Sanso Kannawaen — Hotel in Beppu

I am writing this amended review to the one I published on 21 December. At that time, I wrote the review before even having checked in at the hotel because I was so appalled by the really non-existent welcome I received. I have appended the original posted review below. I thought, however, it would be more useful for me to provide a fuller view of the property.||If you read the original review, I posted it while sitting in the hotel lounge, having been rather improperly "welcomed". It really got worse: I sat there for about two hours - no welcome at all, no traditional hand towel (oshibori), no tea, no offer of water, no offer to keep my bags to let me wander around, no offer of the wifi password so I could occupy myself. Nothing. Other guests started to arrive as the checkin time approached, and they were conveyed to seating and offered tea. Nothing for me. I wondered whether it might be because I was a foreigner? Not sure. Finally, one of the staff did bring me an oshibori and tea, but this was after I had been sitting there for over an hour.||Finally about 15 minutes after the checkin time had passed, a staff member (a gentleman from Indonesia named Ade, who was very attentive throughout my stay) came to convey me to my room. But I then took the opportunity to explain the situation. He was sympathetic and apologetic and went to get the manager. After about 10 minutes, the manager came, kneeling on the floor to my side, he expressed sympathy and apologized. And then he himself conveyed me to the checkin (efficiently done by another Indonesian staff) and then to the room, with Ade bringing the luggage separately. I have to say that in this hotel and and other hotels in Japan that now have digital machines for checkin/checkout, these contraptions rarely work and also don't really do such things as provide you full information about what you might be paying for. I try not to use them as I think they rarely work or save time. In this case, I requested that they just check me in manually. Frankly, it was just as speedy.||The room was very nice - what I expected, maybe a bit on the dark side, but spacious, with a very lovely view of Beppu towards the bay (I would later be able to watch Winter Solstice fireworks from the balcony). The private onsen bath was very nice - with a lot of character, i.e. it made you feel like you were in an outdoor "shack". I was still rather disappointed but I was calmer. And certainly, after the excellent teppanyaki dinner in the upper restaurant (I was in the Soka wing of the hotel, which has its own entrance and driveway), which was cooked by a friendly and efficient chef. The food was very nice and the service attentive. ||Overnight, however, I had a bad experience. There were two Western-style beds in my room. I decided to use one the first night and then the second the next night. In the middle of the night, I stretched my legs out to a colder part of the bed, still under the covers. I felt something odd and thought that perhaps I had taken off my socks under the sheets and that was one of them. But I hadn't and this was something odd. I lifted the sheets and found a dried up rag or hand towel! Pretty awful! This made me wonder whether the housekeeping and even bothered to change the sheets from the previous guest!||That morning, I was a bit upset but had a bath and was fairly calm. The breakfast in the restaurant - a comprehensive Japanese breakfast served in a three-level box - was excellent. I put the rag incident out of my mind. After breakfast, I thought I would go to mass at a church in town. I was running late so I went to the front desk of the Soka wing and asked them to order a cab. Conveying this and getting them to do so when I was in a rush was a bit frustrating. You do need to give the staff enough time to figure out what you need and to get to it, if you aren't able to speak Japanese. It took about 15 minutes for a cab to arrive. It took me down the Soka Kan driveway. I have to say, that the hotel's driveways leave much to be desired. From both sides, they are messy (the Soka Kan driveway is particularly bumpy) and look like there's a lot of construction or repairs going on but in fact, it appeared more like the natural state of the driveways. It suggested to me that the management really had no care about the impression that guests have of the hotel from their arrival. It's all rather disheveled.||The second dinner was a kaiseki meal, which was fine. I was rather left adrift by staff midway during the shabu-shabu course, as they were either attending to others or out of the room. This was unfortunate because they seem to have missed a key principle of shabu-shabu service, ie that there should be separate chopsticks for touching raw meat. They also did not bring me a bowl in which to put the cooked meat and vegetables into after dipping in the sauces. I needed to ask for this implements, but had difficulty getting attention. I didn't want to shabu shabu pot to boil over. Anyway, it got a bit messy. ||The next day's breakfast was fine - quite good. Checkout at 11 am went okay, but I rejected the self-checkout machine because it would not give you a printed accounting of what you were being charged. So I cancelled the process and just had a manual checkout at the desk. The staff were reasonably efficient with the process and they also ordered me a cab. It got a bit hectic in the lobby because a lot of people were checking out at the same time.