Excellent customer service where staff are attentive to your needs at all time. Even offered a new set of yukata when they noticed ours were slightly wet due to slight rain. Onsen was clean, well maintained and not crowded.

-

Great experience staying at Sakaeya. Staff were all really friendly and helpful. Both indoor and outdoor public baths were clean, large and comfortable to use, equipped with amenities you need. Service was excellent. Staff really pay attention to personal preferences and requests. The staff we interacted with spoke some english so communication was fine for us (also helped that we understood some japanese) . We tried both their in house breakfast and dinner meals and it was extravagant and delicious (ideally you should book this in advance) . Location couldn't be better for you to access all the local public bath houses in shibu onsen, very walkable. You can also talk a nice long walk up the hill to see the snow monkeys. You're also encouraged to wear your yukata throughout the town, it makes it more magical.Price was worth it for the entire experience. Only wished we'd spent a bit longer there. Thank you for a wonderful time.

Nothing

the best experience that we have in japan.

Rooms on 6th floor were beautiful and light

Rooms on 5th floor were a bit dark

This is an excellent place to stay. The staff are exceptional and the food for breakfast and dinner is wonderful. Very Japanese and traditional food which is hard to experience elsewhere. The amount of food is very generous. The room we had was very spacious, including a private onsen with view and all standard western facilities. It was fun to dress in traditional dress for dinner, although this was our choice. It complimented the special dinners presented and explained to us. There is only a small amount of English spoken in the Ryokan but enough to get by. All staff are very helpful in this regard and those staff that have some English, were assigned to us for our stay. I now understand why other reviews are so positive.

It would be great if they had a separate bar in the hotel however there is a small liquor shop down the road and you can have a drink with dinner. Hard to find other bars open in this small community however that is part of this unique village.

The staff were the real treat. Not much English but with translation and some creativity we managed. They were utterly kind, helpful, considerate, and overall made the experience a complete joy. Additionally the room was beautiful, and the location perfect for seeing Shibu Onsen. My only advice is when you visit the local onsen, do not cheat and take the stamp if you do not visit the bath. We saw loads of tourists just taking the stamps. If visiting all the onsen is good luck, surely this is some terrible juju.

Really not much negative I can say about the place.

Superb. We were looking to immerse ourselves in the onsen culture, winter scenery and local Japanese cuisine and drinks. This is the place, with the warmest Japanese hospitality. We nearly missed dinner as the restaurants closed early one evening due to the heavy snow, the hotel made special arrangements at late notice to cook for us. And what delicious food! Yudanaka station was closed due to the snow on departure, and the hotel drove us to Nakano station. No worries when you are here, Sakaeya looks after guests so well. The hotel onsen is very therapeutic, with a lovely transquil outdoor onsen. The famous 9 traditional public onsens are just steps away. We will back when we next visit Shibu onsen. Thank you Sakaeya team!

Love all

The staff were so friendly and welcoming. They organized everything for us very easily. The room was much larger than I expected and very clean. The hotel onsen is beautiful and relaxing. Having key access to the 9 public onsens is also a great experience.

Nothing. Although there are no private showers, only the public bath. This is expected at an onsen, but maybe some visitors would be surprised and should be aware. Not a problem for us!