Cut Your Luggage in Half: 8 Hotels with Baby Gear Rentals
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The biggest source of stress on a trip with young children may not be picking the hotel at all. It may be the luggage. The stock of diapers, the changes of clothes, the stroller, the crib request, the bath kit, the mealtime bib. Once you start listing it out there is no end to it, and you are already worn out before you leave home.
One factor I put a lot of weight on when choosing a place to stay, though it rarely gets talked about, is how much baby gear you can borrow at the hotel itself. Half of what you would pack for a trip with a baby does not need packing at all if the hotel already has it. If you can rent a stroller once you arrive, you are freed from the ordeal of hauling a stroller onto the bullet train while holding your child's hand.
On long-distance trips by plane or bullet train in particular, this one criterion jumps in importance.
Find hotels that lend strollers
Find hotels that lend strollers
On Kids Stay, you can narrow your search from the start to hotels that lend strollers. Just choose your area and the number of guests.
hotelRecommended stay
A resort in Onna Village, Okinawa. It lends strollers and bed guards free of charge (limited quantities). Cribs are available for children up to 12 months old.
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What You Can Leave at Home If the Hotel Lends It
A lot of the gear that makes you think "am I really taking all of this?" while packing can stay behind if the hotel has it available to rent. These are the items I check before booking.
Confirm whether the hotel lends strollers, cribs, formula-prep gear, and humidifiers.
1. Strollers
This is the one that makes the biggest difference. At a hotel that lends strollers for use in the building or throughout your stay, you do not have to carry a stroller while you travel. Getting there by bullet train or plane becomes far easier all at once, and borrowing one there means you can travel light all the way to check-in.
2. Cribs and Baby Futons
You cannot carry your baby's bed with you, so whether one is available to borrow is an essential check. Beyond cribs, some hotels stock baby futons, side guards that prevent falls, and Moses baskets. Many hotels ask you to reserve these in advance, so put in your request when you book.
3. Formula Prep and Feeding
If your child is on formula, a hotel that lends you a kettle for making up bottles and a bottle sterilizing kit means you can leave the entire sterilizing set at home. Hotels that will warm up baby food are handy too.
4. Humidifiers, Baby Baths, and High Chairs
A humidifier for the seasons when dry air is a worry, a baby bath for bath time, a high chair for meals: if these are available to borrow, they come straight off your packing list. A hotel that has all of them is also proof that it is used to welcoming families with young children.
If you want to borrow a humidifier, write "I would like to borrow a humidifier" in the notes field when you book. At hotels with only a limited number to lend, they may all be out by the time you ask on arrival, so letting the hotel know in advance is the safer choice. In winter, when the air dries out easily, or at a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) with tatami rooms where the heating runs, it is worth asking for one for the sake of your baby's throat and skin. As examples, Atsumi Onsen Tachibanaya provides a humidifier with a built-in air purifier in its Welcome Baby rooms (rooms certified under a Japanese scheme for baby-friendly accommodations), and Forest Resort Conifer Iwabitsu says it lends and provides humidifiers and air purifiers as part of its childcare goods.
Cutting Down the Luggage and the Hassle Around Diapers
One thing that is surprisingly easy to overlook is everything to do with diapers.
An "unlimited diaper plan" or a dedicated diaper bin cuts the diaper load dramatically.
Even for a single overnight stay, you take at least 10 diapers. Then come the bags for carrying used diapers home and the odor-blocking bags on top of that. At a hotel with an unlimited diaper plan (a room rate that includes as many diapers as you need during your stay), you do not need to bring any of it, and at a hotel with a dedicated diaper bin you do not need to carry any of it home. That alone lightens your load by about one shopping bag.
On a short trip you can drive to, the volume of luggage is not much of a problem, but on a long-distance trip, hauling the stroller itself plus a mountain of diapers plus something to stand in for a crib is a serious burden. The answer is simple: borrow whatever you can.
8 Recommended Hotels You Can Visit Nearly Empty-Handed
From here we introduce hotels with a generous range of baby gear rentals. The list is spread from the north of Japan to the south, and it centers on places that lend strollers and stock formula-prep gear as well.
