Hotele Hot Springs w: Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Nice, modern and new hotel in Kinosaki onsen with great hospitality from the hotel owner and his staff. I was welcomed by the owner at the door when I arrived, and they even prepared a beautiful greeting card on my arrival. Welcome drink was provided and the owner recommended good restaurants and provided the USP of each onsen in Kinosaki. The room is spacious, clean and new! I especially like the Japanese style of the hotel. Yutaka and 1-day onsen pass were provided for my stay. As the next day I had to move to another hotel, the owner very kindly helped me to transport my luggage to another hotel near the JR station. Overall, excellent stay, excellent people and excellent breakfast! :) Would love to visit Kinosaki onsen again and stay with Utsuroi Tsuchiya.

对不是日本人完全不友善的酒店 Not foreigner ( Western & Asian) friendly. We travelled around 70 Roykan in the last 3 years and this is the wrost service we ever had. Japanese get to seat and offered juices when they checked in while we have to stand at the front desk and no juice offered. We asked for the yukata rental (free rental) and the young staff just ignore us twice. We asked for sizes a few times then he just said it’s all here. Then when we picking the only two small sizes he grabbed and give it to the Japanese girl and ignore us or never ask us before he took it as he knows we are looking into those. Very rude. Most of ryokan will bring you to the room or assist to bring luggage or already put in the room for you. This one you do everything yourself after check in. When we get into the hotel room it’s hot as no aircon is on. Then air con is broken so we called reception. With their broken English they insisted I don’t know how to turn on the aircon which I told them the air con is broken, after 15mins on the phone showing me how to on I keep telling them to send the staff up as we are so hot in the room as it’s summer and no window open and no fan was on after moving luggage. They came up and fix the air con for 45mins then told us it’s broken and need to change room. The whole hour we were sweating but no offer of water / drinks or anything and we just stand in the room while they fixing. When they decided the room need to be changed, they asked us to wait downstairs but leave the luggage in the room so we thought they will move luggage to the new room but they did not. Staff see us so hot at lobby didn’t tell us there is free drinking machine that we can get ice juices , they just watch us hot and sweat and not saying a word. When the new room is finished, they gave us the new room key and asked us to move the luggage ourself and return the old key. No help at all and wasted 1.5 hours of our onsen time. No apologies as well. I feel like being treated like a trash. Not enjoyable at all. I paid extra for the sea view room which when they change my room they offered a slightly bigger room but my sea view was mostly blocked (in the pic )which I am not so happy. There is amenities corner at the lobby, at night after the onsen we come back and want to take the lotion as early on it was gone and they didn’t replenish, the female staff have a bad attitude and flip her eyes ask us which room we stayed, we showed her the key and she said the cream is already in the room which her broken English. There is one set in the room but those are small one time pack which we finish after we had the onsen so we want to take another one. She was rude and insist we can’t take. Her attitude was so bad seems like we are stealing. There is an amenities cornor, if you not allowing guest to take please do not have this setup. Food is okay with the buffet. Wagyu beef is nice but they is a normal standard for Japanese onsen buffet nothing too special. Overall, with the price paying compare to other roykan in Japan, this hotel have very bad service to non Japanese. There is also nothing special for this onsen. Probably best to try somewhere else.

We stayed at the hotel in October 2024. We took two rooms for two. Pros: 1. Magnificent rooms in the style of a classic ryokan: everything is very beautiful, authentic, lots of small details, notes and tips for guests, interesting trinkets in the room. We had beds, not futons, but this is not a minus - the beds are very comfortable. The view from the room (3rd floor) is of the mountains. The cleanliness is perfect, the room has everything that should be in a classic ryokan room: from tatami to a low table for relaxing. 2. Incomparable kaiseki dinner. Excellent sukiyaki breakfast (you cook it yourself). 3. The most beautiful interiors of the hotel, it is interesting to walk around it, exploring it from the inside. The hotel is beautiful from the outside too. 4. You can smoke in the rooms (we did not do this, and the rooms are not smoked at all). There is a smoking room at the entrance to the hotel. 5. Wonderful staff. All requests and complaints are satisfied within minutes. They speak English poorly, but it's not a problem, we communicated through a translator. The guys are cool, cheerful. Quick check-in, a bunch of reminders about where and when to come / what and how to do correctly. 6. There is a private onsen (we did not use it). 7. They give a free pass to 7 public onsen. They give discounts on souvenirs. 8. They give excellent yukatas for onsen, for women - they will give beautiful ones, the choice is huge. Nuances: 1. The only downside of the hotel is the distance from the center of Kinosaki (15-20 minutes walk through not very beautiful places). But! There is a free transfer from the hotel to the city center, plus there is a transfer station-hotel-station. And the walk from the hotel to the center of Kinosaki did not bother us much. 2. This is not a business hotel, so there is no washing machine, iron or shower in the room. The shower (and in fact - onsen) is shared on the minus first floor - separate for men and women.

