Choice of hotel plans, is this possible?

Specifically asking regarding Hotel Suimeisou in Hakone, but if my question applies for a general case, that's fine as well.

As seen from their website (http://www.suimeisou.com/english/), there are plans with dinner and breakfast, and plans for breakfast only.

1. If I stay at Hotel Suimeisou for 2 consecutive days, can I stay 1 day under the plan for dinner and breakfast, and the other day under the plan for breakfast only?

2. If yes, how do I make the hotel reservation? Do I need to make two separate reservations, eg. for day 1 stay, I apply for the plan with dinner and breakfast, and for day 2 stay, I apply for the plan with breakfast only, and I have to check in to room A during Day 1, check out, and check in to room B during Day 2? Or is there a more convenient alternative?

1. If I stay at Hotel Suimeisou for 2 consecutive days, can I stay 1 day under the plan for dinner and breakfast, and the other day under the plan for breakfast only?

That is generally possible at most hotels.

2. If yes, how do I make the hotel reservation? Do I need to make two separate reservations, eg. for day 1 stay, I apply for the plan with dinner and breakfast, and for day 2 stay, I apply for the plan with breakfast only, and I have to check in to room A during Day 1, check out, and check in to room B during Day 2? Or is there a more convenient alternative?

I doubt their online reservation system will be able to handle a complicated request like that. Best would be to call them and make the reservation over the phone, but if that fails you may need to game the system and just make 2 reservations. In that case you'll probably need to explain the situation when you check in.

Check the hotel to see if they sell meat tickets. I've noticed at some hotels you can buy meal tickets at the same prices as the room+meals.

And I do recommend eating outside the hotel if there are restaurants close by. It's usually cheaper and a better meal if you do.

In regards to the last post, I would just mention that the hotel in question is actually a ryokan in which case meal tickets and outside meals are often not an option. But it depends on the particular ryokan and where it is located. Generally, though I would recommend eating in the ryokan at least one of the nights. That is a big part of the experience of staying at a ryokan in the first place.

Thanks for clarifying that, I didn't realise the hotel is a ryokan. My recommendations would not be applicable in that case.

Thanks for the replies. It appears that there is more to booking a ryokan than just choosing plans with either breakfast + dinner or plans with just breakfast. From Hotel Suimeisou's online website, it appears that I need to provide my mobile number, email address and physical address (based in Japan) when I make the reservation. How am I supposed to do that, especially the physical address part. I'm not sure if the mobile number and email address need to be based in Japan too. Or are there English ryokan booking services (like japaneseguesthouses.com) that have been useful and you would like to recommend?

I haven't thoroughly investigated this particular ryokan's reservation system, but it is fairly common for there to be special lodging deals or custom arrangements that you can't make via an online booking form in English even if it's possible to do it in Japanese. In these cases, sometimes you simply have to contact the hotel or inn directly. If you don't want to phone (or if it doesn't work out), try e-mail or fax. This particular ryokan makes it unusually easy to contact them this way (there is an e-mail button at the top of their web site). Often, it is next to impossible to find an e-mail address for a hotel or ryokan.

Japaneseguesthouses.com might be able to do it for you (they seem to be willing to make customized arrangements for people), but often you have to pay more to go through them (not faulting them; they provide a useful service). Given that Suimeisou has an e-mail link, I don't see much point in going through a third-party site, however.

I have booked multiple-night stays under different ''plans'' (i.e., with different meal options or other special features) quite a few times at Japanese hotels, and the hotels have always chained them together at check-in, so I didn't have to check out even though I had made multiple reservations. Of course, the room type has to be exactly the same.

In general, there are no hard-and-fast rules about booking Japanese lodgings, especially when you are dealing with the individual hotels/ryokans and their own reservation systems. They are all different.