Shimoda Prince Hotel

Location great, loved the beach front. Garden pool and Kids Room was also very welcome for the kids. Breakfast buffet was surprisingly decent and found myself looking forward to it every morning. The onsen is nothing to write home about, but that’s probably because I prefer hot springs in the evening (no view) The bathrooms need to be renovated (since 1972), but otherwise the rooms were spacious and the beds relatively comfy. The bus reservation system needs to be fixed; for people who don’t bring cars, it’s the only viable way in and out of the hotel and if you don’t reserve early you are essentially stuck at the hotel waiting for a taxi. Staff-wise, I was happy with the friendliness, but my one complaint is related to above (access to the city): If a bus reservation is confirmed to be full by the staff, I think they need to be more proactive in offering alternatives to guests (can I call you a cab? Do you need directions to the local bus stop? Etc)

need more ventilation and umbrellas by the beach. no ventilation.

Beachfront location and Great Public Onsen..not crowded when we stayed..this made it a great trip No baggage service when check in,hotel rooms old, tiny TV, comfortable ~ yet because no one there , Onsen great and beach nice to swim, hang out at and made up for these faults.Key is we never ate at hotel as food and menus looked stale.. Ate at FarmenCo beachfront pizza at night..just 10 mins drive away and really great beachfront Pizza

The location was perfect, beach front on a beautiful, clean beach. It was easy to get to by bus or hotel shuttle from Shimoda Station. It is an older property but very clean with a beautiful view from each room. The rooms are also larger than usual for Japan. The public onsen overlooking the ocean was amazing too. When we checked in, the toilet in our room smelled so the staff came up and personally helped us to move to another one right away. We have breakfast and dinner there twice. It was very good. If I can say the best thing about this hotel is the wonderful hospitality of the staff. I would definitely stay here again. Nothing.

A truly Japanese experience complete with private beach, onsen and delicious Japanese breakfast offering fish head soup, rice, wasabi and bonito toppings. Western breakfast is also available but not the main show. Although the hotel is a bit old, the immaculate, bright rooms more than make up for it. I haven't seen rooms this clean in new western hotels! All rooms look onto the azure waters of the Izu Peninsula with perfect views of the rising sun. Be sure to wake up at 4:45 for the ultimate experience in Nippon, the origin of the sun! The beach is relaxing and secluded but beware of the rocks especially for the little ones. Shirahama beach is deeper and perfect for surfing or body surfing and is only 10 minutes walking. Shimoda is 15 minutes away by bus or taxi. The hotel even has its own onsen in case you didn't relax enough at the beach! Perfect cure for your jetlag.

beautiful property, right on the beach. staff was very helpful and friendly. the building has a cool vintage vibe to it. even thought it was older the building felt clean and well maintained.

It had a nice view of the beach and the staff was nice. The place is old, we can feel it. They do clean rooms and the place like any regular hotel i believe but the place still feel kind of « unclean » if we look at the walls (outside, the view from the beach) also the bath was kind of looking dirty altho it was cleaned every day (i do feel like that they do not clean rooms windows tho) As for the beach it is great sitting there etc but it is full of rocks so for swimming it isn’t a great spot unless you have shoes and are an adult.

The location right on the beach with the most amazing views from the room! You can hear the ocean Not many restaurant options nearby

Great hotel, awesome onsen, great restaurant Off season the area has fewer food options outside of the hotel.

Breakfast, spacious onsen with ocean view and ocean view room were great.

beach. one evening one waiter was helpful, refilling our water and explaining a menu item. the pajamas were comfy. nice to have a bus to town After we complained about our room, and twice asked for a different room, the staff told us there was no availability... finally, at our third request, and showing our dissatisfaction, a female assistant requested a different room, which was immediately available.... so the male staff was probably lying to us about room unavailability...maybe trying to keep all guests on lower floors so they didn't have to pay housekeeping to go upstairs? very strange that they told us there was no room until we firmly complained and then a room immediately was available. Mybe the female guest attendant was the only one who cared. staff very unhelpful and uninformative to japanese guest. in general , the staff did not smile or offer help. we had to set out our own futon. no futon pickup or table set up. dangerous splintered woodwork in halls, badly dented furniture, toilet did not flush properly. room smelled terrible, like mildew and dead fish? very inconvenient meal schedule. we could not choose a preferred meal time. bug on the wall of cafeteria. opened cans in vending machine, vending machine completely sold out. terrible room location, other guests could look in our window from the stairs and the cafeteria, and were noisy, so we could not leave curtains or windows open. bus driver very unfriendly, making us wait in the rain and letting our luggage get wet.

