Rakuten STAY TERRACE Hakone Kowakudani

They do not have an onsite staff. This is not very clear at the time of booking. Not having an onsite staff means you cannot leave your bags at the hotel. So if you plan to drop your bags or have them delivered to the hotel, do not book with this hotel

We really enjoyed our stay here! The hotel is super nice, clean, and comfortable. The location was perfect and made it easy to get around. We’d definitely stay here again

Wow - this place was amazing. I felt so spoiled coming back at the end of each day and soaking in the foot bath or onsen tub in our beautiful apartment. The kitchen and bathroom are also fantastic. There are not many restaurants near by, but we didn't mind bringing food with us to cook. There is also a 7-11 for supplies a 15-minute walk up the hill. We could easily catch the bus or train from here for our daily adventures. Our kids liked the foot bath and big projector screen for watching shows in the evening.

What a treat it was to stay in this accommodation near the end of our trip through Japan. It was a great place to relax and made accessing Hakone's attractions very easy. Wish we could have stayed for more nights! We were disappointed that more coffee pods were not provided by the host for the advertised in-room coffee maker (rare in Japan) - only three for our multiple night stay with two adults. Trekking up and down from the 7-eleven with to-go cups wasn't ideal. That said, the room amenities and complimentary snacks/beverages were appreciated.

First, the room is exquisite, the in-room sauna and onsen are spectacular. The room is extremely spacious with a large balcony and foot soak. HOWEVER, the bus ride took over two hours with bumper to bumper traffic and drops you off quite a bit up the mountain so you have to carry all your luggage down a very steep road with no sidewalks. Now, this isn’t necessarily the hotels fault, but what’s a MAJOR ISSUE is that they have no bag check and you cannot enter the hotel until check in time at 3pm (your code will not work until 3pm). And it’s all digital so nobody is there to help you, literally no one. They should have digital lockers outside the hotel entry doors for you to store your bags because it’s impossible to go explore the hilly town with roller bags and no sidewalks. This was an absolute shame. Or, at a minimum, allow people to use their code a bit earlier than check in and have a room to store bags for gods sake. This is a humongous oversight and we were exhausted, sweaty, and extremely frustrated. When I called the toll free number I was basically told “you’re out of luck, sorry”. The check in process is also arduous and annoying. It took about 12 minutes using an iPad. For the luxury of the room and the price you pay, this initial experience completely ruined it.