Hotel Wellness Yokoteji

It has not reopened since closing in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of November 2024, it was still out of operation. I called to check and got an automated message saying the number was no longer in service, the sort of message you hear when a phone line has been disconnected. That makes me think this is a permanent closure rather than a temporary one. The hotel has also disappeared from the HMI Hotel Group website and hotel list.

The building turned out to be much larger and more impressive than I expected, with lots of space and a clean feel throughout. My room's Wi-Fi was a letdown, though. The signal was weak and kept dropping even with a wireless AP right across the hallway. The large bath changes daily. The water didn't seem to be from a hot spring, but I enjoyed the big dry sauna and the steam sauna on the other side. Breakfast was a half-buffet, with lots of pickles as you'd expect in Akita, and especially tasty onsen eggs. The grilled salmon was good too, as it is at the other places I've stayed around Yokote and Yuzawa. I'd like to come back if I'm in the area again.

For my last bath of the year, I stopped by here. The 700 yen fee feels a little high for the area, but I do appreciate that it's open from 6 a.m. Today's women's bath was Saiun, with a steam sauna. It was my first time there, and I couldn't figure out what the huge empty space was for. Looking closely, it seemed to be a jet bath. Filling such a large area with hot water feels a bit extravagant, and I wish the space were used better. The open-air bath was spacious and pleasant. In the changing room there's a washlet toilet and both 100-yen return lockers and free lockers. The shower and faucet shut off automatically, and pretty quickly. There is a water cooler, but the cups are reused, so I wish they had paper ones.

The Wi-Fi didn't reach the rooms well, and the signal was weak. The men's and women's baths swap sides. There's a sauna, but no cold plunge on the side I used, though apparently the other side has one. The bath had an unpleasant smell, like toilet air freshener or something, and it was too hot for kids.