Awara Onsen Hotel Yagi

The Hotel’s exterior looks a bit dated, but the interiors of the Rooms, restaurant, and Onsen were very beautiful, stylish, and clean.\nThe service was excellent.\nWe also enjoyed the footbath.\nThe buffet-style meals felt a bit crowded and not very relaxing.

This was our third stay: my daughter和I stayed in a Room with an open-air Onsen bath attached.Even on an off-season weekday—the value for money (Accommodation Fee), meals,service,andthecleanlinessofbothourRoomandthebathingareas—everythingwasoutstandingquality.Icanseewhythisplacealonefeelsbusy,eventhoughAwaraOnsenha sbeenquiet.Inparticular,Iwasimpressedbythegentle,kindestaff,andbythefactthatalldrinks(includingalcohol)andsweetsareincludedintheflat-rateAccommodationFee.That said,myguessisthatamajorportionoftheAccommodationFeegoesintotheexcellentfood,whichislikelywhyso manyguestscomehere.Becausemanygueststayprimarilyforthefood,afewpointsstoodoutthistime.Ihopeyoucanusethemforfutureimprovements.1 Withabuffet,themostimportantthing—evenmorethantaste—ismaking sureitemsdon’trunout.Perhapsbecauseofspacelimitations,theamountputouteachtimefeltabit small,andrefills tookquiteawhile;eachtimeitbecame“firstcome firstserved,”andeveryonehadto keepgettingupjusttocheckavailability.Inthat situation,it’shardtorelaxandenjoythemealwithoutworryingabouttimingoritemsbeinggone—especiallywhenmanyguestschoosethisAccommodationforthefood.2 Relatedto#1,IwassurprisedthatwhenIwantedtoenjoydessertslowlyduringtheroughlylast30minutes,theselectionhadshrunktoaboutone-third,andweweretold,“Therewillbenomore servings.”Honestly,Iwasstunned.Itwassadtoseepeoplemovingaroundlikeasupermarketbargainsale day.Isunderstandeverythingishomemade,butpleaseplanquantitiesbasedonoccupancyandleavemorebufferinmanagingpopularitems.3 Theprivateopen-airOnsenbathareaissomewhatvisiblefromabuildinginfront,soIsuggestaddingaprivacyscreen,suchasasimplemovablepartition.4 Asasmallerpoint,theloungechairsmeanttoviewthegardenwerefacingtowardtheroominstead—theyseemedarrangedbackwards.Also,thelivingroomsofawasrather small,andnotverycomfortableorpractical;thereseemsroomforimprovement.TheheatedmatunderthePersianrugwasmuchappreciated.5 Since manypeopleforget(I didtoo),itwouldbeidealifbothbath towelsandface towelswerealwaysavailableinthepublicbathareaaswell—notjustbath towels.6 Onthewayback,wearrivedatAwaraonsenStationbytaxi.WhenItriedtopay,the driver said,“It’s been charged totheAccommodation.”That truly moved me。7 Despite thesecomments,thisisanoverallfavoriteAccommodationofmine,andIamlookingforwardtonexttime。