Located right on the edge of Lake Ashi this hotel is a fantastic location to see Mt Fuji & is only 50 metres to the wharf for the Pirate Ship cruise. The rooms are well used and need some refurbishment but the location more than makes up for the rooms. Unable to see Mt Fuji during the day due to the cloud, on dusk with our Welcome Drink we enjoyed fantastic fews of Mt Fuji as the clouds rose & then again in the early morning before the clouds decended. Room Service was quite reasonably priced, as there is not much else, this part of Hakone is definately a day time place.

The Hakone Hotel was convenient for us as a one night stopover whilst using the two day Odakyu Hakone pass and travelling fairly light. For that circuit the location is perfect, right on the edge of Lake Ashi, 200 metres from the pirate cruise ship berth at Hakone Machi.
The Hakone Hotel itself is a mixture. From the outside it looks like a penitentiary, but inside it has great views over the lake to Mt Fuji (on a cloudless day). The hotel seems to be trying (and failing) to be classical European rather than Japanese. It has a somewhat faded grandeur and a very expensive French restaurant (just eat out or buy some snacks from a deli). Our "moderate twin" room - AU$137 per night including taxes (through Expedia) was very large and comfortable by Japanese standards. It had two double beds and a picture window with views of the Lake. The Hotel also has a small communal spa bath fed by hot springs (very hot) which is good to experience if you don't mind getting nude with a few strangers (segregated male and female bathing times).
The Hakone Hotel would not be suitable for a long tern stay; fussy people or those requiring luxury. But as an overnighter for self sufficient travelers it is an interesting option. Our recommendation refers to Hakone pass users

We only spent one night here after a trip to Mt Fuji and it was at the end of the pier of our lake cruise so we walked the short distance from the boat to hotel.
Very scenic spot but rooms need to be redone in a more modern way with white bedding, etc. to feel clean and fresh. Very large rooms however.
Breakfast buffet was good.
This was spring break week and all the guests were in a festive mood and hotel was fully booked.
I think this may be the best bet in the area.
Complaint: very limited food service hours at night at either restaurant or bar.

We decided to stay in Hakone hotel during our short visit to Hakone because of the reference of my friends leaving in Japan. They used to stay there when they are in Hakone as well.
The main advantage of this hotel is its location – just on the shore of the beautiful lake Asinoko. It was an amazing view to the lake from our room with a huge window. One more «+» that it’s convenient to start your Hakone trip from the hotel, because there is a ferry station right near it. Our room (don’t remember how they called it, it was a bit more expensive then standard one, app. 220$ in spite of 180$) was really big, with a big bath (so unusual for Japanese hotels :)), very light and comfortable. Well, one more comment on the luggage service: usually tourists stay in Hakone just for a one night so the option to leave your luggage at the hotel’s reception in the morning and then take it from the station in the evening is very useful.
Now let’s move to “minuses”: 1) the hotel is situated in Hakone-Machi (a village in mountains) and from the one side the location is perfect to feel the nature of Japan but from the other side it’s rather far from the nearest train station. I’ve read that it’s possible to go there from the station by bus but really we didn’t want to waste the time with a bus and caught a taxi, and the price to go to the hotel was about 100$ (just be aware of this additional budget) Good news: you don’t need to pay for the way if you go there and back by the standard Hakone touristic route (ferry – cableway – monorail – train, all is included in Hakone free pass which you can by before to be free exploring Hakone). Anyway, in my opinion it’s better to stay in mountains course a town near the station is just an ordinary town, like many others in Japan, and the lake Asi is the lake Asi  2) if the main goal of your trip in Asinoko is Unessun (hot springs complex), please pay attention that there are hotels much closer to it then Hakone Hotel. But, again, it’s not a problem to spend 15-20 min to get there by bus or taxi. 3) Hakone-Machi is a very private (I mean very quiet) place, it’s even difficult to find a place to have a dinner after 9 pm. But we were lucky to find one very small and very nice café and it was a special feeling – like we were just in the kitchen…
That’s all for the present I thing, I could only add that our staying in Hakone became one of my best memories from that trip :)