||On the whole, I would still give the original low ranking for this hotel because of the disappointing welcome and definitely because of the dry rag left in the bedding. I suppose my experience might have been a fluke - I don't know. But it did not make me want to return anytime soon. I do applaud the manager for his sympathy but I'm thinking he should have done more. Star of the staff for me was Ade, who works very hard - long shifts - and was very attentive, welcoming and friendly.||This is the original review:|Warning: This is a review written in pique. I spent nearly 10 hours to get to this hotel from Tokyo, by plane, buses and on foot. I finally get to the hotel and there is no clear sign of where the checkin is. I pass it and have to ask someone. On my return to the front door, a checkin staff comes out…no greeting, no welcome in either English or Japanese, all I get is “Our checkin time is at 3 pm”! How awful! So I got angry and told this lady that the first thing out of her mouth on meeting a guest should be “Welcome” in whatever language. She said sorry but her English is bad. Not an excuse! She could have welcomed me in Japanese. I was fully aware of the checkin time but arrived early because that was my plan. Now, I am sitting in the lounge - no offer to keep my bags, no tea service, no water, nothing! This visit hasn’t even started and it is totally spoiled by this poor poor service - no welcome at a hotel is a cardinal sin, in my view. There really is nothing this hotel can do to redeem themselves after this disastrous situation. Am I harsh? Maybe so, but the expectations are high in Japan, especially if you are paying for what you expect to be a high...

Kannawaen is a hybrid hotel/ryokan luxury property that's centrally located and close to just about everything worth visiting in Beppu. Beppu is a renowned Onsen area, but is somewhat lacking in true top-end luxury properties. Kannawaen fits the bill for the most part, although it does not distinguish itself among the numerous luxury ryokans in other parts of Japan.||||Although it's in the middle of town, Kannawaen provides a secluded environment by featuring gardens with ponds, a teahouse, several buildings and even a Noh stage where performances are periodically held (although, sadly, not during our stay... most likely due to COVID-19.) It's a relatively expansive property given its location - it only features 30 rooms, although it appears suitable as a mega resort if it tried to be one.||||As with any top property, Kannawaen provides private Onsen baths in each room, in addition to having communal indoor and outdoor Onsens. Our room had a very nice open-air outdoor bath as well as an indoor wooden bath. It even featured an Onsen steam sauna, which was a nice bonus.||||Unfortunately, Kannawaen fell flat in several areas. We received a call from the manager just 2 days before our scheduled arrival, and he informed us that the room we booked (the top room called "Sora") was being renovated, so it was not going to be available to us. This was a big bummer. Sora is on the top floor and offers panoramic views of Beppu city, the surrounding mountains as well as the Ocean. Additionally, it's the only room where in-room dining is possible; all other guests are required to have their meals in the main restaurant. We were to be moved to a villa-style room called "Ume," which, while nice, wasn't the same. It was a stand-alone structure that was separate from the main building, and was a very spacious room with a nice outdoor bath, but was lacking of any view whatsoever. Also, I had to be very firm in our insistence of being served meals in our room, to which they begrudgingly obliged. To me, it was strange that they didn't offer in-room dining in the first place - especially in a room the caliber of Ume, since it wasn't that far away from the kitchen. If other ryokans can do it, Kannawaen ought to offer it as an option to more of their room categories. Aside from Kaiseki fare, Teppanyaki is also an option, although we chose not to try it out due to our desire to have adequate social distancing.||||Our Ume room was decent. it was cavernous in size, and the bath was nice. But decor was a bit odd and outdated; it was a mixture of traditional Japanese and 80s Western in furnishings. And, while they claimed the room was last renovated in 2016, it appeared more worn out than that. It wasn't particularly ratty, but was not shiny and new, either.||||Other issues - It took several calls to the front desk to get WiFi properly working, and even then, speeds were barely suitable for streaming Netflix shows. And, hot water was sporadic in both the shower and sinks, and took several trips by maintenance staff to fix the problem. Given that we were only there for 2 nights, this type of hassle was not exactly convenient.||||On the plus side - the staff seemed to care, including Mr. Sato, the manager. They really try their best, and mean well. Mr. Iwamoto, our designated in-room dinner server, was very passionate and knowledgeable, and did a great job explaining every dish in great detail; we really enjoyed his company throughout our time there.||||Food was very good. It wasn't particularly memorable, but take what I say with a grain of salt. We've had the opportunity of staying at some of the very best ryokans Japan has to offer, and while it doesn't crack the top 10, I would still consider it as a highlight.||||Overall, all of the problems we experienced were first-world issues. That said, the room rates are very high at Kannawaen (especially their top rooms) - we expected a bit more than what we actually got. It didn't help that our stay at Kannawaen was preceded by an amazing experience at Takefue ryokan, which we consider to be the #1 luxury ryokan property in...

