I purposely booked this hotel and chose the Western-Japanese combination room because I thought we'd be tired of the whole sleeping on the floor thing after traveling through Japan for 30 days. I also wanted the private onsen that comes with this type of room. I think there is only one of these room types with the river view, but I felt it was worth the slight extra charge for the view of the forested hills and the river. I don't know why the previous reviewer said it looks like a sewage trench. It looked like a river to me, but it was rainig, so maybe there was more water in it when we were there.
This is a large Japanese style hotel and there were a lot of group functions going on, but they never disturbed us. Once we were in our room we heard nothing from other guests and I know the hotel was fully booked for the three nights we stayed there.
Don't let the lobby throw you off. It is in dire need of an update, but the room looked brand new with beautiful wood floors and a brand new, stylish bathroom with two sinks. The corridors and elevators all had new carpeting, so perhaps the lobby is next on the update agenda. The room was HUGE. I'm sure it was way bigger than an average Japanese apartment. With the western combo room you get two twin beds in a separate alcove that can be shut off from the larger tatami room with sliding screens. There is the aforementioned huge tatami room with the low dining table, a flat screen TV, tea maker, etc., as you would expect in a Japanese hotel. Attached to that is a large sitting area with a sofa and two upholstered chairs and a lovely wood floor. This room was on the fourth floor at the corner of the building facing the hills and river with windows on two sides. The view was very serene and we enjoyed just sitting there looking out. There was some traffic noise during the day from the nearby road, but it was quiet enough at night to leave the windows open.
The bathroom consisted of three separate rooms starting with a room with the most advanced automated toilet we encountered in Japan. The lid jumped open before you could even reach for it. Next there was a room with two sinks and so many toiletries it looked like a salon. Through sliding glass doors was the area for washing with a wooden seat and bucket, plus a handheld shower. The shower had a valve like you'd find in a gas station that you push and the water stays on for a few seconds, then you have to push it again. That was annoying, but we got used to it. Outside on the balcony was the private ceramic tub with constantly running hot spring water. The water was extremely hot, but there was a valve so you could add cold water to it, which made it more comfortable to ease into it.
Meals are served in the room with all of the courses brought at one time, which was fine with us. The food here was the most "exotic" of the three ryokan we stayed in. It was probably the highest quality and most quantity, but we had no clue what 50% of it was. This is not a place for the picky eater, that's for sure. When you make your reservation on their website there is an option for no raw fish, so if you are squeamish you might want to select that option. The Japanese breakfast wasn't quite as weird, although it varied day to day. It included fried eggs and other thing the average westerer will recognize.
When we arrived, no one at the front desk spoke English, but they got a manager to come out and he was able to communicate just fine. We were given an English printout describing the hotel and how it works, which was nice. They kept apologizing for not speaking English, but we had no problems getting our point across. Any time there was something that required a more elaborate explanation, an English speaking person would show up to interpret for us. They really did make a big effort to be helpful.
The room attendant spoke no English at all, but that didn't stop her from talking to us. She was quite charming. I speak a little Japanese, so it was possible to communicate somewhat with her even wihout the guy from the desk coming up. One night when we returned from touring and picked up our key they asked if it was OK to serve us sukiyaki the next evening for dinner. Not only did we have that, but everything else they usually served as well. It was enough food for four people.
Unfortunately, I became very ill the last day we were there (no fault of the hotel) and wasn't able to eat regular food. Without being asked, the room attendant brought me a huge platter of fresh fruit because she thought that would make me feel better. She was right, too.
We preferred the location of this hotel in Hakone-Yumoto rather than further up the mountain where you'd have to use the mountain train to get to your hotel. This location is close to the main train station, so there were busses and taxis readily available within a few minutes walk. The bus system that is covered by the Hakone Free Pass had English speaking guides at every major stop to assist you in gettng on the correct bus for wherever you wanted to go. The boat ride across the lake and the ropeway over the volcano were interesting also. We didn't enjoy the mountain train...it took over an hour from Gora to Yumoto, was very crowded, and wasn't pleasant at all. Once was enough for that excursion.
If you know what you are booking with this hotel, you should be very happy here. The service was attentive without being overbearing, the food was plentiful and served promptly at the time we selected, and the room was very comfortable and sparkling clean.
We didn't use the public baths, but the area outside of the entrance off the lobby was attractive with fountains and streams runnin through it. There is also a lounge serving tea and coffee off the lobby. We were served complimentary tea in the lobby when we arrived and the room attendant gave us coupons for free tea or coffee in the lounge every day.
You can easily take the local train from Odawara where the shinkansen stops, but if you have luggage take a taxi instead. It is only about fifteen minutes in a taxi from Odawara to the doors of the hotel.
The Hakone area is very touristy (with Japanese) and it can be very crowded, so try to avoid visiting there on a weekend. During the week we had no crowding problems at all, but it was still busier than one would expect for a remote mountain resort. This isn't a must see if you haven't been to Japan before, but if you have extra time or have seen the major sights already then it is worth a couple of days.