Hoshino Resorts KAI Nikko — Hotel in Nikko

We spent three nights here in mid-January as two adults with two small children, and although wouldn’t necessarily recommend against staying here, probably wouldn’t stay again ourselves. Initially we partly decided on staying at Hoshino Nikko based on the complementary bus service that left from Tokyo in Winter, and a combination of positive reviews left by others.||||We arrived early for the bus service, and were the first checked in by the lovely Hoshino lady who did not speak any English – hilarity ensued when the electronic translation device broke, but all was managed by calling through to the hotel. The bus service was significantly delayed by 20 minutes waiting for other guests to arrive, unfortunately.||||The biggest issue with our stay came on arriving at the hotel. The driveway was icy meaning the bus could not safely approach the front of the hotel, so smaller shuttles were arranged. The luggage went up first, followed by a series of trips for the guests. || Despite having arrived on time and first at the bus terminal in Tokyo, and travelling with a baby and a 3 year old we were the last to be shuttled up to the hotel. That meant we were standing in heavy winds and snow on the lakefront with some very uncomfortable children, including one that needed to use the bathroom urgently. On departing the shuttle bus we were made to make our own way to the lobby with 5 suitcases, 2 backpacks, and carrying two kids. We were then told to take our own bags up to our room, only to see the Japanese guests having their bags carried up and being escorted to their rooms – including two travelling with two small backpacks being carried for them by hotel staff. ||||In essence we were forced to carry our children and lug all our gear around (and having come from skiing in Hokkaido was a good amount of gear) by ourselves without a luggage trolley. We also received no welcome to Kai Nikko. This has to be some of the worst service I’ve ever received for a hotel stay anywhere in the world, despite the premium price we were paying for a room. ||||We stayed in a WL6 room “Japanese-style Suite with Lake View”. The room itself was certainly spacious, although our room must have had the worst view of all the top floor rooms being set well back in the hotel on a corner. We could see the lake, but only from the side, and the view was dominated by a view of a room set further forward to our side; we had great views of the staff car park though! While the rooms are tasteful and well-appointed, they are reasonably worn-down. A previous review describing the stains around a bathroom basin I thought was petty until I saw the result myself. Our room also smelt somewhat damp, and the fridge had a very interesting odour. The exterior of the hotel is also similarly run-down with broken metal barriers around the balconies at places. Access from the hotel to the lake was only available down the ice-covered driveway the bus had refused to take, and we had a good tumble with a carried child on one such journey.||||Kai Nikko is also only questionably child friendly. Provision of both child-sized sumae and yakuta is wonderful, and our 3 year old loved these. Children are also welcome to use the onsen. Nevertheless, while they stay free of charge, this does not hold up if they use any extra bedding which they are charged signicantly for. Furthermore, the food provided for kids at both breakfast and dinner is very lacking – it consists only of rice and a bowl of miso soup at both meals; no fruit or protein in sight. Food for adults on the other hand is of very high quality. The daily Japanese-style breakfast and evening kaiseki meals are generous in terms of content, quality, and daily variety. ||||There are five separate onsen pools at Kai Nikko. There are both indoor and outdoor male and female onsens, and a fifth outdoor bath that alternates between men and women over the day. This is the bath presented on their website photos, but unlike these it has no view as blinds are drawn all around, so it is nowhere near as impressive as the photos make it look. Similarly the outdoor male and female baths have no view, and even the sky is barely visible from either as they are located under building overhangs. That being said it is hard to beat the sensation of having a warm outdoor onsen in a Japanese winter.||||Location wise it should be noted that Kai Nikko is not located near the World Heritage temple area – in fact it’s a fairly lengthy bus ride of more than 30 minutes away. Hoshino runs no buses from the hotel to the area either, but they do provide an intermittent shuttle service to the bus station at Chuzenji Onsen bus terminal which is otherwise about a 10-15 minute walk. By foot this walk is is probably fine most of the year, but walking through winter snow and headwinds makes it a fairly refreshing experience to put it mildly. Kai Nikko is actually located on Lake Chuzenji away from the town of Nikko. The lake is in itself an interesting place. Only a relatively short length of its 25 km circumference is developed, and a lot of this is in a major state of disrepair. Broken down pleasure boats shaped like helicopters and swans line this spot – most of which will never be lake-worthy again and are just broken down junk. Many of the buildings in the area are similarly uninhabitable and unlikely to be restorable. Regardless, there are some amazing sites located in walking distance of the Kai Nikko, including the very impressive Kegon Falls, the lake itself, Chuzenji temple, and most impressively the area around the old British and Italian embassy villas. ||||Overall Kai Nikko and Lake Chuzenjii are a nice spot to visit. If your goal is to explore the Nikko temples I would suggest staying in Nikko proper and making a day trip to the lake area. For us the biggest issue was the exceptionally poor service we received on arrival which really marred the rest of our stay. With no orientation we had to work out how the hotel worked aided only by some fairly sparse explanations on the folio in the room. At the price I would expect a more formal greeting and introduction to the hotel, and at least an offer of assistance with getting to our room if we are clearly struggling with a lot of luggage and two small children. The service the rest of the time was pleasant enough without being exceptionally, and even when the staff did not speak much English we certainly got by with a combination of our broken Japanese. It is a nice enough venue with some good features, but for us represented relatively poor...