:) Thankful for the hotel shuttle service as the hotel is located after a really steep slope. Both onsen in hotel and the next building are good and clean. :( Amenities didn't include facial cleanser and milk lotion. The pillows are too hard for me. The dinner plate arrangement setting appears to be dated - some of the food containers are old/ worn out with visible scratches on the surface. The menu is in Japanese wordings - will be good to provide English version.

The Grand Mercure Awaji Island Resort & Spa is nestled on a hillside, offering views of the sea and the bridge. The rooms are spacious and comfortable, also boasting sea views. As with all Mercure hotels, it's always bustling with guests, and the accommodation and dining are excellent. This particular hotel is family-friendly, making it a great choice for families looking for a holiday.

The room was quite spacious, and the massage chair was a pleasant surprise – very comfortable to use. The room introduction was quite detailed, and it was my first time experiencing a traditional Japanese onsen ryokan. The tatami mats were interesting, and I slept well. The entire hotel felt like a museum; despite its age, it had a lot of character. I felt like I got a deeper understanding of Japanese culture, which I really appreciated. The service, apart from being led to our room with traditional Japanese bows and the room introduction, was mostly self-service. However, this was my first time staying at a 'one night, two meals' ryokan, so I'm not sure if all onsens are like this. We also didn't have large luggage, just our bags, so maybe that's why we didn't notice any issues with luggage service. On a positive note, the front desk immediately knew which pair of shoes were ours when we checked out, which was good service. On the downside, the room's air conditioning unit was so well hidden that it took ages to find, and I was cold for quite a while. The phone either didn't work or I couldn't figure out how to use it. Also, we booked the private onsen from 8 PM to 9:30 PM. After relaxing for a bit, it was already close to 11 or 12. The public onsen closed from 12 AM to 1 AM, so we couldn't use it. We needed about 8 or 9 hours of sleep, and breakfast was scheduled for 9 AM. After breakfast, from 9:30 AM to 11 AM, the public onsen was closed. When we asked, the front desk informed us that check-out was strictly at 11 AM and we couldn't use the public onsen after checking out. So, we missed out on the public onsen, which was a real shame and couldn't be negotiated. In any five-star hotel in any country I've traveled to, it's usually possible to discuss using facilities after check-out. But it seems traditional onsen ryokans are all this rigid. While that might be how Japanese people are, for a hotel of this price, and for clearly inexperienced foreigners (we were even reminded we wore our kimonos the wrong way), when asking about meal times, couldn't they have kindly informed us that we needed to plan our breakfast, dinner, and onsen times accordingly? The food was light and flavorful. I don't eat seafood, and they were able to adjust the meals to my preferences. Communication two months prior was very responsive. However, for us, it was a bit too plain; Japanese people would probably love it. This was my first trip with my husband after giving birth, and I had been looking forward to the onsen part for a long time. I was very happy on the check-in day, but not being able to use the public onsen on the second day was still a big regret.

Extremely disappointed. The onsen (hot spring) was tiny, and the steps inside were uncomfortably high. They also offered very few amenities. For dinner, as a small woman, I only felt about 80% full, and there were very few extra items available to order. Apart from the front desk staff, most employees only spoke Japanese, which made communication a bit difficult, but everyone was very friendly. The pillows and blankets were incredibly uncomfortable. I tried all three in the closet, and they were still bad; I even woke up with a stiff neck. The blanket was incredibly thick, and I woke up in a sweat in the middle of the night. The most ridiculous thing was that construction started outside at 8:30 AM... I can't believe a resort onsen hotel can't escape the noise. The hotel seems to be the furthest one in the area. I walked there, and thankfully the weather was good and the scenery along the way was nice. The shuttle bus is too small; after checking out at 10 AM, I had to wait until the 10:40 AM service. But it's too far to walk, so I had to take it anyway...

The hotel service and environment are excellent, offering a free shuttle service from the station to the hotel. The meals and private hot springs are highlights, making for a perfect overnight stay with two meals. The entire hot spring town also has six public hot spring pools, each with its own unique features. There are many charming little shops along the street to explore, offering a tranquil escape from the city's hustle and bustle, allowing you to relax and rejuvenate!

The location and views are superb, and the staff provide top-notch service. The breakfast buffet offers excellent quality food, and the hot springs are clean and feature a semi-open-air bath. Overall, this Japanese-style hotel offers extremely high value for money. They even include a hot spring hopping pass for the surrounding public baths, have a wide selection of beautiful kimonos to choose from, and proactively offer shuttle service to and from the JR station. The room views are simply unbeatable. There are countless advantages, I highly recommend it!

This hotel is right next to the lively Nankin-machi. It offers a refined and generous breakfast, light and delicious late-night ramen, and free washing machines (drying costs an additional 100 yen). The public bath is, as always, wonderfully comfortable. Staying at Dormy Inn Matsumoto Onyado this spring brought back fond memories of a stay many years ago, so for my trip to Nagano later this month, I've chosen Dormy Inn again.