Hoshino Resorts Kai Yufuin - Photo Gallery

Great environment, onsen is good, friendly and helpful staffs. Suggested to book the shuttle before arrive and depart the hotel since it is in a remoted area. It takes around 10 mins by taxi to go from the train station.

Highly recommended! My absolute favorite part was the wind chimes on the veranda; they created such a peaceful and calming atmosphere.

## Booking Experience The booking photos were highly misleading. The exterior and scenic views advertised were cherry-picked from the best features of *different* room types, not accurately representing the private onsen room I booked. I specifically booked a private onsen room, but the actual view was from a cheaper room type *without* a private onsen. All the private onsen rooms are located in a separate building at the back, with windows facing the rear mountain, completely blocking any view of the terraced fields. ## Environment The exterior resembles public housing, while the interior feels more like a budget hotel. Without delving into Kengo Kuma's design philosophy, the impracticality and numerous design flaws are evident everywhere. The bamboo headboard was incredibly uncomfortable and even trapped hair in its gaps. The master light switch by the bed was *too* well-hidden, tucked away on the 5cm-wide top edge of the headboard, requiring me to stand up from the bed just to reach it. Meanwhile, the bedside power outlets were located in a 4cm gap between the bottom of the headboard and the floor, meaning larger plugs or adapters couldn't fit; charging devices required leaving them in the aisle by the bed. The biggest flaw, however, was the floating wooden platform on top of the tatami mat where the mattress rested. It was extremely easy to hit one's shins on it; I even saw a horror story on Xiaohongshu about a guest tripping and needing stitches at the hospital. The room's sofa was also a hard, DIY-style bamboo creation, offering absolutely no lumbar support and being very uncomfortable. ## Hygiene The main hygiene issues were in the bathroom. The limescale was very severe; the glass surfaces were completely caked with residue. The outdoor bathtub had green algae and limescale at the waterline, and there was a scoop net filled with green algae beside it. The room did not provide bottled water; there was only a plastic kettle in the mini-fridge for collecting tap water. ## Dining Breakfast and dinner were included. I won't comment on the food itself, but I've attached the dinner menu. However, dining times were strictly pre-scheduled with only a few slots to choose from. The public spaces were also quite small, lacking any sense of secluded paradise; they felt more like the cramped density of a public bathhouse. ## Service Immediately upon entering the room, I told the staff member who checked us in that I wanted to change rooms, but was told it was fully booked and no change was possible. While she was delivering our luggage, I discovered the hygiene issues and told her I needed to complain to a manager, asking her to find one. After waiting for over half an hour with no one showing up, I went to the lobby myself to find a manager. To my surprise, the manager was a very young man who didn't speak a word of English. He then found a young woman whose English wasn't much better to act as a translator. I complained about the hygiene issues, the lack of bottled water, and the discrepancy between the room's view and the booking information. They said they needed 30 minutes to see if they could meet my requests or offer compensation. After 30 minutes, they merely offered to re-clean my room, with no other compensation whatsoever. They claimed the limescale was due to hard-to-remove hot spring minerals. However, during the re-cleaning, they only wiped the top part of the shower fixtures, which looked shiny, while the bottom part, left unwiped, still had a thick layer of limescale. This clearly showed they hadn't cleaned it properly and didn't even know to use glass cleaner or similar products. ## Summary Extremely disappointing. This chain resort seems to hire cheap fresh graduates for their service staff, none of whom could even speak English. Zero value for money. For this price, I'd highly recommend looking for a boutique hotel instead; there are so many better options out there. Avoid, avoid, avoid!

Hotel surroundings and cleanliness was top notch. Dinner and breakfast set were amazingly tasteful and filling. Food served was fresh and served based on our eating pace. All the staff are all well versed with English and friendly with our request. The onsen itself was great but the entrance to the men and ladies onsen was just next to each other. Ladies privacy could be easily violated as the main door was the see-through type. We were not feeling quite comfortable with the entrance layout.

The hotel is spacious and newly opened. They offer a half-board meal plan, with options for either Western or Japanese breakfast. Plus, there are various hotel activities available for guests to enjoy.

Contemporary Onsen hotel. In room onsen bath tub is very nice with continuous flowing hot spring water, you can enjoy the hot spring every minute and whenever you want.

Food and service are good. As this is winter, walking from room to onsen are not good experiences

The environment is very nice and quiet. The service is very good.

It’s an above and beyond hot spring hotel designed by Japanese well known architect. The design is outstanding, peaceful and stylish, especially love the firefly lamp inside the room. Served by professional staff who carry friendly smiles, delicious traditional Japanese dinner and breakfast. I was attracted by KOLs to try the beef rice in the shopping street. It took me an hour in the queue, but then I found out the even better beef rice was already tasted at hotel dinner. Enjoy staff-led morning exercise and DIY handmade workshop. I did even enjoy solo outdoor hot spring under snowing. What a perfect stay at Kai Yufuin