Kieto Chichibu

It was my father's birthday...

We stayed as a family for my father's birthday, who loves saunas. The facility was new and beautiful, but there were some points that need improvement, so I am leaving this review. First of all, I must say the response from the service center was not satisfactory. Since we wanted to cook dinner on-site, we inquired about cooking utensils before our stay and were told there was an IH stove but no frying pan or pot, so we brought our own. However, they were actually available at the accommodation. There were no cutting boards or knives available though, so anyone planning to cook should bring their own. This only added to our luggage and gave us something to laugh about as a family. However, the next morning around 9:35 AM when trying to use the sauna, it was only 40 degrees Celsius and too cold to enter. When we called the service center, they said there should be a switch inside that could be turned on ourselves. We searched but couldn’t find it and informed them again; they said they would check and call back later. At 10:50 AM (10 minutes before checkout), a Japanese staff member called saying local staff would come over—but by then it was too late for us to use the sauna anymore so we declined their offer. When asked about where exactly this switch is located afterward—it turned out even the service center didn’t know its location! This left us feeling frustrated about their earlier response. On what should have been a special birthday morning spent enjoying time together in sauna wear outdoors instead ended up with everyone shivering & needing another soak back into hot water instead due lackluster communication/service quality overall here made things worse emotionally especially seeing how disappointed dad looked throughout entire ordeal altogether sad experience overall really. The facility also has pool facilities which seemed promising enough during summer months ahead potentially worth revisiting someday provided improvements are made beforehand though still undecided whether future stays via IKYU.com/Google Reviews might better inform decision-making process moving forward given past positive experiences elsewhere previously disappointing outcome here unfortunately tarnished expectations significantly compared prior visits other Hotels/Accommodations booked through IKYU always exceptional until now sadly fell short drastically missed mark entirely