ISANA Resort

open-air private bath, location and food

Liked everything

Beautiful room, above and beyond service. I asked the front desk about a cab and there was one at the front door within 5 minutes. The room is stellar, the private onsen is hot and perfect alongside the ocean waves. But the breakfast was really next level. The food was impeccable, fresh fish, tamagoyaki, fresh blended/squeezed juice, salad, and a dashi chazuke with a fish bone dashi? Be still my japanese food heart. Seriously excellent and once again incredible service. Nothing but good things to say.

I really enjoyed the hotel. We booked last minute and saw there was a room. Absolutely nothing to complain about.

Everything! Comfortable, peaceful, hospitable staff, excellent breakfast.

After we were able to get into the room we originally booked, the stay was exactly what we had hoped for after several weeks of traveling and hiking in Japan. The room was comfy and large enough to spread out, while the star of the show was the private bath. We specifically chose a room with a bath that was large enough for my 6'4" husband while also giving us nice privacy and we were glad we eventually got it. The breakfast was wonderful--even if a few items weren't to our taste, such as the fresh squid and octopus. Many guests use the resort as a base for golfing, so almost deserted during the day. A nice stay that could've been slightly better without the initial frustration.

The staff/manager/whomever shifted our originally booked room several times which resulted in an incredibly frustrating initial experience. To make a long story short, a large group had booked many of the rooms sometime after we had booked ours. For fear that this large group would disrupt our stay, the resort reached out and offered us an "upgrade," a villa up the mountainside. After briefly considering, we ultimately declined, preferring our initial booking due to the size and style of the private bath, proximity to the coast (which we intended to visit), and ability to eat at restaurants in town--the villa was too remote for what we were looking for. When we arrived at Isana, they placed us in a completely different room than we had originally booked, and had actually given our room to a member of the large group. This new room was also technically an upgrade, but we did not like its location within the building (closer to the main road and overlooking a parking lot) and the bath (much smaller than may 6/4" husband could fit in). We had to request a room change as it was not what we had originally booked, and eventually got into our original room thanks to the kindness of the group member. We recognize that the resort was trying to make everyone happy, but they ultimately shifted things around too much, and the first 5 hours of our stay were frustrating, convoluted, and unnecessarily awkward. Ultimately the stay was pleasant and what we were looking for in the vacation-y portion of our trip (the portion that was a celebration of our 10 year wedding anniversary to be exact) but the email exchanges before we arrived, and the headache/worry once we did, placed a damper on our stay.