I stayed for 2 nights prior to a cruise and enjoyed the hotel room, onsen facilities and half-board meals but did find the location inconvenient. ||||I arrived by train from Osaka at Sannomiya and took the complimentary shuttle to Kobe Minato Onsen Ren. The shuttle pick-up point is a bit of a walk from the station on the opposite side of a busy roadway so you have to go up to the above road walkways to cross and it was a bit of a walk with luggage. I was the first at the shuttle stop but soon after, many others appeared waiting for the shuttle. It turns out all the others were not hotel guests but customers who were planning to go use the onsen facilities only, made no allowance for me with my heavy luggage and, uncharacteristically for Japanese, pushed ahead of me to board. There are no luggage racks in the interior of the shuttle bus and no luggage storage space under the bus so I had to place my suitcase across two seats, luckily available up front. It would have been very difficult to drag the luggage much further back in the bus through the narrow aisle had space not been available in front. I mentioned this to hotel reception when I arrived suggesting they update their website to warn guests the shuttle bus is not designed for hotel guests with full size suitcases (as opposed to carry on size bags) so guests with suitcases would be better off taking a taxi. The other slightly tricky point is that the shuttle bus stops in front of the onsen facility entrance rather than the hotel entrance and hotel guests have to walk around to the side of the building for the hotel lobby. ||||I arrived around 12:30 or 1 pm and was originally told rooms would not be available until check in time at 3 pm. Fortunately the manager was able to expedite cleaning and I did not have to wait long for a room to be ready. The hotel operates with a wristband system where the band acts as the hotel room key, onsen facility pass, as well as is used to charge for food and beverage. ||||Once I was in my room, all frustrations of the arrival process quickly dissipated as the room was huge, beautifully furnished with typical Japanese elegance and had a balcony with a great view of Meriken Park across the water (especially beautiful when lit up at night). The room had two Western beds but also a tatami mat sitting area where staff will in the evening set up a futon for sleeping if the guest requests. I ended up opting for sleeping in the futon for my stay and it was very comfortable. Staff first put down a cushioned mattress pad on the floor before putting the futon bedding on top. I also asked for the futon to be arranged so I faced the water view so it was a beautiful sleeping experience to fall asleep to the night view and wake up to the morning view. ||.||The hotel provides yukatas that guests are welcomed to wear throughout the hotel and onsen facility, including at the restaurants. One weak point is the hotel wifi. It was generally OK for my cellphone but slow, but was really slow for my laptop and not that functional to use on my laptop. ||||The onsen facility is in a separate building connected by a walkway from the hotel building on the second floor and use is complimentary for hotel guests. One advantage of staying at the hotel is that you can use the onsen baths either very early in the morning when it first opens or late at night just before it closes when no onsen-only guests are there and you can enjoy a more peaceful experience. The onsen facility is beautiful and has great variety. There are several indoor pools with different qualities - one with floating grass or herbal packets to infuse the water and another carbonated to provide benefits for circulation. There is also a sauna and a steamroom. Outdoor, there are several rock garden style pools with different depths and different temperatures and, in my view, the best part of an onsen experience is always to sit in the outdoor pools looking up into sky. The hotel building itself also has small baths, separated for men and for women - in each, a small indoor pool, an even smaller outdoor pool and an outdoor jacuzzi tub but none with any of the Japanese flavour of the main onsen facility.||||I booked a half board rate inclusive of breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is open seating starting at 7 am but dinner is in two fixed seatings. I had the later dinner seating at 7:45 pm. Both meals are served buffet style and there is a huge selection of food at both times. Food quality is very good and at dinner, there were several dishes featuring the famous local Kobe beef - in slices from a roast, in stews and in individual sized hotpots. Breakfast features both Western standards such as eggs, sausage and bacon but also many Japanese items. There are cute rolling tables set up next to each table for guests to roll over to the buffet to gather their food so that guests do not need to hold the trays and can also put more food on the two shelves of the rolling table in one trip than one can carry on a tray. ||||The hotel is not located close to anything so you pretty much need to take the complimentary shuttle to and from Sannomiya station to do anything. It is set at the end of a pier in a mostly industrial area and there is not even a ubiquitous convenience store such as 711 or Family Mart within walking distance. Of course with the wonderful onsen facility, it is quite possible to spend all your time and eat all your meals at the hotel and attached onsen facility but if you need to venture out, you will need to follow the shuttle schedule or take a taxi. ||||Overall I found the location of the Kobe Minato Onsen Ren not convenient, but I loved the hotel facilities, the room, the view and the onsen facility.