Hakone Gora Byakudan

Everything

Nothing

The property was serene, well maintained, and very comfortable.

It is not the fault of the property but for young foreign travelers (children) the very traditional food was harder to eat. Generally during the day, the expectation is not stay in the hotel public areas from 11am-3pm. New guests are greeted in the lobby lounge and the public onsen are closed. We spent time in the rooms instead which was fine.

Almost everything! The private onsen in the room was an amazing experience, and the Kaiseki course was absolutely spectacular. I also booked an in-room massage, which I loved the therapist was so good that I actually fell asleep at one point. Even though I didn’t meet the chef I could understood that he was trying to accommodate everything/every detail he had noticed. I didn’t eat eyes of the fish and he started to removing them from the dishes. I would definitely recommend staying here. My only regret was not booking several more days! They also very kindly extended my check-out by another 30 minutes. I genuinely never wanted to leave.

Everything was perfect except for two incidents. When I arrived, the staff welcomed me very warmly and everyone was kind and attentive. However, when I was leaving, there was almost no one there to see me off. Only one young gentleman from the staff noticed and rushed over to say goodbye. It felt a little strange and disappointing, especially because the level of hospitality upon arrival had set such a high expectation, and the departure experience did not quite match it. The second incident was quite awkward. I simply wanted to order a Coca-Cola to my room, so I called reception. They told me someone would come to my room, and a staff member came all the way up just to tell me that they only provide water and that water is free. I explained that I wanted to ORDER a Coke, as there was a room-service drink menu in the room that clearly listed Cola. He then asked me to wait, left, came back again, and told me that the Coke was not free and would cost 600 yen and that if I still want to order it…. I was honestly very surprised by this interaction. Considering the price of the stay, I obviously was not concerned about paying 600 yen I simply wanted to order the drink. And I made it clear from the beginning. The whole exchange felt unnecessarily long and awkward for such a simple request. These were very very minor compared with an otherwise wonderful stay, but they stood out because the overall standard of service at the property was so high.

Amazing - pure luxury and relaxation with staff that just can’t do enough for you.