After 2 nights in the main Nikko area (staying at the spectacular Fufu Nikko), we chose to overnight in Oku-Nikko to tour Kegon Falls and do some hiking in the area. While it was a pleasant stay, Kai Nikko was a massive step down when compared to the fresh, new and luxurious Fufu Nikko. I've previously leveled criticism at various Hoshino resorts in the past, and most of them apply here - decent but not amazing food, the lack of Onsen (natural mineral hot springs) baths in the rooms, a bit of a corporate feel, slow check-in process and a bit too communal of an experience. As was the case with Kai Tsugaru, Hoshino's Nikko property has definitely seen its better days. The exterior is downright unpleasant - it really, really needs a refurbish in the worst way, beginning with a fresh new paint job. And while there are charming touches in terms of interior decor (numerous nooks and crannies featuring an assortment of ikebana, bonsai, figurines, written scrolls, etc.), there's no getting around the property's age, and it even smalls a bit run down as well. To start with - for those of you looking for the classic luxury Onsen ryokan experience, I'll get straight to the point - you should look elsewhere. There are no in-room Onsen baths, even in the top suites (only communal ones are available, as well as one rental Onsen that will be hard to reserve given that it's only one), and Kai Nikko offers Samue (looks like spa pajamas) instead of a Yukata. And the Samue are not at all stylish. We booked the top suite at Kai Nikko - the massive, 170m² lake-view suite (room category ”TK6.”) It was downright cavernous, but the layout was confusing... tons of small rooms with short hallways that was very disorienting to us. It was definitely not the best use space. If they wanted to cater to the luxury demographic with an uncompromising Suite, they really should have allocated some space for an Onsen bath as well as a dining area (with an option to have meals served in the room.) Basically, it was a decently-appointed room that was super sized, but was not attractive or fresh in a way that would have done the top category room justice. Given that we're in the COVID-19 era, we prefer not to partake in communal bathing, so the public Onsen baths were not an option to us. Fortunately, Kai Nikko has one private free-flowing, open-air Onsen bath that you can rent. Unfortunately, it's subject to availability and comes at a cost of 3300 yen (roughly $30 USD.) We were fortunate enough to secure a time slot before dinner, but at full capacity I can't imagine too many people successfully booking a slot, given that the times are spread out by 90 minutes (1 hour of use followed by 30 minutes of cleaning by staff.) The Kaiseki dinner at Kai Nikko was equally underwhelming. While it's ”good” (it's very hard to find a bad meal in Japan, mind you), good is not enough in an industry that offers great meals across the board. Nothing was inedible, but several of the dishes were o
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