Pension A Million Roses

“Great spot, 2 minutes to the beach”

The hotel is very close to famous Shirahama beach, which is fantastic. You need to be good on foot as you have to go up and down a hill. I was there while almost nobody visited this area coz of the recent emergency state. The staff at the hotel was not very friendly. They didn t serve breakfast, no… more

The hotel is very close to famous Shirahama beach, which is fantastic. You need to be good on foot as you have to go up and down a hill. I was there while almost nobody visited this area coz of the recent emergency state. The staff at the hotel was not very friendly. They didn t serve breakfast, not even coffee, nothing. So i had to go to the convienient store three times a day. I almost had the feeling they were not happy about me being their guest.

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“Coming up Roses!”

Great location for beautiful beach. Very friendly and helpful staff. Clean, large rooms. Japanese breakfast included. 5 minute drive to Shimoda. Within an hour’s drive of most of Izu Peninsula. Car is a necessity.

“Modest place, inexpensive, near the beach and out of the tsunami zone!”

We had booked with Pension Smile Again down the alley from here but they sub-booked us at Pension million (or thousand?) Roses. The carpets in the hallway are quite dirty despite the no shoes policy and the hotel has the quaint grandmotherly patina of a 1960s guest house. However, the hosts are v… more

We had booked with Pension Smile Again down the alley from here but they sub-booked us at Pension million (or thousand?) Roses. The carpets in the hallway are quite dirty despite the no shoes policy and the hotel has the quaint grandmotherly patina of a 1960s guest house. However, the hosts are very welcoming, friendly and helpful and the rooms are relatively spacious and mostly have good views (we had two rooms). If taking the train, be aware that this is a good 5+ km drive from the station. We were in a rental car - perhaps one of the only guests with a car - and the parking was super convenient, right next to the front door. We did not eat here because we had a car and were in other locations at dinner times. Very quiet at night.

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“Rude staff”

First of all, I made this reservation back in January because you have to reserve early if you plan to get a place anywhere near Shirahama beach. I had originally made the reservation for 5 people on a Japanese website, maybe you know it, rakutentravel.com, because I feel the rates are different th… more

First of all, I made this reservation back in January because you have to reserve early if you plan to get a place anywhere near Shirahama beach. I had originally made the reservation for 5 people on a Japanese website, maybe you know it, rakutentravel.com, because I feel the rates are different there and you get a better selection of places and prices than you would on an English website. I feel that they may be a little bit underhanded also as the reservation only had the price and not the amount of people written on there (for 8 months) until the day before departure, when, if you cancel, you have to pay a full cancellation fee. The day before when the reservation confirmation reminder came, it showed four people instead of 5 and there was no sign of the price. I was left scrambling for a while but one friend decided to how out so it wasn't a big deal. However, it still gave me a bad feeling. I have stayed at a few places in Shirahama over the years and have had a couple of instances where there was a misunderstanding about money (at Turtle House, down the road), a lack of air conditioning, unwanted "guests" (big roaches), etc. If you make a reservation on the Japanese website check everything over and over - the price, the amount of people, all of that. When I went to check in I spoke only in honorific Japanese to the clerk and informed them that one of the people wouldn't be here until very late. The woman seemed to get a bit upset and said it's too late to cancel dinner, which I didn't want to, and never said anything about, but she just took it to be like I'm going to do that and ask for my money back or something. Can you imagine some desk clerk showing attitude at a customer? A lot of these places have a bit of an underlying foreign bias and if you don't understand Japanese, can't see the nuances, or if you haven't been here a long time you're probably not going to see it. but I can because I've been here over 30 years and have experienced it plenty. They are incredibly inflexible and are usually not willing to change anything no matter what you say to them. When I made the reservation, it was specifically marked that they were going to be all men in one room. Speaking to her, it seems like they didn't know and that that was going to be a problem. First she said they only have double beds. Then I countered by requesting a tatami mat room with futons. First she said okay to that but then had that look on her face like "Oh, I don't think we have one of those." All of a sudden she called to someone in the back and asked what they had, and, wallah, just like that we have a tatami mat room. It really made me wonder about my original reservation for 5 people . If they can just change that quickly, maybe they manipulated my reservation and are holding specific rooms for specific customers. This is the peak season and there's no shortage of people who are willing to pay exorbitant prices to stay on that beach. I know it was on rakuten but rakuten doesn't do any kind of management with any of these places and they take it as gospel whatever they say and a lot of times what you asked for is not what you get. When you're paying almost 200,000 yen for three nights for four people you expect a lot. Then she asked me to pay right there and now! I'm like 'Lady, I've barely checked in and none of my friends are here with me to help pay the full price.' Then she said I could pay later. Oh, thank you! As for the room, it wasn't that bad but it was a bit old and was not tatami but regular flooring with beds which were not really that comfortable. One of my friends' bed was like one of those old couches with no cushioning underneath it, just the top part. It didn't have any box spring to speak of. The bathroom was a kind of old and also had a smell coming from the drains. The room didn't have any kind of blackout curtains so as soon as the sun starts to come up, the room gets very bright and this is the Land of the Rising Sun so it comes up very early, like 3:45. One good thing though was that the air conditioner kept us really cool. The room didn't have a lot of amenities, just two or three places you can plug in your phones or whatever. It had a small TV on a stand, a small circular glass table and a small dresser. Breakfast started sharply at 8 and my Japanese friend was afraid of the damn staff so he was ready to go every day at that time. It was a standard fare that you're going to get in Japan - some type of fish, natto, rice and miso soup, coffee and tea bar and maybe some runny eggs, but it did change slightly every day. Dinner started at 6 p.m. and since some of us wanted to stay on the beach late, we sent two people at 6 and two more people up later. The meal had a few different variations but usually contained something like some fish, miso soup, salad, a small steak and some fruits or other dessert. It wasn't too bad. The woman at the front desk was there too and instead of greeting me like a regular customer and saying 'konbanwa' (good evening), actually had the nerve to scold me about coming in at 6:45! Can you believe this!! She actually said my first name without any kind of honorific and 'osoi osoi' (late, late,) to me. I was quite upset and was going to tell her off but I decided to hold my tongue. I'm sure she didn't do that to any other customers but this is the kind of treatment you'll get in Japan sometimes. People really think that it's okay to talk to you a certain way because they think it may be OK in your country (go figure) or you are a foreigner. As far as the hotel, or "pension", as they call these types of places here, it has a good view of the beach and it's only about a five to six-minute walk to get there so that's a plus. The parking can be tricky as they have a parking lot right below the place but no spaces are reserved and it only holds about six cars and it's at the bottom of a steep decline so it can be hard to park even a small vehicle. There are a couple of parking spaces above it but same thing: they're right above that decline and it's really hard to park there also. There's a little spot outside where you can smoke and there's a little swing and places people can sit down and have a conversation. If you have big feet I feel sorry for you because all the slipper seem to be of the same size and it's been the same way in Japan since forever. Our room never seemed to be made up, I guess maybe because we left there a bit late, like around noon sometimes, but I think they can come in afterwards and make it up. They just put the tissue and new sheets outside the door. Overall, it wasn't a terribly bad place but I don't think I want to stay there again. That woman's attitude alone makes me not want to stay there. A lot of these places are hit-and-miss so good luck to any of you who are looking for a place. Next year, I think I'm going to try the Izukyu hotel right in front of the beach above the 7-Eleven or the Shimoda Prince, which is down the road about 10 minutes on foot. More than likely will have better service at those places.

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