Ito Onsen Yukitei

The young woman who checked me in was graceful, charming, and extremely professional. She was the only staff member who spoke English, and her English was excellent. I could picture her working at one of the finest hotels anywhere if she ever left Ito. The staff at Ito Yukitei were welcoming when I arrived from the station, offering a little non-alcoholic yuzu and honey drink or something similar, plus a large, tasty cracker. I was only there one night, and after reading management's reply to my review, I'm raising my rating by one star. Much of my bad experience wasn't caused by the hotel or its staff, and one night isn't enough to form a fair view of a hotel, or a town. Maybe I caught Ito at the wrong time, and other visitors may see it differently. The hotel is right on a river, and my room had a pretty good view. But the air conditioner barely worked, the TV had no HDMI input for my USB-C dock, and there was dust all over the back of it. I wasn't sure whether breakfast wasn't served at all or stopped at 8:45. Getting dinner was a real struggle. Without a reservation at the hotel or a particular restaurant, it seemed impossible to find a meal. The hotel wouldn't take a same-day dinner booking, even though I asked in the morning. I went to six restaurants and couldn't eat at any of them. About half had signs saying people who don't speak Japanese can't eat there. At places without those signs, 8-12 people were waiting outside, others were inexplicably closed, and one place ignored me for 10 minutes until I left. I was alone, and ended up giving up and eating convenience store food in my room. The baths looked nice but were lukewarm, and nobody else was using them while I was there. Guests can reserve the private outdoor baths once a day. I had booked 20:00, but my search for dinner lasted the next few hours, so I missed the reservation.