Tamanoyu

Rooms, food and hot springs are comfortable and beautiful looking. It was also soothing to the tasteful garden. For breakfast, I opted for Western food. They were all delicious. The service is attentive and pleasant, with no excessive feeling. Thank you for a great time. I want to go again.

This was an inn that my late mother loved. I stayed here 20 years ago with all my relatives for my mother's memorial service, and this was my second visit. I was disappointed that the food and flowers had dropped in quality. In previous visits, the food was simple but very tasteful, with seafood and mountain produce. There were many memorable dishes, such as the grilled Bungo beef, which was so tender you could cut it with chopsticks. However, this time, the Oita beef tenderloin was tough, and it was served on a cold plate after it was grilled, so the temperature had dropped and it was not tasty at all. The other dishes were also ice-cold, and it was obvious they had been prepared in advance, and they were all completely terrible. In the past, there was a very nice female "flower guardian" for the flowers, and she arranged wild flowers with great taste, but this time, a part-time lady simply put cut flowers she bought at a florist in a vase without any taste (←I checked out slowly, so I was able to observe how the staff prepared). In fact, I had heard the lament that "Tama-no-yu has lost its old charm" from a former repeat customer (who apparently stayed there three times a year) about 15 years ago. The previous president, who made Tama-no-yu a famous inn nationwide, passed away and was replaced by a new president, and the manager and other very talented staff were replaced by newcomers, and the quality of the inn steadily deteriorated after that. Is this the end result of prioritizing management to reduce labor costs? I'm sure inbound tourists would be happy to stay here even if the contents were bad, as they can be fooled by the luxury of the container... I hesitated because of this information, but for various reasons I stayed there with my family. It cost just under 400,000 yen for two families. It was a waste. The rooms and baths are still as nice as ever, so I recommend staying without meals or just having breakfast.

This is one of the top Japanese inns. It's in a great location and the service, rooms, and atmosphere are all worth the price. It's a blissful inn. The large public bath is small, but only overnight guests come, so you can relax among the lush trees. I specifically chose a detached room with a bath, but since the large public bath was nice, it probably wasn't necessary. The grounds are filled with nature, and I was surprised to see crayfish. (There were some unwelcome insects as well...) I don't like ducks, so I ate turtle and meat, but I was very satisfied.