictures four and five). After speaking with the front desk, they just casually told me to come back and get another one (which would be a hassle if there was a language barrier). The 'one night, two meals' package included breakfast and dinner, both buffet-style and quite ordinary. I'd recommend dining at a nearby restaurant for dinner instead. For breakfast, you could grab something from the convenience store across the street. All in all, if I ever go back to Lake Toya, I won't be choosing this hotel again.