Seaview Hotels in Otaru

"Do NOT choose this hotel for skiing!! Unless it's half the price during the same period, I'll never pick this place again. Prioritize other hotels with shuttle buses to Otaru Station. First, the location: This is Otaru-Chikko Station, two stops away from Otaru Station. The nearest convenience store is a 10-minute walk outside. Although there's a mall downstairs, its operating hours are 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM, which is the only time you can use the indoor passage. Most restaurants close around 7 PM, so it's really inconvenient to find food after skiing. Second, it's really old! The carpet in my room type was dirty, the bed was rock hard, and the pillow felt like a worn-out cotton pillow – small and flat. The worst part is that after sleeping, my head developed small bumps and became very itchy!! I don't know if it was fleas, but it made me scratch my head for the next few days. The hygiene is truly concerning. This hotel has no coin-operated washing machines or laundry rooms, only individual dry cleaning, which is very expensive. This is super inconvenient for skiers staying for an extended period. frankly, the only good thing about this hotel is the room size; everything else is a huge letdown."

"I contacted the store manager Richard by email when I booked the room. We arrived in Otaru after 4:30 pm. With Richard's remote guidance, we adjusted our itinerary, gained time, visited Tengu Mountain efficiently and satisfactorily, and took the last bus to the B&B. At that time, I had already had a good impression of Shukujin Villa before I checked in. After arriving, the room was clean and tidy, the tatami mattress was soft and comfortable, and the living room was bright and spacious, which allowed us to have a comfortable space to chat and drink tea. This made me fully realize how good it is to travel with multiple people and rent a villa! Moreover, each bedroom is equipped with an independent bathroom, which is very rare and an important consideration for me to compare prices when booking a room. It is especially important for our family with children. If I go to Otaru again, this will be the only choice for me and my friends."

"Positive: 1. Great Location decent size room with double sized beds with big space to move around compare to most other Japanese hotel 2. love the indoor parking at basement garage, especially during winter no snow cleaning required every morning. Negative: 1. lift is out of service, very inconvenient for people with big luggage, had to carry all the way up to the 3rd Floor. 2. Fake carpets on stairs, almost tripped over couple of times. 3. Owner never responds when assistance needed, upon on check-in, the pin code been given is useless because the room door are always unlocked, actual key is placed on the table in the room. Tried to contact the owner via WeChat WhatsApp line phone calls none of above responded, just seemed like the hotel is unmanned the whole time. 4. Had a little incident one morning where one of the guest parked his car right front of the parking garage door, which blocked my way out, again had to contact the owner, never responded, got no choice but to contact police for help."

"The hotel is a bit old, but the experience was great. The front desk staff used a translation device, which made communication smooth. Every room has a hot spring bath, and the toiletries provided are very comprehensive. My only complaint is that there were some strange noises at night, which was a little unsettling. The French restaurant was decent, and the service there was excellent."

"First off, the room is cozy, though on the smaller side. The bathroom is well-separated, and the price is affordable. Since it's a self-check-in system, make sure to input all your visitor information before arriving!"

"We booked the best room on the top floor and spent 7 nights at this high end and extremely expensive ryokan/hotel. Here are the pros and cons: PROS: The food is amazing in terms of presentation, gastronomy and service. The place is immaculately clean. The views a fantastic! We got comfortable Yukatas and overall the place has a very nice traditional vibe.  CONS: They seem to be completely inapt in hosting people who don’t speak Japanese. No one speaks English at this place. None at all! They write that we can “press 9 and call the reception”, but once you do it – you can’t have any conversation with anyone at all. Even when you get down in person to the reception, no one can really communicate with you, even with Google Translate.  They exhibit zero flexibility. The approach is – it’s our way or the highway. All is extremely polite, but no left, no right! Can we have a laundry service arranged? The answer is “no!”. Can we communicate with you via WhatsApp or email? – No! Can we come later to breakfast? No. Can we have dinner at a later time, since we can’t come earlier just this one day? No! Basically, if you want to sleep a bit later during your vacation – forget it! Either show up at 8 or 8:30 am for breakfast, or go hungry! Can we buy your Yukata? – No! Also, we were asked to indicate every day what time we intend to go out – something that adds pressure, as  on vacation one may want to improvise, rather than plan ahead their outings.  Given that this place charges exuberant prices, the lack of the most basic hospitality features (communication, laundry, customer-focused flexibility) is astounding! We now staying at another Ryokan, 90 minutes away and see that everyone can speak some English and the place is much more focused on the needs of a foreign traveler, as opposed on preserving the holy rigidity of an existent system. "

"It was one of the best accommodations in my travel life :)"