On site onsen included in price Great views Large rooms on top floor Good breakfast buffet - dinner nabe hot potato menu item excellent Hotel shop limited hours

Staff were generally helpful but it was clear they could only do so much with what they had been left to manage This hotel is a classic "Tourist Trap". Looks very luxurious and modern on the booking site but in actuality it is exactly the opposite. The room was very old and not what you'd expect from a $290 per night hotel. Mattresses were old and sagging and the Air Conditioning barely cooled the room at all, even on the highest power setting. We informed staff who replaced the A/C filters but made little difference. Our family took cold showers and slept on top of the blankets to stay cool.The bathroom/shower looked like they had been installed in the mid 80's. Pictures on booking.com looked like a nice place but it was closer to the kind of hotel you might pay $60 per night on a beach in the US. The balcony was tiny with barely enough room for 2 people to stand and the view was non-existant, backing up directly to the area where beach-goers were showering. The beach was steep and looked to be under construction with a large excavator re-building the sand to keep it from being washed away. Stairs to the beach were in disrepair and looked to be at least 20 years old. Very worn and falling apart in areas. Absolutely nothing was included with the cost of the room. No meals, no ammenities. The only option for breakfast was an average buffet for 3500 yen per adult and 2500 yen for children. The only other restaurant in the hotel didn't open until 10AM so options for food were extremely limited. Even beach towels had to be rented from the front desk. Totally unacceptable for such a steep price to stay. The pool was extremely small and outdated. Inflatable children's slides were available as well as an inflatable hot-tub which could barely fit 2 adults. Shocking that such an expensive hotel wouldn't have a modern pool and relaxation area built-in. The pool "closed" at 5PM and guests had to pay 1000 yen per person for after-hours access.

the room is smell bad

View is beautiful Onsen is also very nice and cosy Breakfast tasty and has multiple choices Bathroom is quite all, we had to fix toilet flash A little bit to much instructions during check in after long day Tea pot takes his time to boil water

The view was great and the beds were comfortable.thr room was very clean. The hotel is on the older side. That's ok but even the renovated rooms are showing their age. It might be time for seibu prince to put some serious money into a FULL Renovation. That being said, the room was very nice and clean.

The location and closeness to the beach! The breakfast was really good but it was a bit expensive.

The housekeeping could be improved. We found some items left behind by previous guests on the floor, which suggests the room wasn't thoroughly cleaned. There was also quite a bit of dust under the beds. I understand it may not be feasible to move the beds for every cleaning, but it should be done at least occasionally. Additionally, the toilet seat in our room wasn’t fitted properly and needs fixing.

We travelled with a family of 4 with 1 toddler and one four year old. The rooms were nice and comfortable with plenty of space. We had twin beds and a Japanese style floor bed which could accommodate all 4 of us and still leave plenty of space. The staff was friendly and understood enough English. Some staff was able to speak it really well at the reception and they were very friendly. Breakfast buffet was great if you like Japanese food. Very limited non Japanese options. The location is great and right at the beach so you can swim there easily and the pool is decent too. The kids play room was a major kid with both the kids. My 1 year old really loved it. There is a small shop in the hotel but it is very limited in terms of food items. The dinner buffet In our opinion wasn't worth the price. Same for the sushi place. Also, if want to eat that make sure to make a reservation. The small cafe is really nice but is only open until 5pm. The only nearby two options for dinner outside the hotel are Papas on the right side and a ramen place on the left. Papas was amazing and very affordable Italian place. For anything other than that would have to go to the station which is 15 mins by bus or shuttle. Bus stop is beside the hotel that takes you to the town. The free shuttle goes multiple times in the morning and you can make a reservation at the reception. It only brings you back to hotel twice in the afternoon. Reservation in advance is really important. Our 4 year old had to pay for breakfast buffet when we had a breakfast included booking. He barely ate and the prices are extremely high for what a kid eats and get. Also they keep changing the breakfast timing every day and you have no way of knowing in advance. We were told breakfast was only between 7 and 8 am. Next day there were three more slots. They also kick you out if you go at 7.50am for example and it is ending at 8. I thought it was very rude and it was really hard to juggle if you decide not to pay for your 4 year old. The dinner options as well should be reasonably priced as we found the prices a bit on the higher side especially if there is no other restaurant around the resort. We went in early September and there was no possibility to rent a lounger or a parasol to sit on the beach. They stopped renting it in August. Make sure to check on it. Lastly, there was no microwave available anywhere so you cant heat up supermarket food if you want to eat in the room.

Nice holiday hotel for families with kids, wonderful sea view from the room, located directly next to the beach, with swimming pool and water activities for kids, public onsen, indoor playground (amazing), souvenir shop and cafe. Breakfast organization with only two available dining slots (the food itself was good) and long queuing time, customer service, no drinking water in room. At the end, the receptionist tried to charge us extra fees.