(1) Villa / Facilities The Villa and facilities are clean, new and complete. The appliances and interior/furnitures are beautiful and new. The villas had dishwasher, beer dispenser, dyson blowdry, robovac, nespresso coffeemaker (with pods), aircon and heater, projector and TV. The hosts also provided us with toiletries, towels, etc. and everything we needed for a pleasant and convenient stay. Our villa had a massage chair and barbecue area/backyard. (2) Travel The location is about 30min bus ride from Hakone-Yumoto Station. Coming from Tokyo, we paid for the Hakone Free Pass that would allow us unlimited passes for all transportation rides in Hakone (including the trip from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto). Note, however, that for the Limited Express train to Hakone-Yumoto, we had to pay an addition 1,200 Yen for the Romancecar. From Hakone-Yumoto station, we had to take the Togendai bus from the station and stop at Tokyu Shin-Iriguchi which is just in front of the Rakuten Stay Villas South but about about a min or two walk to Rakuten Stay Villa North. Guests can use the side road that goes around Rakuten North to avoid walking by the side of the main road. (3) Location/Groceries/Restaurant/Tourist Attractions The Villas are near Togendai Port/Ropeway Station. It's about 10min ride to the nearest grocery/shops in Sengoku. However, it's quite far from most tourist areas and restaurants. The nearest convenience store is still a bus ride away and the nearest grocery closes 6pm (most shops/tourist areas close around 4pm-5pm). Guests should make sure to buy their groceries and food before shops close. Convenience stores are not open 24/7. (4) Onsen Onsen is wonderful. Ours overlooked the forest, others overlooked the highway though. We had an outdoor footbath too.

(5) Check-in No baggage storage and check-in process is tedious and takes a lot of time. 1-2 days before the date of check-in, host will send an email with the Lock Code for the door and a link to input the details of each guest staying, including uploading a picture of the ID pictures of each guest. Guests are advised to do this in advance, otherwise, they will have to do this to complete check-in process via tablet on the day of check-in. If done in advance, a QR code will be sent and used to check-in via tablet. However, even with advance inputting of guest information, there will still be a video authentication per guest on the day of check-in -- a picture of each guest shall be taken on the tablet then an agent will call to authenticate check-in via video call.