Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora By IHG

Start off with the hotel was dealt a difficult situation with heavy rains in the area. Plus: overall beautiful property, location on the river, excellent breakfast, and well-appointed rooms. Minus: Doesn't feel like the staff is empowered and well organized; the onsen should be indoor/outdoor, and bar staff is non-existent/slow. Trip started with seeing the shuttle at the train station, but it was not clear and wasn't communicated that this is available and free; had already ordered Uber and took an Uber (need to send email offering this service before and after). During check-in it wasn't clear what the process was got sat in a corner, no welcome drink and then someone came over and asked for passports. It wasn't really well organized and woiuld have a clear contact person vs being passed off to three different people. GM should be there and say hello in my opinion; I had to find the welcome bar and snacks on my own. I had to ask about bus for departure. The room was great: nice outdoor hot tub, clean, spacious, and well appointed. This type of hotel should have a clear concierge and help booking excursions, etc wasn't super clear who did this. Wanted to get happy hour drink (4 to 6 on the signage) sat there for 30 minutes, and no bartender showed up, even though multiple employees were busy near the bar stocking and prepping for dinner service. They should have someone who helps with off-site recommendations so guests can enjoy the property. Breakfast buffet was excellent, lots of choices; staff wasn't super awesome except bussing plates, no can I get you a coffee refill etc, would expect that at this type of hotel. Onsen was okay, spacious but 100% indoor. When they have a great spot on the river should be indoor/outdoior feel. The property got heavy rain on the last day, and we found out after breakfast that the shuttle bus was cancelled. I understand, but they didn't have a plan in place, and we had to ask if the shuttle was still going; no one tried to contact us. The front desk person just asked if we could be ready by 10 to 10:30, and this was after she had to ask via walkie-talkie multiple times for approval on car service. I said yes, 10:30 would work but then they called multiple times at 10 to see if we were ready to go. Rushed to get packed up, then got downstairs and it was chaos. One woman had a clipboard but was not really helping coordinate her team, actually helping to load luggage vs helping coordinate and8 keep chaos moving. Staff should have been assigned to each party, not just running around. You could tell everyone was unhappy. One woman was very nice and helpful rest of the staff seemed like they needed instruction. Overall felt like the hotel needs to empower their staff and have a GM who greets guests and makes sure they feel taken care of. You can tell the staff isn't well trained and not empowered. Not blaming the staff, just poor management.

The Onsen in the room was great!

Checked so many hotels before the trip, Indigo Gora is a rarely new and modern hotel we preferred! We love the onsen in the balcony and the spacious room. The staff are so nice and they even help me to book the local restaurants in advance! The are always responsive and with full hospitality towards their guests! Will try other Indigo groups in the future as well!

You walk in and you are actually quite pleased with what you see. Stunning and welcoming reception area. Once you go to your room and start interacting with the staff, less so. Rooms are basic. Staff not friendly at all - we were refused even help to book a place for dinner (after being rejected by the hotel restaurant as presumably fully booked but in reality 1/2 empty). In a place where no one speaks English and very few restaurants. We ended up with dinner at 7/11. Book somewhere else and spare yourself the aggravation