Sounkyo Onsen Choyo Resort Hotel — Hotel in Kamikawa

I stayed on a weekday for one night with my partner.

The room was small for the price, but the beds were comfortable and overall it was clean and everything looked new. No problems with the air conditioner in our room like some others seemed to have.

The buffet was very mediocre. Despite this being Hokkaido, where fresh fish is abundant, the sushi had a faintly smelly odor and taste. I've had better sushi in landlocked prefectures. I'm not sure why they have such a wide and quite random selection of foods... and why of all countries, do they have German food??? Chinese or Korean would be better, though I understand why they wouldn't given that their clientele is probably mostly Chinese and Korean. But bland cabbage and sausages?? Definitely felt and tasted like a cost-saving measure. Nothing was outstandingly delicious. Felt more like a cheap business hotel meal rather than a proper hotel's.

The onsen was very nice. Lots of temperature options, and very spacious. One of the outdoor baths is very hot, so be careful there. However, I did notice one of the baths had a ton of black mold on the ceiling....... They also have a hot rock dry bath, which is a bit unusual, so if you've never experienced it before, I'd recommend it, though you do have to pay extra for it.

Edited to add: The private bath is also not free!! It was quite expensive (something like 2-3000 yen). This is not written ANYWHERE, and you only hear about the cost when you try to book. Also, the bingo game that they do is also not free!! 500 yen to participate for mostly Daiso-level gifts. Absolutely not worth it.

The check-in and check-out process is very fast and smooth with the machine, and the staff were kind and welcoming for the most part.

Do keep in mind that it's one of the larger hotels in the area, meaning they get people coming in on buses. Unfortunately some of those guests are loud and have poor manners... But that's not the fault of the hotel. So not the most relaxing, romantic getaway. If you want to experience Sounkyo on the cheap-ish side, then that is...

I stayed here overnight for the ice festival in the area. The hotel was generally clean and well maintained. The staff was polite and efficient. The room package I booked was Japanese style for 2 with buffet style dinner, breakfast and onsen. They had plenty of futons and blankets. There were even room wear to use while at the hotel. The room was simply furnished with a Japanese style table and cushion seats. There was a small fridge but no microwave. The bathroom was small but standard for these kinds of rooms. What I didn't like was that the bathroom was not properly cleaned. There was mold on parts the walls and along the corners and crevices. There was also peeling Anna warping of the wallpaper in the room. They provided body wash, shampoo and conditioner as well as toothbrushes and towels. The onsen facilities were very clean though. The shower area again had the necessary amenities, each pool was a different temperature and there was also a sauna. There are spa facilities on the same floor as the onsens and a hot rock sauna that was a rather interesting experience. My friend and I thought it would have been a hot rock massage but it turned out to be us laying on a hot slab of marble I think and basically steaming as if it were a sauna but there was a certain technique to follow for this. All in all it was ok. The dining was buffet style and I have to say that the dinner menu was wonderful. There were so many choices, they even had jingiskan that you could cook on a mini stove. It was delicious! Breakfast, however, was a bit disappointing. They had the usual breakfast dishes, western and Japanese style but I found them to be very cold to lukewarm. The only hot items were soups and tea. Overall, I had a good experience with this hotel for what my friend and I got with our last minute booking. The price was...

At check-in, the guy was maybe new or what, but despite giving him My passport, my agoda booking ID… he just COULD NOT FIND MY NAME! and kept printing out the wrong guest name who happened to have the same surname! It was wasting a lot of time. Had to show him and tell him repeatedly how to find my name!

Then he gives us our meal package, breakfast and dinner, perhaps they had thrown in a free dinner meal package.

So at dinner time, we were stopped at the restaurant and had to wait embarrassingly as they took very long to verify and meanwhile, the Q was getting very long.

So in the end someone came up and said there is a mistake and we would have to pay 3300Y PER PERSON, for a buffet meal.

It was frustrating and very bad service on their part as it was getting later and we had to find other dinner plans.

Train your staff better! Else compensate for the poor service.

We just wanted an a la carte meal but that is apparently not available. Else we would have gone somewhere else to eat.

Very poor communication skillsets amongst the front desk staff.

• and oh the room had pee/urine smell, especially from the toilet and front of toilet at the carpet. Despite spraying the fragrance, the pee/urine smell is part of the room 😷😷🤧🤧🥴

By the way, they are in a rush to get you to eat and out of their restaurants… Dinner is like from 615pm- 730pm or something and breakfast is only 730am-830am!!! And the hotel is very crowded - imagine having all the guests rushing in between 730am-8am to eat and rush out…. 🙄😠😠. And it’s called a resort- not much rest amd relax but rush rush rush thru your meals. 😠😠😡😤

Not...