4/5 Erica L. 1 year ago on Google • 5 reviews
I
stayed
in
Arima
Royal
Hotel
for
2
nights
earlier
this
month.
It
was
nearly
impossible
to
find
a
room
in
a
hotel
in
Arima
as
a
solo
traveler
and
when
I
reached
the
point
in
the
booking
process
where
I
was
asked
to
disclose
my
gender,
Arima
Royal
Hotel
was
the
only
hotel
that
would
allow
me
to
book
a
stay.
The
hotel
is
located
within
easy
walking
distance
of
both
the
rail
station
and
the
ropeway
terminal
(I
came
via
train)
and
very
convenient
for
checking
out
the
public
hot
springs.
The
service:
Hotel
staff
were
extremely
accommodating
given
my
limited
Japanese
language
ability.
During
check-in,
the
front
desk
attendant
pulled
me
out
of
line
so
that
other
guests
could
continue
to
check
in
while
he
marked
up
the
hotel
map
with
English
annotations
regarding
access
and
safety.
The
staff
who
handled
meals
were
courteous
and
helped
me
understand
the
cooking
process,
which
was
not
clear
from
the
website
(more
on
that
later).
The
room:
I
stayed
in
the
15
sq
m
tatami
room
on
the
5th
floor.
The
room
had
a
balcony
which
offered
a
nice
view
over
the
town.
I
didn't
watch
the
TV,
so
I
can't
comment
on
the
in-room
entertainment,
but
there
was
a
tablet
with
hotel
information
as
well
as
points
of
local
interest.
The
room
came
with
an
electric
kettle
and
everything
needed
to
enjoy
a
hot
cup
of
green
tea
to
unwind.
It
was
very
easy
to
set
the
room
temperature
for
good
climate
control
which
was
nice
because
the
heat
was
originally
set
much
higher
than
I
find
comfortable
for
sleeping.
For
a
first-time
futon
sleeper,
it
was
a
pleasant
experience.
The
people
staying
in
the
neighboring
suite
were
on
a
similar
schedule
so
there
wasn't
a
lot
of
floor
vibration
to
keep
me
awake
later
than
I
wanted.
Bathing
options:
The
hotel
has
both
open-air
bathing
on
the
rooftop
and
a
set
of
large
pools
(not
swimming
pools)
on
the
first
floor.
The
lower
level
bathing
also
has
an
outdoor
area
that
is
fed
by
water
piped
in
from
the
Kin
no
Yu
(Gold
spring)
water,
same
as
can
be
found
in
the
public
bathing
nearest
the
train
station
&
the
town's
footbath
area.
Everything
was
clean
and
well-kept,
with
lockers
available
in
the
rooftop
bathing
area
and
baskets
on
the
first
floor.
Different
baths
featured
different
water
temperatures,
so
you
are
bound
to
find
your
ideal
soaking
situation.
The
food:
This
was
my
first
trip
to
Japan
and
so
I
don't
know
if
this
is
common
to
other
ryokan
or
just
particular
to
Arima
Royal
Hotel,
but
I
was
not
expecting
so
much
of
the
food
to
be
cooked
at
the
table
and
that
I
would
need
to
do
it
myself.
This
was
where
the
language
barrier
made
for
some
"hmmm-ing"
and
flipping
through
a
dictionary
before
it
was
clear
which
items
I
would
need
to
cook
and
which
were
meant
to
be
consumed
cold
or
raw
as
well
as
suggested
cooking
time
and
the
order
the
ingredients
should
be
prepared.
The
portion
sizes
were
beyond
what
I
could
eat
and
I
felt
really
bad
about
the
food
waste
because
so
much
care
had
been
put
into
its
preparation.
The
presentation
of
the
food
was
beautiful,
I
just
regret
not
knowing
what
half
of
it
was.
It
was
not
clear
to
me
upon
booking
that
the
focus
on
freshness
of
the
food
would
mean
that
not
everything
would
be
cooked
and
ready
at
the
scheduled
dinner
time.
If
you
have
something
that
you
wish
to
do
after
dinner,
I
suggest
taking
the
earlier
slot
because
some
items
might
take
up
to
half
an
hour
to
be
ready
for
you
to
eat.
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