Kitakobushi Shiretoko Hotel & Resort

No other hotels compare to this. The lobby area is comfortable, with an open bar system, a foot onsen just outside the lobby, and two huge onsens. No other hotels can beat this, and most of all, you will be shocked to find an excellent dining system: they have all-you-can-eat (Japanese, Chinese, Western, and European cuisine) and all-you-can-drink (sake, wine, hard liquor, soft drinks, and so on). All in a comfortable, spacious dining area. NO hotels in Japan can beat this.

Though we arrived early, around 1 pm, they wouldn't allow us to speak with any counter staff until exactly 3 pm.

Room was large and comfortable. Lounge was great, with snacks and drinks (soft and alcoholic) available, meals were excellent, staff very helpful, and location great.

Poor quality towels and synthetic pajamas, no robe, wines were mediocre.

Beautiful & spacious public areas as well as in the suite. Our room has beautiful view of the harbor. It’s also located right by the harbor close to the day cruise offices. We’d have loved to have an in-room washer/dryer, but there’s a guest laundry available on site.

Even though we had prepaid the room, the hotel still asked for additional payment for taxes when we checked out. This should have been handled upfront. We were annoyed at the surprise. The hotel’s 2nd dining room wasn’t available unless guests chose the full board option. Even then, guests still had to make reservations.

Luxurious hotel with excellent facilities and great food.

One of the sushi counter staff was very rude to my young child and myself when we tried to place our order for sushi during the dinner buffet at the hotel. He interrupted our attempts to explain what we wanted with hand gestures and raised his voice to say stop before abruptly serving us with a selection of sushi which did not match what we asked for. He essentially did not wish to engage and had elected to raise his voice to move us along though there was no queue behind us save for one man. While the place was beautiful and we had no issues otherwise in the hotel or anywhere else we visited in Japan, the incident has unfortunately marred what would have otherwise been another great trip to Japan where we have known nothing but warm communications with locals (assisted by hand gestures and google translate) notwithstanding the language barrier which can exist where they do not speak English. The manager was informed but had merely nodded while distractedly speaking to someone else on his headset and did not say anything in response though the lady who assited in translating did apologise briefly. Basically, the service standards did not match the high quality of the furnishings and facilities of the hotel. The hotel was in short, a disappointment.