KAMENOI HOTEL KAMOGAWA

In terms of facilities and food, this is a great place to stay just off the coast of Kamogawa on a quiet, walkable, wooded street, and extremely close to Kamogawa Sea World. Staff-wise, less so. We stayed as a family of four adults, including one elderly person in a wheelchair, in a mixed western-Japanese room with the fanciest dinner plan. Lobby area is clean and pleasant; plenty of space to relax if you want, a fancy free tea/coffee machine, and a wide selection of free bath amenities to pick from (lotions, bath caps, combs, etc). There’s also a pleasant courtyard with plenty of seating and a fire (apparently you can even buy a s’more kit at the gift shop, which I’d have done had I known sooner). The room was reasonably spacious and comfortable, with two full beds and (optionally) two futons, a small toilet room, and a separate well-appointed sink/dressing, closet/storage room with plenty of space for luggage and such. It was sold as a forest-view room and indeed had a nice view of the trees, which were lit up at night. I assume rooms on high floors have ocean views. Onsen baths: one is on the 7th floor with a sauna and ocean views, the other on the first floor with a view of the woods. They swap which is the men’s and women’s between morning and evening; when I was there women were in the morning so got the opportunity for a sunrise view. Baths are very clean, comfortable, nice sized, and have indoor and outdoor pools. The dressing area is also well appointed in terms of skin creams and such. There’s also a nice relaxation area with each in an adjacent room. Additionally, you can reserve one of two small family baths with handicap accommodations, for 2000 yen for an hour. We did so and enjoyed it; it’s small but sufficient for a private bath (a bit cramped for four people), and has a forest view with large windows you can open to make it an outdoor bath. Food: impressive. Admittedly we picked the fanciest dinner option, but it was nicely presented, varied, and delicious. The salad was one of those flashy, tiny, decorative things, otherwise the meal was more reasonable and portions are enough to stuff anyone who’s not a big eater. The breakfast buffet was massive and delicious, with just about every local, standard-Japanese, and Western option you could imagine. There’s even a pancake and soft serve ice cream machine hiding by the drink area. From the perspective of a person in a wheelchair, the place was decent; everywhere in the public areas is accessible and ramps are moderately but tolerably steep. I believe the baths are reasonably wheelchair friendly (we only tried the private one with the wheelchair), there at least were no steps. The room did however have a step up into it; maybe they have accessible rooms that weren’t available, we were able to deal with it. Problem: the staff. Most were polite and pleasant, but we called (in Japanese) several days in advance to reserve a private bath, and were told a bit tersely both were completely booked on the day of our stay. We tried again late in the day hoping there had been a cancellation, and suddenly there was lots of availability. I am extremely skeptical they had four people reserve then cancel a private bath in that 8 hour period, so feel like we were lied to, and we would have cancelled the reservation to look elsewhere, which would have been a huge hassle had there in fact been availability. They also did not offer to set up futons in the room nor is there any explanation of the need to ask or bedding provided by default, so we had to call the desk and ask for some sheets and pillowcases. At least they apologized for that on check out. The dinner service was also a bit perfunctory; polite enough, but they pretty much hand you the food, take some empty plates away, and leave you to your devices. There’s a reasonably priced drink menu, but if you want a glass of water or cup of tea it’s self service and wasn’t even pointed out without asking, which seems ridiculous for a 10,00 yen per person meal. Other Kamenoi properties I’ve stayed at handled meals better. There is, incidentally, a small bowl of unusual and tasty ramen offered in the late evening, I recommend taking advantage of that. Overall not a bad stay, but for the price I wouldn’t go back if there are other options.

The Kamenoi Hotel is right in front of Kamogawa Sea World. The inside is beautiful. The hot springs are gender-swapped between the sky on the 7th floor and the water on the 1st floor. Open-air. Unfortunately, there was no lotion or emulsion. I heard in the lobby that they only put it on the women's side. I wanted a lotion because it is a hot spring and requires a long bath. In the evening, the classic buffet. The space provided was smaller than I thought, but the live kitchen has shellasco, and I'm happy to eat local things like golden-eyed sea bream, hijiki, peanuts. The room was small.

The building has just been renovated and is very beautiful. Conveniently located just in front of Kamogawa Sea World, it is also convenient for sightseeing. The buffet menu is just so plentiful, and the fish dishes and churrasco are especially good. The simmering of namero, oara soup and golden-eyed sea bream was excellent. The rooftop open-air bath offers a panoramic view of the sea. But there was no lotion.