Mikasa

The front-desk staff were the most unfriendly, parsimonious and unhelpful I have ever encountered in 30+ years traveling in Japan.
For JW Marriott pricing, you get 3 star facilities, in middle of nowhere location, and the most unfriendly front desk staff in Japan.
Stayed here for 7+ nights and was made to feel unwelcome from nearly Day 1.
1. There is no laundry or laundry service, so I took shuttle to Nara Station and taxi back (¥2300) to use coin laundry. Asked front desk staff for extra clothing hangars to dry my clothes AND THEY REFUSED! After much squabbling got to borrow TWO extra hangars;
2. Check out was 12pm. Before 12:18pm (while I was at the Hotel lunch), staff entered my room, opened safe, removed all my belongings, and any items not in my luggage was dumped in an OPEN BASKET, in lobby area for anyone to steal.
My passport, cash, keys, chargers, ID were literally left in an unsupervised open plastic basket in the lobby guest area because I was 15mins late for checkout (in THEIR banquet hall. Why didn’t they just come and tell me I needed to be gone? ).
Ended up losing a t-shirt and a leather folder. Was glad I didn’t lose my passport or wallet;
3. Furthermore, I had several empty bags that were thrown away, so asked staff for ONE (1) plastic bag to quickly pack the random small items they haphazardly dumped in the lobby.
HOTEL REFUSED TO GIVE ME EVEN 1 PLASTIC/PAPER BAG (after they threw MY bags away).

Our experience at MIKASA RYOKAN was absolutely fantastic. From the moment we arrived, exhausted, at their welcome center near Nara Station, we felt extremely welcomed by everyone who helped us. The nice lady at the welcome center encouraged us to pick out origami deer from a little box, and we barely waited 30 seconds before the shuttle arrived, precisely on-time, and took us up the twisting mountain road that leads to the ryokan.
When we arrived, we were welcomed warmly, offered matcha tea and some light appetizers, asked our preferences for dinner time, encouraged to pick out our favorite yukatas to wear during our visit, and led to our room personally by one of the many very helpful employees. She showed us all of our room's luxurious amenities, including how to operate the private bath, and showed us a map with some of the local attractions to enjoy.
The kaiseki meals at dinner and breakfast were maybe a little challenging for my American palate, but I could tell they were of extremely high quality, and the very generous portion sizes left me feeling full long before the plate was cleared.
I have stayed at many hotels during my life, but this was my first experience at a ryokan, and the wonderful staff at Mikasa ensured that it was an extremely luxurious and personalized experience, to the point that I rarely saw any of the other guests at all.

We stayed one night at the Mikasa Hotel. While the hotel offers shuttle services, we arrived late and had to take a taxi as the hotel isn't walkable.
The hotel's interior felt somewhat outdated, reminiscent of the 60s. The bottom floor corridor, in particular, had stained carpets, contrasting with the newer carpets on the upper floors.
The room was spacious and we appreciated the traditional Japanese sleeping arrangement.
Unfortunately, the men's onsen was closed for cleaning during our checkout (10:30 AM) and we couldn't use it. It would have been helpful to know this the day before.
The food was good and the service was kind, as expected in Japan.

The service of this ryokan is wonderful. They go an extra mile to accommodate guests. We missed one scheduled shuttle bus and expected to wait 20 minutes for the next one. However, the ryokan decided to do an extra run of the shuttle bus for us and another couple who also missed the earlier scheduled one.
The quantity and quality of the food are reasonable for the price of the stay. The special guest room (with a ceramic tub in the terrace) is spacious and comfortable.