We stayed in this hotel for 1 night in mid May 2018. We knew before going that this is an older hotel, & we booked it because the price was most reasonable among all the hotels in town. And we were planning to use the onsen at another hotel** anyway. (**Dai-ichi Takimotokan- Y1500-2000 to bath all day, recommend by Lonely Planet as "Onsen Buffet", beautiful view to see Hell Valley from their outdoor onsen) so it did not bother us as much, as we did not spend much time in the hotel.
Location:
- the outer part of the onsen town, but only 5-10 minutes walk to Hell Valley
- conveniently across from Noboritbetsu station; if you take bus from Noboritbetsu JR station, you will arrive at this station.
Hotel in General:
As commented by other reviewers, this hotel felt like it had its glorious days from 20-30 years ago, but hasn't been updated recently.
Room:
- We had room #402, a Japanese style room, overlooking a parking lot.
- The tatami room feels very empty at its bare minimal, there is no decor on the walls, and the tokonoma alcove area where usually displays a hanging scroll or flower is empty.
- very few power outlets for phone charging
- fillings in the chair cushions is almost non existent, feels like we were sitting on hard floor.
- Only one towel was provided in our bathroom
- When house keeping layout the futon at night, they let the low table and chair scatter and did not lay them out properly.
Hotel Amenities:
- I tried their onsen in a morning around 8am, the place was peace and quiet, only few people were in the facility. The onsen was nice, it has a main pool area and a decent size outdoor pool. Sauna/steam room is not open in the morning.
Dinner & Breakfast:
- we booked a room with both dinner & breakfast included
- both dinner and breakfast were buffet style served in a dining hall
- we noticed quit a bit tourist groups at dinner time; food was very bland, probably the worse food we have ever had in Japan.
- However, BREAKFAST was AMAZING to our surprise! It is a huge contrast to the dinner.
TIPS: ***hotel staff will ask you for your preferred dinner/breakfast time at check-in, they give you 3 time slots; first time slot is probably be too early for most ppl, so ALWAYS choose the middle one if you can! We chose the latest one, and notice they stopped replenishing food after the middle time slot ends, hence the food would get cold, and there isn't much options left. Also, they stop right at the end time of 3rd time slot, so we felt rushed and did not have a chance to have second round.
Overall, okay hotel hotel if you are planning to try other onsen, and do other stuff around town.