Work Hotel Annex Tenjin-No-Yu

The hotel is within a few minutes’ walk of both JR Takatsuki Station and Hankyu Takatsuki-shi Station, with lots of shopping streets and restaurants around. The bath is unlimited, which is a nice feature for tourists, and I think the location makes it a good hotel for them. Business travelers may find the limited workspace and luggage storage awkward. The staff service seemed to vary by person, though most were very friendly. The entrance is unusual and could be confusing, but I checked the website beforehand and followed its clear directions from JR Takatsuki Station without getting lost. A staff member greeted me at the entrance. Shoes are required there, and at check-in I was given slippers to wear over them. Afterward, I got a shoe locker and instructions. The lodging and bath facilities are separate. The hotel was clean and tidy, and my room was reasonably spacious and comfortable. The bathroom and toilet share a room, but there was enough space. The shower pressure surprised me at first because it was so strong, but I adjusted it and enjoyed using it. The heating worked more than well enough. Even with the temperature at 20 degrees in December, I felt hot and barely used it. Breakfast wasn’t anything special, but it did the job.

I stayed overnight and would like to come back. It’s close to the station, but the roads are narrow and I couldn’t find parking nearby, so it doesn’t work for cars. When I called late at night with questions about staying with my toddler and breakfast, they were very accommodating. The in-house clothing smells awful. My son said it smelled like “old men,” lol.

The hot spring has a distinctive design and is very relaxing. It’s attached to the hotel, which is spacious and clean, and afterward you can unwind at one of the restaurants inside.

The hotel sits in the middle of a shopping arcade, so the location is convenient and would be great for anyone who likes that kind of setting. It’s about a 10-minute walk from the station, manageable even with a suitcase, though rain would make it tough. Finding the entrance after a long workday was a pain. I dragged my suitcase toward the location Google Maps showed, but only found the entrance to the day-use natural hot spring with the same name. A nearby map pointed toward the hotel, so I walked another five minutes or so, took an escalator to the second floor, and found a closed front desk. I called and learned that the reception for my reservation was actually at the day-use hot spring entrance I had just passed. I didn’t want to haul the suitcase back again, so I left it there and returned to check in. They said they’d take it to my room, which I appreciated. The young woman who helped wasn’t unpleasant, but she immediately told a colleague she’d go get the suitcase and left without making eye contact. If you think of it as a day-use hot spring reception instead of a hotel front desk, I suppose that’s understandable, though the accommodation isn’t cheap. Maybe they thought I was just a grumpy old man. It was my mistake, of course, but the signs really are hard to follow. For an easier check-in, enter through the red curtain along the street from the shopping arcade. Coming in from the side street is a mistake. The room is laid out pretty well. I like that the TV is directly in front of me when I lie in bed. There’s only a shower in the room, but that’s fine because I can use the day-use hot spring. There’s one pillow and no cushions. When I sit at the desk to work, my back is toward the TV. The toilet is separate, and both it and the shower are spacious. The hot spring is shared with general guests. I went to the first-floor front desk to swap my room key for a locker key, then took a separate elevator to the baths. They’re spread over three floors, which is an unusual setup, but I got used to it after one visit. Think of it as a long, narrow bath. I could go as often as I wanted during my stay. It was nice that reception gave me a bath towel and face towel each time, so I didn’t need to bring them from my room. I went six times in all.