Aqua Ignis Kataoka Onsen

Flies on the bread and no staff present at breakfast, so we had to call. Poor hygiene and service.

Flies on the bread, no staff at our reserved breakfast time until someone called them, and suitcases wheeled through the middle of the post-bath lounge—this property has far too many hygiene and service problems. For the Italian breakfast, you first buy bread at a bakery in a separate building before entering the restaurant. There were flies around the bread display, so I mentioned it to the staff when paying. All I got was a brief apology, with no sense of concern whatsoever. When we arrived at the Italian restaurant, another guest with a reservation for the same time said, “There were no staff here, so I called them a little while ago.” Our reservation was for 8:30 a.m., but we did not see any staff until 8:42 a.m. We had Japanese food for dinner. Some customers arrived hoping to have a set-course meal without a reservation, and the staff turned them away in a tone that seemed unnecessarily harsh. Check-in for overnight guests is in the same place as reception for day-use hot spring visitors, and everyone follows the same route from there. You take off your shoes, put them in a locker, scan a QR code at the entrance gate, pass right beside the post-bath lounge, and continue to the guest rooms beyond it. Like most travelers these days, I brought a wheeled suitcase. Suitcases are rolled along the very same route used by people fresh from the baths. The staff did not suggest wiping the wheels, using wheel covers or a trolley, so this seems to be standard practice. Presumably, suitcases soaked by the rain go along the same route too. The room had the kind of impractical layout often found in designer accommodation. Even on a Thursday evening, the hot spring baths were about one-third full, and, surprisingly, they were just as busy at 10:30 p.m. Even at 8 a.m., there were about half as many bathers as the day before. The post-bath lounge has a row of Instagram-worthy sofas, but they were always full. There is room for only about 15 people, so day visitors would be lucky to find a seat. Even staying overnight does not make this a place where you can truly unwind. I dread to imagine how crowded it gets on weekends. Every restaurant had problems with hygiene and staff, while the hot spring facilities also had issues with cleanliness and space to relax. I simply cannot understand why this place is so popular. Photos do not show what we went through, so it certainly looks good on Instagram. If your only aim is to visit somewhere with famous restaurants and stylish design, take Instagram-worthy photos, and tell someone, “I went there!”, then I recommend it. A famous high-end Japanese restaurant in Tokyo caused food poisoning in more than 100 people with its chilled crab ramen just this year. I hope this place does not follow suit.