Hoshino Resorts Kai Yufuin

## 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!