Hachijo View Hotel

“Great Sunset vistas - upgrade to the Japanese style rooms for the ultimate experience”

I upgraded to the the 2nd largest room, which was the farthest room from the check-in desk. It was QUIET in December. Although when the Monday came, there seemed to be business travellers at the hotel as well. The room was spacious and clean in a tropical island kind of clean. Check-in was with… more

I upgraded to the the 2nd largest room, which was the farthest room from the check-in desk. It was QUIET in December. Although when the Monday came, there seemed to be business travellers at the hotel as well. The room was spacious and clean in a tropical island kind of clean. Check-in was with a pleasant fellow who spoke English fairly well. I chose this hotel from the list in the JTB agency because there was "some" English spoken. While my Japanese is passable for getting around and everyday use, it fares less well in rural outlying areas where a lot more colloquial Japanese is spoken. I am not Japanese. He gave me a run down on the various activities and pricing of taxi rentals and other activities. The JTB travel agent (JTB is the previously government owned travel agency which is the largest bricks and mortar based travel agency in Japan --- best non-online deals are to be had here if you can speak some Japanese or find and agent who can speak English if you don't) pointed me to a tour group which cost Yen 8900 ($100+ USD) but advised me to book when I got there because it was low-season and they had no idea of availability of tour guides. I ended up booking it at the hotel. My guide, Yumi, spoke perfect English and was courteous and friendly. I was the only one in the tour group, so I visited about 5 places that I wanted to see. Dinners and breakfast were included in the package that I bought. Since I had the 2nd largest room, it came with the largest meal packages. I took photos of the meal, but don't have them handy. My friends all thought that I had accidentally ordered the family meal... but no...that entire table was all dressed up for just me. I never finshed any one of my 6 meals at the hotel in its entirety. There was sushi, sashimi, nabe, seafood, veggies, teas, coffees, juices, sake and other spirits whose names I can't remember. All of it was tasty. You must try the local traditional style sushi; they prepare it differently from the mainland. The staff made me "guess" at the difference. So I'll leave it to you to discover it too. The staff also had me try all the variations of the options. When they find out that you're from North America, they just want you to try it all --- even if you ask for recommendations. For instance, when asked if I preferred the rice or noodles, I ended up getting both dishes at no added cost. It was like this for 3 of my meals before I realized I should just pick one or risk insulting the chef by leaving food on my plate. They have a limited gift shop. I bought about a half dozen packages or ready gifts of local treats - biscuits, candies, chocolates. Everyone loved what I brought back for them. There were trinkets too, but I didn't want to carry them as I had hurt my knee on the hike I went with the tour group. The hotel has an outdoor pool. I didn't get to try it, but you can see it from the main veranda and waiting area of the hotel. They also have an indoor "onsen-like" experience complete with shower area and getting all dolled up area with huge mirrors. I did try this and it was nice. While polite, some of the desk staff tried to overcharge me for my stay and for my tour. I was firm and showed them my documentation. They immediately agreed with my written material when I produced it. One I couldn't produce, but that's because the front staff had told me about it when I arrived, but neglected to include it in the package of materials they gave me to peruse at my leisure; I ended saying to a late night hotel ride to see the shooting stars (it was a one-time event where eastern points on the island would have excellent vantage points of the night-time phenomenon --- there were hundreds of sightings that weekend). I ended up paying exactly what I thought I would for the services I accepted. The rest I would not order, on principle. I would go back... but there are about 3 other large hotels on the island that I wouldn't mind trying out first before coming back to this one. And I highly recommended bringing all brochures and leaflets with advertised pricing ---- it could save you up to 65% in prices! I just checked. Rakuten does have it's English travel site up and running... so this will be a breeze to book for all you English speakers out there.

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“Nice view, a bit tired buiding”

Great view of the sea, beautiful swimming pool, some facilities are lacking some maintenance job but nothing that could spoil your vacation unless you look for perfection :) Very close to the airport, plenty breakfast mix of western and japanese.

“Old hotel, good pool and breakfast”

The facilities are quite old and need some renovation. The room was shabby, with a strong mold odor and stains on the floor, blankets and furniture. They even included an air purifier in the room to make the air breathable. On the good side, I enjoyed the breakfast, with options of Japanese food (y… more

The facilities are quite old and need some renovation. The room was shabby, with a strong mold odor and stains on the floor, blankets and furniture. They even included an air purifier in the room to make the air breathable. On the good side, I enjoyed the breakfast, with options of Japanese food (yakizakana, gohan, okayu, natto, misoshiru, etc.) and Western food (bacon and eggs, granola, milk, coffee, yogurt, bread, jam, juices etc.).

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