Fujinoya Yutei

We had a small en-suite room with a sofa n 2 beds. Cleanliness is passable. Toilet is newish but the basin n bath tub are rather old. Free wine and crackers are available at the reception from 3pm but there is no lounge to relax n enjoy the wine. The onsen water is smooth ph9 and warm, with a tinge of H2S smell. The are 3 baths and these are rotated between male-female. Service is efficient , friendly with a smile.

The room was OK, a bit smokey. The trouble is, it's next to a busy road with noisy bikers going past most the night, so its difficult to get sleep and with construction all over the hotel (something which is not advertised on the website) starting first thing in the morning, it was a torture on a light sleeper like me.

I had a very bizarre experience at this hotel. At check-in, the front desk staff didn’t speak English. At the end of the conversation, I expected to receive the room key, but he didn’t hand it to me. It was awkward. After a few minutes, they realized I was trying to check in. Because of the confusion, I wasn’t given any information about the hotel facilities, such as the public hot springs and the open-air baths—I had to figure it out on my own. At check-in, I received a voucher for an item from the bakery on the second floor. Based on reviews I read online, I thought I could exchange it for a piece of cake. The cakes indeed looked amazing. However, when I tried to redeem the voucher, the bakery staff seemed confused and then asked me to pay for the cake I had picked. I refused and went to the front desk for clarification. The front desk staff, an older gentleman, didn’t speak English either, but he was kind enough to run to the bakery and redeem it for me. It turned out that the voucher was only good for an apple pie, which looked more like a pastry—not a cake. Very disappointing. Maybe the miscommunication was due to the check-in staff not explaining things properly, leading me to have the wrong expectations based on online reviews. But what upset me the most was the attitude of the young female staff member at the bakery—she was not very friendly. I’m a big fan of Chateraise, and that’s the reason I chose this hotel over other hot springs hotels in this town. Sadly, because of this experience, I probably won’t buy anything from Chateraise again. The room is small and the hotel overall is outdated. Overall, a very disappointing experience at this hotel.