Arima Gyoen

Hotel Onsen has very good design and spacious.

I asked a staff at the lobby lounge where was the breakfast restaurant. She asked me my name, my room number and then checking for more than 1 minute. I asked here if there was any problem but she just ignored my question. She then told me the location of the breakfast restaurant in a emotionless manner.

* Standard 3 star onsen hotel in an onsen town outside of Kobe. Some touristy shops to browse around the hotel- the local beer is quite good (there is a small brewery next to hotel), and the local egg wafers are tasty (various flavors) and make for good souvenirs. * Rooms are spacious and well maintained. [note: Only smoking rooms have balconies. View is uninspiring (mainly of other hotels) even from highest floor (#10).] * Only 100m walk to the highway bus depot if you're not driving. * Free parking if you're driving (entrance to carpark is behind the hotel, a little difficult to spot).

* Meals are large in quantity but would have preferred more kobe beef rather than multiple courses of fish. The kobe beef provided at dinners is only a few slices (about 100g), despite it being their main marketing tactic on this website. First night is shabu shabu style and second night you can have sukiyaki if you prefer. * strict policy on BYO, you are not allowed to drink your own alcohol during mealtimes, even when meals are served in your room. * Many foreigners stay here due to proximity to kobe and kyoto. Not all will follow the onsen etiquette (not the hotel's fault of course, but something to note as it is quite disgusting to see people put their bath towels and long hair in the onsen water). * No drop off point to unload luggage or old folks. Not convenient to carry large baggage between hotel and carpark as stairs (2 short flights) are involved. * size of open air bath in public onsen is small (max 3-4 pax at a time) for a hotel with so many rooms. In fact I've seen private baths that are the same size! But in my experience the guests were generally quite considerate and took the initiative not to crowd you.

The bed is comfy and the dinner spread is superb.

Little modern facilities offered..personably not suited for the old styles of accomidation. Thks.

Meals are good and waitress very nice! Onsen very nice and we all had a great time!

It was a bit old