We spent three nights here in mid-January as two adults with two small children, and although wouldn’t necessarily recommend against staying here, probably wouldn’t stay again ourselves. Initially we partly decided on staying at Hoshino Nikko based on the complementary bus service that left from Tokyo in Winter, and a combination of positive reviews left by others.||||We arrived early for the bus service, and were the first checked in by the lovely Hoshino lady who did not speak any English – hilarity ensued when the electronic translation device broke, but all was managed by calling through to the hotel. The bus service was significantly delayed by 20 minutes waiting for other guests to arrive, unfortunately.||||The biggest issue with our stay came on arriving at the hotel. The driveway was icy meaning the bus could not safely approach the front of the hotel, so smaller shuttles were arranged. The luggage went up first, followed by a series of trips for the guests. || Despite having arrived on time and first at the bus terminal in Tokyo, and travelling with a baby and a 3 year old we were the last to be shuttled up to the hotel. That meant we were standing in heavy winds and snow on the lakefront with some very uncomfortable children, including one that needed to use the bathroom urgently. On departing the shuttle bus we were made to make our own way to the lobby with 5 suitcases, 2 backpacks, and carrying two kids. We were then told to take our own bags up to our room, only to see the Japanese guests having their bags carried up and being escorted to their rooms – including two travelling with two small backpacks being carried for them by hotel staff. ||||In essence we were forced to carry our children and lug all our gear around (and having come from skiing in Hokkaido was a good amount of gear) by ourselves without a luggage trolley. We also received no welcome to Kai Nikko. This has to be some of the worst service I’ve ever received for a hotel stay anywhere in the world, despite the premium price we were paying for a room. ||||We stayed in a WL6 room “Japanese-style Suite with Lake View”. The room itself was certainly spacious, although our room must have had the worst view of all the top floor rooms being set well back in the hotel on a corner. We could see the lake, but only from the side, and the view was dominated by a view of a room set further forward to our side; we had great views of the staff car park though! While the rooms are tasteful and well-appointed, they are reasonably worn-down. A previous review describing the stains around a bathroom basin I thought was petty until I saw the result myself. Our room also smelt somewhat damp, and the fridge had a very interesting odour. The exterior of the hotel is also similarly run-down with broken metal barriers around the balconies at places. Access from the hotel to the lake was only available down the ice-covered driveway the bus had refused to take, and we had a good tumble with a carried child on one such journey.||||Kai Nikko is also only questionably child friendly. Provision of both child-sized sumae and yakuta is wonderful, and our 3 year old loved these. Children are also welcome to use the onsen. Nevertheless, while they stay free of charge, this does not hold up if they use any extra bedding which they are charged signicantly for. Furthermore, the food provided for kids at both breakfast and dinner is very lacking – it consists only of rice and a bowl of miso soup at both meals; no fruit or protein in sight. Food for adults on the other hand is of very high quality. The daily Japanese-style breakfast and evening kaiseki meals are generous in terms of content, quality, and daily variety. ||||There are five separate onsen pools at Kai Nikko. There are both indoor and outdoor male and female onsens, and a fifth outdoor bath that alternates between men and women over the day. This is the bath presented on their website photos, but unlike these it has no view as blinds are drawn all around, so it is nowhere near as impressive as the photos make it look. Similarly the outdoor male and female baths have no view, and even the sky is barely visible from either as they are located under building overhangs. That being said it is hard to beat the sensation of having a warm outdoor onsen in a Japanese winter.||||Location wise it should be noted that Kai Nikko is not located near the World Heritage temple area – in fact it’s a fairly lengthy bus ride of more than 30 minutes away. Hoshino runs no buses from the hotel to the area either, but they do provide an intermittent shuttle service to the bus station at Chuzenji Onsen bus terminal which is otherwise about a 10-15 minute walk. By foot this walk is is probably fine most of the year, but walking through winter snow and headwinds makes it a fairly refreshing experience to put it mildly. Kai Nikko is actually located on Lake Chuzenji away from the town of Nikko. The lake is in itself an interesting place. Only a relatively short length of its 25 km circumference is developed, and a lot of this is in a major state of disrepair. Broken down pleasure boats shaped like helicopters and swans line this spot – most of which will never be lake-worthy again and are just broken down junk. Many of the buildings in the area are similarly uninhabitable and unlikely to be restorable. Regardless, there are some amazing sites located in walking distance of the Kai Nikko, including the very impressive Kegon Falls, the lake itself, Chuzenji temple, and most impressively the area around the old British and Italian embassy villas. ||||Overall Kai Nikko and Lake Chuzenjii are a nice spot to visit. If your goal is to explore the Nikko temples I would suggest staying in Nikko proper and making a day trip to the lake area. For us the biggest issue was the exceptionally poor service we received on arrival which really marred the rest of our stay. With no orientation we had to work out how the hotel worked aided only by some fairly sparse explanations on the folio in the room. At the price I would expect a more formal greeting and introduction to the hotel, and at least an offer of assistance with getting to our room if we are clearly struggling with a lot of luggage and two small children. The service the rest of the time was pleasant enough without being exceptionally, and even when the staff did not speak much English we certainly got by with a combination of our broken Japanese. It is a nice enough venue with some good features, but for us represented relatively poor...

