We spent one night here, and it was challenging. First, there are no restaurants anywhere in walking distance so one has to use the (expensive) dining options at the hotel; second one has to reserve to eat in either of the two restaurants and the restaurant serving Japanese food was completely booked up. We ended up eating burgers in the informal eating area, which wasn't ideal. Third, getting directions to anything in the area proved difficult. We want to get to the ropeway and were sent to a nearby cablecar station 15 mins walk away which would have been fine except that the platform accessible from the hotel went in the wrong direction and there's no way to cross over to the opposing platform. Fourth (and I think this is the root of the issue) the staff uniformly spoke very little english. Finally, it was eye-waveringly expensive. The cost of staying one night here covered three nights of our hotel in Tokyo (which was also a pretty nice hotel). The breakfast was good - but again extremely expensive. Personally I'd stay lower down the mountain in an area with dining options and easier access to the Hakone shrine. I think this hotel is really suited for people living in Japan who want to decompress indoors for a weekend, not for people who want to explore the area.
