Misasa Onsen MISASAKAN

The onsen water was lovely, and the bathing area felt spacious enough. This is a very traditional Japanese-style hotel, with excellent service and very polite staff. The room is a little old, and there wasn't a welcome drink. Still, it was better than standard and worth a stay.

The river walk is lovely, and the setting is beautiful. The charming town is an easy walk away. Staff were respectful and efficient, although the many bus tours mean the hotel can get busy. With so many visitors and staff occupied, it didn't have the welcoming warmth we found at many other hotels in Japan. The dining room seems to have been renovated recently, which is nice. Elsewhere, the building is showing its age. The lobby and public-area carpets are threadbare in places, the lobby chairs are worn and torn, and the chairs and straw mats in our room were soiled. The bathroom and sink areas also showed a lot of wear. The guest rooms and shared spaces need renovation and modernization. I hope someone eventually invests in a new vision for the hotel, so it can become the jewel this beautiful valley deserves.

The new remodeled rooms were comfortable and well lit, but getting to the outdoor onsen from the bathroom meant crossing the whole room, leaving the tatami at risk of getting wet. The location itself is beautiful, yet the hotel looked much older and less maintained than the photos suggested. The lighting elsewhere was poor, and the huge dining room looked about 60 years old. The check-in was difficult because the reception staff couldn't speak English, so the whole process was in Japanese, which we barely understood. At 10:30 a.m. checkout, they handed us another bill for 12,000 Yen, saying we were late. They hadn't told us at check-in that checkout was 10 a.m., and most hotels wouldn't charge for being 20-30 minutes late. Most hotels in Japan check out at 11 a.m. or 12 p.m. We accept that we could have asked about checkout time ourselves. Still, if the hotel charges for 30 minutes late, it should clearly tell guests the cutoff. I can't call it discrimination against foreign visitors, but we weren't treated like valued customers, and it left us with a really bad experience. I wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone planning a visit, and would suggest trying another onsen hotel.

There's plenty to like here: thoughtful decor, good amenities, and nice views of the mountains and river. The building itself is worn, though. It's a place with a lot of history, and I enjoyed walking around town and then having a soak in the hot springs.