Kannawaen is a hybrid hotel/ryokan luxury property that's centrally located and close to just about everything worth visiting in Beppu. Beppu is a renowned Onsen area, but is somewhat lacking in true top-end luxury properties. Kannawaen fits the bill for the most part, although it does not distinguish itself among the numerous luxury ryokans in other parts of Japan.||||Although it's in the middle of town, Kannawaen provides a secluded environment by featuring gardens with ponds, a teahouse, several buildings and even a Noh stage where performances are periodically held (although, sadly, not during our stay... most likely due to COVID-19.) It's a relatively expansive property given its location - it only features 30 rooms, although it appears suitable as a mega resort if it tried to be one.||||As with any top property, Kannawaen provides private Onsen baths in each room, in addition to having communal indoor and outdoor Onsens. Our room had a very nice open-air outdoor bath as well as an indoor wooden bath. It even featured an Onsen steam sauna, which was a nice bonus.||||Unfortunately, Kannawaen fell flat in several areas. We received a call from the manager just 2 days before our scheduled arrival, and he informed us that the room we booked (the top room called "Sora") was being renovated, so it was not going to be available to us. This was a big bummer. Sora is on the top floor and offers panoramic views of Beppu city, the surrounding mountains as well as the Ocean. Additionally, it's the only room where in-room dining is possible; all other guests are required to have their meals in the main restaurant. We were to be moved to a villa-style room called "Ume," which, while nice, wasn't the same. It was a stand-alone structure that was separate from the main building, and was a very spacious room with a nice outdoor bath, but was lacking of any view whatsoever. Also, I had to be very firm in our insistence of being served meals in our room, to which they begrudgingly obliged. To me, it was strange that they didn't offer in-room dining in the first place - especially in a room the caliber of Ume, since it wasn't that far away from the kitchen. If other ryokans can do it, Kannawaen ought to offer it as an option to more of their room categories. Aside from Kaiseki fare, Teppanyaki is also an option, although we chose not to try it out due to our desire to have adequate social distancing.||||Our Ume room was decent. it was cavernous in size, and the bath was nice. But decor was a bit odd and outdated; it was a mixture of traditional Japanese and 80s Western in furnishings. And, while they claimed the room was last renovated in 2016, it appeared more worn out than that. It wasn't particularly ratty, but was not shiny and new, either.||||Other issues - It took several calls to the front desk to get WiFi properly working, and even then, speeds were barely suitable for streaming Netflix shows. And, hot water was sporadic in both the shower and sinks, and took several trips by maintenance staff to fix the problem. Given that we were only there for 2 nights, this type of hassle was not exactly convenient.||||On the plus side - the staff seemed to care, including Mr. Sato, the manager. They really try their best, and mean well. Mr. Iwamoto, our designated in-room dinner server, was very passionate and knowledgeable, and did a great job explaining every dish in great detail; we really enjoyed his company throughout our time there.||||Food was very good. It wasn't particularly memorable, but take what I say with a grain of salt. We've had the opportunity of staying at some of the very best ryokans Japan has to offer, and while it doesn't crack the top 10, I would still consider it as a highlight.||||Overall, all of the problems we experienced were first-world issues. That said, the room rates are very high at Kannawaen (especially their top rooms) - we expected a bit more than what we actually got. It didn't help that our stay at Kannawaen was preceded by an amazing experience at Takefue ryokan, which we consider to be the #1 luxury ryokan property in...