Resonate Club Kuju — Hotel in Taketa

This is our fourth visit here, and each time, we stay at the "Hanare" (individual detached bungalow with private outside bath - called a "rotenburo" - and indoor bath) - room number 120. It is a 2 floor bungalow with the living room, toilet, bathroom and baths on the bottom floor and 2 bedrooms (1 western style with 2 large twin beds / 1 tatami room for futon bedding) and a spacious relaxation area on the 2nd floor. The service is fantastic and has been consistent over the 2 years we've been coming here. They offer either a Japanese style or French style dinner in their 2 restaurants, both which offer lovely dishes. Their breakfast spread is by far the best I've seen in any ryokan/Onsen. It's served buffet style in their French restaurant, and offers both a large variety of western and Japanese breakfast dishes. Their home made bread and especially the strawberry jam are divine! You can even purchase it in their souvenir shop - we buy it every time! The indoor and outdoor baths in our bungalow are refilled during each visit and so are empty upon arrival (a nice point when you want to avoid using the same bath someone else did - which is why we always books ryokans that have rooms with private baths). The water is of a milky rusty color and even smells a bit like rust, but this is the natural volcanic water which is very good for the skin and joints. The Kuju plateau where this hotel is located is simply breathtaking! We honestly would love to buy land here and build a house! There is not a lot around, so if you need midnight snacks, or medication etc, I'd definitely stock up in convenient stores or drug stores on the way over (they do sell drinks and souvenir snacks in their lobby shop - open from 8:00-22:00, and have drink vending machines around the complex). Having said that, that's what makes this place so unforgettable! It's a haven away from busy noisy cities! All you can hear are birds singing and crickets... And yesterday, we got to see fireflies just at the entrance of the driveway to the hotel. Our son was thrilled! It's a lovely place for children as well to get in touch with nature. And it's a 5 minute drive from The Guernsy Farm where you can feed rabbits and see sheep and ducks, and it even has a nice playground out in the back. Last time we came, we went to the Yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurant next to the playground which was pretty decent and spacious. Inside our bungalow they have a hot water boiler, a few green tea bags, a coffee set (coffee grinder, coffee beans, coffee filter bags and a coffee pot) plus sugar and small cream packs. Their Is a small empty refrigerator and a thermos with ice cold water that they provide with glasses as well as coffee/tea cups. In the bathroom they offer the full amenity set including: toothbrush and toothpaste, razor and shaving gel (in a tiny pack), hair tie for women, ear swabs, cotton, and facial wash, toners and lotions, as well as hair mousse, hair tonic and hair liquid (by Shiseido) for both men and women. They have a hair dryer and in the shower area have large full bottles of body soap, shampoo and conditioner. They also own a horse riding ranch, and through the hotel you can book horse riding tours. It's about an 8 minute drive from the hotel. The quality of This resort is very very good, and we definitely will be returning...

We happily stayed at this accommodation for 3 nights out of our 10 day trip to the central Kyushu. This hotel is for us. We booked it through an internet travel site and obtained interesting early-booking rate. It was full-house when we arrived: year-end holiday period.||||50km from Beppu, it is in the middle of nature and beauty. Such a big contrast.||||The access is difficult without car. They seem to have pick-up service from Yufuin, but to get around and enjoy this area, renting a car, which we did, is highly recommendable. ||||Driving around this area was a real pleasure. I was touched by not only mountanious landscapes but also by agricultural fields and small villages. Kurokawa Onsen, Yufuin, Aso are all reached with good one hour car driving.Therefore the location rating should be upgraded if with a car? I wish to come back in summer time, to walk around in nature next time||||This accommodation appears not to be a hotel, but a casual accommodation with charm and taste. Archetecutre-wise, it reminded me of some european resort accommodations experienced before: open-air pathway to rooms, room entrance, villa or cottage sort of room interior deco. ||||Our room was about 40m2 in total and consists of a sitting area with a large sofa (sofa bed?) and table and a sleeping area with two 120cm wide beds, all in one room with high-ceiling. For not so undentifiable reason, very relaxing setting and atomosphere, woody deco, layout, view onto nature maybe the reasons. Toilet was unproportionally small and could be a problem for a large person. Washing basin and mirror are located open to bed area outside toilet. There was also a small bathroom. Woody deco and furniture seem becoming old and would need touch-ups soon. ||||A light-weighted coat provided in the cupboard was very warm and usuful to go to the reception, restaurant, public bath through open-air (but roof-coverd) pathway.||||We did not use the in-room bath, but went to the in-house public hot spring bath every day. The public bath is nice but not particularly outstanding.||||Beautiful buffet breakfast with wide selection.||We reserved a French pre-fixed dinner at the time of booking for one night, expecting not much. Nice surprise and of good quality. The portion was also right for us (not too large). ||Light snacks are also served after 9 p.m at the same restaurant space. They have a Japanese restaurant too. No room service.||||No internet connection in room. Only one PC for internet use at the reception and it is slow. Just checking up something is fine but not for more than that.||||The hotel services. Nothing is pretentious nor exagerated, but our needs were always warmly responded when asked. ||||On our departure day, it started heavily snowing. A hotel staff advised us a detour route and it worked indeed well. We...

This is a truly strange hotel located miles from anywhere although the countryside was nice (on the rare occasion is stopped raining). The hotel looks like something you might find in the Tyrol but a bit more rustic with an onsen.||The rooms are located down covered pathways and are spread out across the resort. Inside our room was very basic and the walls were largely constructed of mismatched wood with little furniture (and what is there is very uncomfortable). It was a bit smelly and there were two unsavoury looking pull down beds which would have allowed 4 people to sleep there.||The 'bathroom' was terrible and had an unpleasant sunken shower next to a larger sunken bath, the only way to have a shower was to hand hold the shower head. ||The decor was similar throughout the main part of the hotel - lots of wooden beams and walls but it did seem fairly cosy in the lounge and restaurant.||In contrast the food in the restaurant was outstanding, by far the best we had in Japan. As we were part of a large group we had a set 4 course meal for dinner and each was both delicious and faultless. Drinks were expensive but this is the same at every Japanese hotel. The staff were lovely and made sure we were happy with everything. ||Strangely after a couple of days the hotel did grow on me and I started to understand why people would choose to stay but I'm afraid the bathroom was so bad I couldn't award more than 3 stars despite the quality...