Beppu Hotels with Balcony

"For my winter break trip to Japan, I continued exploring Kyushu, specifically Beppu and Yufuin. In Beppu, I stayed at this established onsen hotel. It wasn't expensive, and when I booked, it was the last room available. I kept checking countless times to see if a larger room would open up, but none did. My husband, due to his state-owned company job, couldn't travel, so it was just me and my son, which ended up being perfectly fine. The hotel initially even set up three futons for us in the tatami room. The onsen was very relaxing. There were a lot of Korean guests at the hotel; I noticed them all at breakfast. Our room had a sea view, which I really liked. For housekeeping, they only offer free cleaning on the third day if you stay for three consecutive nights. Otherwise, it costs 3000 yen per cleaning. We figured it wasn't worth it since we didn't have much trash anyway, and I didn't bother making the bed. The hot springs also offered sea views, though we only used them at night. Soaking in them before bed was incredibly comfortable and relaxing. Breakfast was a buffet with a good variety of local Kyushu dishes. I ate there for two days straight and didn't get tired of it. In terms of transportation, it's about a 100-meter walk from the Beppu bus terminal if you're coming from Fukuoka. The JR station is also only about a 10-minute walk away, which is very convenient. Overall, I think it offers pretty good value for money."

"The hotel's location is a bit out of the way. The ocean view from the room was okay, I guess. You're required to take off your shoes when entering the hotel, but they don't even provide disposable slippers, so the service is pretty mediocre. The front desk staff also had a very unenthusiastic attitude during check-in. The hotel tries to project an image of being very clean and upscale, but honestly, the cleanliness of the guest rooms was just average; the toilet wasn't even wiped clean and had stains."

"The hotel is about 700 meters from the station. The rooms are spacious and offer sea views. Both breakfast and dinner are buffet style; while the variety isn't huge, the food is very fresh. The hot springs are pretty standard – nothing amazing, but nothing to complain about either. The only downside this time was having to make our own beds, which was quite surprising given Japan's renowned service culture."