Oomiya Ryokan

Good location, yummy meals, nice customer service, Large room, lots of Yukatas to choose from, love the public lounge room. I like the 1 hour check out extension for only 2200 yen. Overall, I rate this 3.9 out of 5.

The concierge / customer service spoke very little English. The onsen was extremely small, where only 3 adults can enter without feeling claustrophobic. The ski equipment room where you take off your shoes was also very tiny. It created a huge crowd with many people sitting on the cold dirty wet snowy floors. The hotel was VERY pricy! If I am spending over $500 for a room for 1 night, I expect better English speaking service. Overall, I rate this 3.9 out of 5.

Wonderful location in Zao Onsen, and we were able to use the Ryokan's shuttle from Yamagata station - It's also only a 5-10 minute walk from Zao Onsen's bus terminal for trips back down to Yamagata or if the shuttle times don't suit/are full. Also only a 5-10 minute walk to the Onsen's convenience store, as well as the gondola lifts up to various peaks around. It was unseasonably warm leading up to our visit and the wintersports season hadn't quite started yet, but there was snow on the shaded side of the valley. Food was fantastic, the kaiseki was stunning for all our meals and we were really able to sample a wide range of local dishes and ingredients and they tasted great. There is a nice selection of local Sake and Sochu/etc as well. The baths are lovely (as we stayed during winter, the outdoor baths were closed) and are cycled between genders after cleaning so you can experience both baths during a multi-night stay. They're quite cosy, with room for maybe only 5-10 people at most, but given the overall size of the Ryokan and other guests' schedules it was empty most times we went for a bath, and only with one or two other people the times it wasn't. The onsen water is as advertised, heavy on the sulfur, though the smell did not bother me (I did have a bit of a stuffy nose), and very therapeutic. We stayed in a Japanese-style room which was lovely, clean, stocked with amenities etc as one would expect. Staff were wonderful, struggled a little bit with very sparing English, but we managed to get by with our sparing Japanese as well.

The shuttle from Yamagata station to the Ryokan is quite small, with sporadic timing, and we weren't able to get full confirmation of our slots - just had to hope when we showed up at the meeting spot. Hopefully this can be communicated better to non-Japanese speaking visitors. Also, I thought the room I booked had a shower, but it only had a toilet/sink. This wasn't a problem as we were planning to use the baths almost entirely, but may be worth ensuring the photos/room descriptions are fully up to date. I don't consider the above two to be negative enough to knock off any points from the review as everything else was so stellar it more than made up for the minimal downsides!

Onsen Prefer the Onsen ( right side) , only managed to enter once, then after that female was set to left side which is smaller and outdoor was not open for some nights ; Breakfast is good; Should let us know the available slot instead of set on 7:30am

Limited choice of dinner Set ( as we don’t take beef) and there are no restaurants open during the visit, end up we have to settle our dinner at Lawson :( Suggest Ryokan observe the surrounding restaurant opening status before the suggestion; Limited slot of shuttle bus to Yamagata Station

We loved the whole experience at Omiya Ryokan. We had a spacious and generously proportioned corner room and had a lovely view over the village. The Kaiseki dinners and breakfasts were incredible and so carefully served. Omiya’s staff were lovely, and I want especially to mention Ishiyama-san for her wonderful help in making forward bookings and organising our suitcase to be sent onwards. She was always so smiling and patient. The ryokan’s onsen was beautiful and we enjoyed it every day, wearing our Omiya yukatas. The outside onsen foot-bath was a lovely touch.

The location is beautiful, both the ryokan itself but also the nature surrounding it. The staff was incredibly polite and attentive. We were presented with workaround for the 'no tattooed people' rule in the public baths, which we appreciated immensely as the onsens was well worth the hassle.

People with tattoos are not welcome in the public baths. This was vital information we would have liked to have in advance. The location was hard to reach, there were no really convenient transport option.

Meals were traditional, seasonal and delicious Room was spacious. We appreciated that it was traditional with some modern components. Tatami mats were in excellent condition throughout the property.

Took us awhile to to get to the onsen. No shuttle from onsen to the bus station.

Clean and big rooms, good quality beds, good bathroom products, massage chairs, and lounge.

limited communication. we had to constantly ask to find out information about certain services that the ryokan offered such as drop off or pick up to the ski resort or ability to use sister onsens etc. in my opinion, this information should be given at the time of check in to all guests.

food was great and the variety was awesome. the facilities on site such as onsen were also fantastic. the room was spacious and clean and the bed was comfortable. transport is provided to yamagata station, various slopes and also to the bus terminal.

really a minor issue but one staff did not seem friendly.

Room is spacious. Relaxation area with massage chair which is a plus. You can use few other sister’s onsen around the area. And not far from ski slope. Staff are helpful.

- Just beware the pebble rock pavement in the front if you travel with senior member. - onsen is a bit small compared with the size of hotel. There is no view for outdoor onsen

Traditional Japanese style onsen hotel & I enjoy a lot with the vibe. Staff are friendly & nice.

The hotel could not offer elevator & our room is located at the 3/F... I understand this is actually the limitation of the hotel or even the Zao area as they got a long long history...