Hoshino Resorts KAI Beppu

Rooms and decor

Hoshino Resorts KAI Beppu is a contemporary ryokan that opened in 2022 and pulls roughly 9.0/10 from real guests. The 8-story building reads clean and dark, with vertical timber slats across the facade in the Kengo Kuma idiom. The Twin Bay View room runs 35 sqm at about $330 a night with kaiseki and breakfast included. Decor is modern tatami — wood floors, a tatami mat, and a low futon-style bed that's actually a proper Sealy 200x200 cm mattress. A large window faces Beppu Bay, with the red Beppu Tower standing right alongside. The bathroom is black-and-white marble with a Hinoki wood tub and a Toto Washlet; you also get Imabari towels, two yukata per guest, and a welcome set of a Beppu bamboo coaster and matcha.

Food and amenities

The heart of KAI Beppu is the Sky Lobby on the 8th floor — a tatami space open 24 hours with free-flowing matcha, sake, dried persimmon, and Beppu yuzu juice. There's a playable piano and low chairs facing the sea. The rooftop onsen on the 7th floor uses Beppu's sulphate mineral water, with one indoor bath and one open-air rotenburo, open 06:00 to 24:00 and split by gender. The outdoor bath is at its best around 17:00, when the sun sets over the sea through the edge of the pool and a cool sea breeze runs across the roof. Dinner is a 10-course kaiseki at about $120 per person (included in the room rate), leaning on Bungo-gyu beef grilled on a hot stone in front of you, toriten (Oita-style tempura chicken), Beppu Bay sashimi, Yufuin vegetables, and a yuzu sorbet. A kimono-clad nakai-san serves each course and speaks some English. A free Beppu bamboo basket-weaving workshop runs around 17:00.

Location and getting there

The location is as central as it gets in Beppu. It's about a 4-minute taxi ride from JR Beppu Station, or roughly 10 minutes on foot. Beppu Tower is a 4-minute walk and the historic Takegawara Onsen sand bath is about 6 minutes away, so you can do the classic buried-in-hot-sand soak and be back before dinner. Sitting in the middle of town, it puts you within walking distance of the harbor steam and the older onsen quarter rather than out on a resort hillside.

Things to know before booking

This is a Hoshino property, so you pay for the badge: rates start around $280 a night, higher than most ryokans in town. There's no water park or aqua garden like the one at Suginoi, so families wanting splash time should look elsewhere. Rooms run about 35 sqm, noticeably tighter than the 50 sqm rooms at the nearby ANA InterContinental. And the onsen is shared and gender-split — there are no private in-room baths here, so if soaking in your own room matters, this isn't the one.

Our take

KAI Beppu is the best Hoshino-brand ryokan in Beppu — the 8th-floor Sky Lobby, rooftop onsen, Bungo-gyu kaiseki, bamboo workshop, and a walkable spot near Beppu Tower and Takegawara. The 9.0/10 from 1,400-plus reviews backs up the quality. At $280 and up it's worth it for couples who want the Hoshino experience without the trek to Karuizawa — modern luxury ryokan in the center of Beppu.