Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Minoh Kankō Hotel — Hotel in Minoh

If you want to have a single moment to relax then don’t stay in this property because you simply won’t. The moment you enter the Carpark entrance with long queue, finally found a parking spot far away from the hotel entrance dragging your heavy luggage’s, you think the hard part was over, let me tell you don’t be so naive. You will start to see out of control kids running around (rare sight in Japan), the check-in area was way overcrowded without much seating area. We were told we need to get our own yukata and amenities from the overcrowded hallway, after fighting for our hard earned yukata and amenities we headed to our own room. The design of the hotel is very strange, the check in area is on 2F but you need to go down to 1F first to go to any rooms so we had to fight our space with heavy luggage’s to 1F and shockingly found there’s only 3 lifts in the whole hotel share between hundreds of rooms!!!! No actual queuing system was implemented so we had to fight again….the hallway on all the floors were so dark makes you feel like in a dark medieval castle, it’s actually very scary. A strong weird smell in the room and the vibe is early 80s which needs renovation way back, only 1 power plug in the whole room shared among between 3 of us, the lighting is also not enough. We didn’t like the room and the hotel so we left and take a walk in the town which was way more refreshing. We got back around 4:30 and went to the osen, the view from the outdoor was the only selling point of the hotel, I give it that but it’s not worth all the fightings. So after some relax osen it’s time for the buffet dinner which was the worst dining experience in my life. 4 different time slots were given for dinner to avoid overcrowding but man!!! I can’t imagine if no time slot is given. Our slot was 5:30 so we naively arrived at the restaurant on time to find out the queue was too long that the hallway almost can’t fit. Everyone ran into the restaurant to find a table madly, we finally find a table at the very end very far away from the food area which was fine so we could have more peaceful time. The dining time was only 1 hour and no wonder everyone had to fight for food…. Children running around spilling food and drinks everywhere, an old lady actually fell off the ramp because someone spilled liquid on it, ambulance was called. We felt so tense after going out to get food, we waited until 15 min before our ending session to go out again hoping less people but it was a false hope, people were still fighting like it’s an apocalypse. We were the only foreigners in our session and I didn’t know Japanese could act such barbaric way. We went back to our room until next morning with the same breakfast buffet situation, we left right after and checked out. We won’t ever stay in any hotel under this...

I really wanted to give this place five stars for the overall experience.

The views are spectacular, especially for the hotel guests who can enjoy the outdoor onsen (hot spring bath) on the rooftop. The ground floor onsen (accessible to both hotel guests and day trippers) have a really fun Edo Period theme (as with the rest of the common facilities) and an outdoor component. The live traditional Japanese shows with a touch of modern are a spectacular. There's even relaxing jazz performances at night! The food is amazing. Although the building itself is older, the rooms are nice and clean. The rate is quite reasonable considering what you'll be getting.

So why the loss of two stars? The meal crowds.

As the meals are served by buffet, guests dine at scheduled time slots. Thanks to the tour groups here to see the autumn leaves, that's a LOT of people in my time slots. Unfortunately, when you have everyone start at the buffet at the same time, this creates a logistical nightmare.

We were forced to sit at the bar adjacent to the dining room. Although the view is amazing, it's an odyssey to get to the buffet. Unfortunately, convoys of older people pushing buffet tray carts clog up the walkway. Once we finally get to the buffet, the first of a series of long lineups is just to get a tray...if there are any left.

By the time I got back to the table with my now-cold food, half an hour of my life is gone. This really matters as there's a time limit (90 minutes dinner, 60 minutes breakfast), and the staff shut the place down on schedule. Although the older demographic can mostly go one round at the buffet so that the crowds start to die down after this, and the staff are diligent in replenishing depleted items, I still found many items gone for rounds two and after.

I've been to many Japanese hotel resorts and these are the worst crowds I've ever seen for dining. It didn't kill my whole experience, but it certainly cast a bit of a pall on it. However, should you come in a less busy season, your experience...

Minoo Kanko Hotel is a short commute from Osaka, with one train change when you get to Ishibashi taking the Hankyu train. Once you arrive there its a short walk and elevator up to the hotel, which is very hard to miss. During the day there are guides waiting at the Minoo train station who can provide English maps. Checking in was easy and they will give you a wristband which will allow you to access the onsen and other areas. Our room was overlooking the city so we could see Osaka and the whole city in between. An incredible view. The disadvantage of this is that the room is very far, on the other side of the hotel. The slippers aren't that comfortable for westerners with larger feet so I would advise taking your own if you can.||||It's Japanese style sleeping with a tatami floor and futon, but very comfortable and everything is well laid out and relatively spacious.||||The onsen is great, there's a few different areas some for day use only and some for staying guests. Remember everything here is in Japanese (there's some English) so pay attention or you may walk in the wrong door and find yourself somewhere you're not supposed to be.||||We checked out a comedy show and they have dancers and bands as well. Also check out the sauna because it's very relaxing.||||A couple of tips:||- When you check in you can become a member which will allow you to get some discount vouchers||- After you check out you can exchange your staying wristband for a day-use wrist band and use the onsen afterwards||- The waterfall is a good walk up the hill before the elevator to the hotel, it's really worthwhile||- The buffet has a VIP section where you can enjoy the view as well. It costs a little more but it's also a good view||- You can use the wristbands to purchase items from the vending machines inside the onsen and this will get charged...