After 2 nights in the main Nikko area (staying at the spectacular Fufu Nikko), we chose to overnight in Oku-Nikko to tour Kegon Falls and do some hiking in the area. While it was a pleasant stay, Kai Nikko was a massive step down when compared to the fresh, new and luxurious Fufu Nikko.||||I've previously leveled criticism at various Hoshino resorts in the past, and most of them apply here - decent but not amazing food, the lack of Onsen (natural mineral hot springs) baths in the rooms, a bit of a corporate feel, slow check-in process and a bit too communal of an experience. As was the case with Kai Tsugaru, Hoshino's Nikko property has definitely seen its better days. The exterior is downright unpleasant - it really, really needs a refurbish in the worst way, beginning with a fresh new paint job. And while there are charming touches in terms of interior decor (numerous nooks and crannies featuring an assortment of ikebana, bonsai, figurines, written scrolls, etc.), there's no getting around the property's age, and it even smalls a bit run down as well.||||To start with - for those of you looking for the classic luxury Onsen ryokan experience, I'll get straight to the point - you should look elsewhere. There are no in-room Onsen baths, even in the top suites (only communal ones are available, as well as one rental Onsen that will be hard to reserve given that it's only one), and Kai Nikko offers Samue (looks like spa pajamas) instead of a Yukata. And the Samue are not at all stylish.||||We booked the top suite at Kai Nikko - the massive, 170m² lake-view suite (room category "TK6.") It was downright cavernous, but the layout was confusing... tons of small rooms with short hallways that was very disorienting to us. It was definitely not the best use space. If they wanted to cater to the luxury demographic with an uncompromising Suite, they really should have allocated some space for an Onsen bath as well as a dining area (with an option to have meals served in the room.) Basically, it was a decently-appointed room that was super sized, but was not attractive or fresh in a way that would have done the top category room justice.||||Given that we're in the COVID-19 era, we prefer not to partake in communal bathing, so the public Onsen baths were not an option to us. Fortunately, Kai Nikko has one private free-flowing, open-air Onsen bath that you can rent. Unfortunately, it's subject to availability and comes at a cost of 3300 yen (roughly $30 USD.) We were fortunate enough to secure a time slot before dinner, but at full capacity I can't imagine too many people successfully booking a slot, given that the times are spread out by 90 minutes (1 hour of use followed by 30 minutes of cleaning by staff.)||||The Kaiseki dinner at Kai Nikko was equally underwhelming. While it's "good" (it's very hard to find a bad meal in Japan, mind you), good is not enough in an industry that offers great meals across the board. Nothing was inedible, but several of the dishes were ones that we didn't care to consume the calories to finish. This was in stark contrast to Fufu Nikko, which offered courses after courses (many more so than Kai Nikko, by the way) of exceptionally creative and flavorful courses that were also meticulously explained by the server. Our dinner server at Kai Nikko was charming and worked hard, but she just didn't have quite the command of every ingredient as the lady that served us at Fufu Nikko.||||The one thing we do appreciate is the special performances that are on offer at most "Kai" properties. In Nikko, they've devised a "dance" using the famous (but impractical) Nikko-style "Geta" (Japanese wooden clogs) as a way to promote the local artisans that still produce the local Geta. While the dance is in no way traditional or historic in any way, it's performed by members of the staff and it's good entertainment. It's a good way to learn an aspect of the local culture and traditions, and be entertained at the same time.||||With a total of 33 rooms, Kai Nikko is a "tweener" in size - larger than most top luxury ryokans, but smaller than a typical hotel. However, at the price point they charge, they should offer services and amenities such as valet parking, more flexible meal time options, a pool/gym and laundry service, which they don't. In other words, it does not offer the benefits of a top ryokan nor does it offer the amenities and services of a luxury hotel (check out the Ritz-Carlton Nikko for an example of the latter.)||||I believe that Hoshino Resorts is well aware of the property's shortcomings, however, given that its price point is well below that of competing properties in Nikko. It's perfectly fine if you keep your expectations in check. The problem is, Hoshino markets its brand as if it's the end all, be all of aspirational luxury property stays in Japan, which, from our experience so far, it...