Sen.Retreat Chikatsuyu

I was about to give bad reviews due to some poor check-in experience, but everything after check in is so good that compensates this journey. First, the check-in process that brings me with bad experience: it is self-served and there is no any staff. By rights you should receive an instruction email with check-in PIN in advance, which I heard from other guests. However, I didn’t receive anything but Trip’s confirmation letter and I was unable to check in. And my sim card in Japan is just an internet card unable to make phone calls, which means I have no way to contact the hotel directly. My partner and I were desperately locked out of the hotel in the evening, after 7h hiking, with no other available hotel in the mountain. After waiting for over 1 hour, other guests helped us to enter the admin room where there is an ipad to call the hotel (why not make it available to guests without checking in?), and with the help of Trip’s agency, we finally checked in successfully. Then here is the staying experience: so good that makes me almost forgive the poor check-in experience. Each room is a spacious individual house and ours has a garden for BBQ. The food is also self-served, with the cooking stuffs and ingredients in the fridge. It was unexpected that you need to cook yourself (I don’t think it was listed on room info when I booked it), but it’s not bad that Wagyu, chicken, and vegetables are served. The rooms are big and cozy, and you can do the laundry after hiking. Everything is good about the hotel itself, just be aware of the self-checkin process and make sure you get the instructions before that.

We booked with a Mountain View but they changed our room to next to the highway. It is literally next to the road. Every car driving by shook the bed and made big sound. We had almost no sleep the whole night. It is the worst experience I ever had. For price USD 173 per night it is a ripoff. Don’t book this place if you ever have other options

A great place if you’re open to cooking some food yourself. Yes, the dinner options are basically non-existent, but that really doesn’t matter if you’re open minded and willing to do something yourself. My partner and I walked for 8 hours and were exhausted when we arrived, but we still decided to get some food from the shop across the road (very nearby!!) and cook. It ended up being a lovely way to end the day which also surprised us. We sat atop our container-home and looked to the mountains as we ate our food. The room has everything you need other than knives and maybe more options for plates, but it’s doable. Everything is compact but that’s part of the charm, and it’s really quite incredible how they organise the entire room. The only issues we encountered were the lack of knives (only one chef’s knife, no normal knives for spreading butter etc), and the plates, but no other issues. The lack of staff to talk to face to face can be a bit of a shock to people, but it’s all about your own attitude to trying it out, as this isn’t a hotel where you can get anything you want just by asking. You can ask, but it’s all done via a couple of iPads. Just be prepared and keep an open mind. If you do that, this might be one of the most comfortable and personal stays you’ll have.

超級驚喜的一家酒店！雖然是集裝箱改造但是真的非常超預期！首先地理位置特別好，就在近露王子，公交車站大概3分鐘的距離。其次房間的設施也很全，房間裏面兩個單人床一個雙人床，還有花園露台、投影儀、洗衣機烘乾機、烤箱、微波爐、麪包機、手沖咖啡、瑜伽墊，預訂的時候包括早晚餐，冰箱裏準備了食材，可以自己煮火鍋，早餐以及烤麪包，鍋碗瓢盆和調料也都準備齊了，還有飲料啤酒冰淇淋！徒步完還可以泡個澡！需要注意的是酒店是無人值守的，一定要收到確認郵件的時候按要求提前checkin，然後到了酒店在前台通過Skype辦理正式入住，過程大概3分鐘就搞定。

房間位置距離熊野古道大概6-7百米，醒目的集裝箱公寓設計，但裡邊的設施和食材很令人驚喜，雖然是簡易早晚飯，但量很足，提供多種飲品。對面有一家很大超市，如果想自己買借房間裏炊具做也可以。早餐的麪包咖啡我非常喜歡，唯一不足大概就是入住有點麻煩，本應收到的入住管理棟的開門密碼和辦理入住的密碼沒有提供（不知道是服務商沒提供還是攜程漏掉了），衹能不停的給客服打電話解決，好在客服英文水平ok，溝通便捷，處理高效

酒店在路邊，對面就是近露王子停車場裏便利店，徒步過度一夜沒有任何問題，衹是這個酒店所謂自助入住，不停發郵件登記，到了還要遠程，麻煩又繁瑣，還是人工再做