1. Yu no Mori Hotel Shidotaira (Iwate, Hanamaki Onsen area)
An onsen hotel that stocks a full round of baby gear: strollers to borrow, plus baby baths, high chairs, humidifying air purifiers, and baby soap. Its Welcome Baby certified rooms have a humidifying air purifier installed as standard. With rentals this complete, you can enjoy Hanamaki Onsen with your luggage cut to the bare minimum.
2. Atsumi Onsen Tachibanaya (Yamagata, Atsumi Onsen)
A long-established onsen ryokan with Welcome Baby certification. You can borrow a baby futon set, a bed-wetting mat, a humidifier, and an air purifier, and there is also a bottle washing service and warming for instant baby food. Both the men's and the women's large baths have a baby bed, so even getting around the hotel with an infant has been thought through.
3. Forest Resort Conifer Iwabitsu (Gunma, Higashiagatsuma)
A highland resort that lends out a whole set of "childcare goods": a stroller, an in-room crib, a bottle sterilizing kit, an electric kettle for little ones, a humidifier, and an air purifier. Because you can borrow a full round of what you need, you can enjoy a stay surrounded by nature feeling as though you arrived empty-handed.
4. Kawaguchiko Onsen Fuji Lake Hotel (Yamanashi, Lake Kawaguchi)
An onsen hotel with Mount Fuji views that lends strollers free of charge and where a temperature-controlled kettle and a bottle sterilizing kit are also free to borrow. Baby baths, high chairs, and baby soap are stocked as well, so the entire formula-prep load can stay at home. It lets you travel light to a base for touring the Fuji Five Lakes.
5. Hotel Wellseason Hamanako (Shizuoka, Lake Hamana)
Alongside cribs, it stocks a Bumbo seat, a Moses basket, and a Pitatto Bed that keeps babies from rolling off. There is also a warm-hold kettle for making up formula and a bottle sterilizing set, every room comes with a humidifying air purifier, and extra humidifiers are lent free of charge. The range is complete enough that you can borrow exactly what suits your baby's age in months.
6. Grand Mercure Minamiboso Resort & Spa (Chiba, Minamiboso)
A seaside resort you can enjoy on an all-inclusive basis. Its Welcome Baby certified rooms come with a formula kettle, and the hotel offers humidifier rentals, a dedicated diaper bin, and baby baths, high chairs, and baby soap. It is easy to reach from central Tokyo, which suits families who want to get to a seaside resort traveling light.
7. Fukugi Terrace (Okinawa, Motobu)
An Okinawa property that lends an in-house stroller and a crib free of charge. A dedicated diaper bin, baby baths, high chairs, and baby soap are stocked too, so the bulky baby gear you would otherwise fly with can simply be borrowed once you arrive. A far-flung trip to Okinawa is exactly where a rental-rich hotel pays off most.
8. Hotel Nishinagato Resort (Yamaguchi, Tsunoshima)
A scenic Tsunoshima resort that lends strollers and baby futons free of charge and stocks a dedicated diaper bin, baby baths, and humidifiers. The baby gear is complete enough to arrive empty-handed, so even this far from home you can enjoy the blue water of Tsunoshima without giving your luggage a thought.
articleMore on packing lighter
Articles on whether to bring your stroller or rent one there, what to use instead of a crib while traveling, and a packing list by month of age for babies under one
Borrow What Can Be Borrowed, and Travel Light
The luggage you take on a trip with young children shrinks dramatically just by making use of what the hotel rents out. To finish, here are the points worth checking before you book.
Whether strollers are available to borrow (this changes the burden of getting there enormously).
Whether cribs, formula-prep gear, and humidifiers are available to borrow.
Whether there is an unlimited diaper plan or a dedicated diaper bin.
On long-distance trips by plane or bullet train especially, the depth of the rental list largely decides how much you end up carrying. Each hotel page on Kids Stay also lays out what baby gear each property lends.
For the big picture on choosing a place to stay, see our criteria for choosing a hotel with kids. If your family wants somewhere for children to play inside the building, hotels with an indoor kids' space is worth reading too.
* This article contains advertising (links to hotel booking sites). The availability of rental items, their fees, and how to reserve them reflect information as of June 2026. Please check the latest details with each property when you book.
Find hotels that lend strollers
Find hotels that lend strollers
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