Grand Chariot — Hotel in Awaji

Foreigners be warned when booking this hotel!As a diamond tier member, I have booked numerous hotels through trip.com and I must say my booking at grand chariot is by far my worst experience. I booked 3 rooms to celebrate my child’s birthday with her cousins, we flew to Japan from different countries for this moment. I chose Grans Chariot because of the park surrounding it, and the size of the villas shown on the photos. From the photos, I see 2 beds with 4 pillows, thinking it’s a good size to fit at least 3-4 people (1 to 2 adults with 1-2 children)The villas are not cheap, it costs me over $1300 usd for one night for the 3 rooms! We came to check in at 4:00pm , after half an hour at the reception, we were told that only 3 adults can stay in the hotel (one adult in each room). We have 4 adults (4 kids and a baby).To accommodate all of us, I needed to pay an extra 168000yen ($1200usd) Same 3 rooms, same amount of beds but the extra fees. Super shocked, I asked if there are any other options. Hotel explained when I booked from trip.com, it is for only one person. I explained to them that when I booked, system wouldn’t let me add more than one person, not even one child. I thought it could be the dinner/breakfast for only one person, so I still went ahead to book this room. We can skip the meals together or pay extra if we want to eat? How on earth would this price and size of room accommodate only one person? Why would there be 2 beds? Besides, the hotel wouldn’t have incurred more costs by accommodating more people in the room will it? When I book hotels at any other places, I look at location, then the photos of the rooms to see if the size is good for our family, then book! I would not imagine it’s a per person charge. After an hour of explanation, reception says there is nothing they can do and I need to pay that ridiculous amount of fee. I asked then if I can get more rooms? They say no, the hotel is full. I asked if I can cancel my booking and we all leave? They say yes but with a fee! I asked how much is the fee? They say 100% of the charge…. Speechless We are up on a mountain in Awaji island with no other hotels around us. At 7pm we started driving around and browsing at trip.com to see if there are any other hotels that can fit us all as we want to be together. But none.We went back to the grand chariot, hopefully they can understand our situation. Negotiated from 9:30pm to 11:30pm!! Conclusion, they made us wake our kids and leave the hotel at midnight!! The “help” that they assisted? Was calling other surrounding hotels to check if they have vacancies! My sister drove 4 sleepy kids in midnight for 20 minutes, found one room vacancy at trip.com, quickly booked it. Then at reception waited another 40minutes because their system can’t see the booking confirmation yet. Plus, the room can’t fit 5 people. Hopeless, finally they say they managed to release one more room. At 2am finally everyone gets a bed to sleep. Besides our experience, I say the rooms do not worth this price. Location is up on a mountain, you need the hotel shuttle to take you up and down which is quite I conveniently. There is a big circle roof window with no curtains, sunlight shines right onto the beds in early morning. Beds are smaller than it looks on the photos. Bath tub is not onsen water, just regular tap water. My suggestion to Grand Chariot and trip.com, set a price for one room and not per person like other hotels so there won’t be any confusions. Add dinner / breakfast charge options. Management can be more understanding, we are all very upset and for sure will never return again, will definitely NOT RECOMMEND this...

This was our first time staying at the Grand Chariot Hotel. I had contacted the hotel in advance to inform them that we would be checking in late due to our flight and transportation to the destination. We had to walk literally from the entrance of Nijigen no Mori to the hotel, which further delayed our check-in. Upon arriving at the hotel with our luggage, we entered the lounge connected to the office. After catching our breath from the long walk, the hotel staff greeted us. Since our stay included breakfast and dinner, we hurried to the dining area to have our meal for the night. Although I wanted to change into clean clothes, we had no choice but to dine in our travel-worn attire. The dinner was beautifully presented and exceeded our expectations. I hadn’t anticipated a full-course meal, but everything was delicious. After indulging in the exquisite meal, we were escorted to our room—only to realize it was not the room I had reserved. Technical error between third party and Jalan. Once we agreed on an alternative option, we changed into comfortable clothes and tried to unwind for the following day. As a complimentary perk, we received two pairs of admission tickets, one for the Godzilla attraction and another for Dragon Quest. The next morning, we had breakfast at 9:00 AM, packed our belongings, and checked out, leaving our luggage at the front desk until our DQ room was ready. Since the hotel offers a minivan service to the attractions, we request a drop-off at the main entrance. During the ride, we asked the driver whether we would need to walk back up the hill or if the hotel could pick us up. The driver reassured us that, as Grand Chariot Hotel guests, we could use the information desk near the main entrance to call for a pick-up. That was a relief to hear. After enjoying the DQ attraction and visiting the souvenir shops, we returned to check into our new room. The same staff member escorted us, and as soon as I saw the Slime-themed room number plate, I knew this was it. The room was beautifully decorated with the “Wa” theme. After the staff explained the room details and left for the day, we took some photos. Meanwhile, my husband embarked on a quest to find four hidden coins in the room, which would earn us a surprise gift at the end. However, we noticed that some areas lacked DQ themed decorations, particularly the restroom and bathroom. Additionally, the bedroom floor was not heated, which was disappointing. We also didn’t like the placement of the AC unit was directly facing us. If it had been installed on the side, it would have been more comfortable. Sleeping with the heater on was challenging, as it dried out our mouths, yet we needed it due to the cold 3℃ temperature outside. The DQ “Wa” room included a limited-edition pair of yukata and one sensu (folding fan). It was odd that they provided two yukata but only one fan.

Comparing the two rooms we stayed in; we actually preferred the non-collaborative room. It was well-heated, cozy, and quiet. While the DQ room was great for its theme and the exclusive souvenirs, it could make some improvements in terms of comfort and amenities.

PROS: Accommodation Facility – clean and tidy Staff - friendly Heated floor, Heated lobby, Heated cafeteria Nice overview of Awajishima Breakfast and Dinner – fresh and healthy Each room had a wooden bathtub Bright color puff jacket to use for outdoor walk Complementary tickets of your choice

CONS: Had to pay the difference for the DQ room No cars or taxi can access the pathway to the Hotel No access to convenience stores No coin laundry facility No peep hole on the door DQ bedroom did not have...

This hotel ruined Awaji for us, and we left in shock

We booked two nights in this place but on the first night at 1am after shower we discovered estimated 20-30 bugs on the bed.

We were in huge panic worrying whether these were bed bugs so we contacted the staff to come have a look. He wasn’t sure what these were either but helped us change to a 2nd room.

Upon arrival of the 2nd room, there seemed to be no bugs visible so we took a second shower and washed some of our clothes in hot water hoping to remove any bugs on those clothes. However we started spotting bugs on the bed again, 4 of them, 5 of them slowing crawling out.

The time was around 2am, we were in shock again and requested to change to a 3rd room, but we decided to have a look first before moving our stuff over. Upon opening the bed sheet, there is a small spider coming out and also some bugs crawling around as well. Although not as many as the 1st room.

The staff was also very puzzled and he suggested these were fruit flies through a translator app… till now we are not sure what these were. So we decided to stay in the second room because it was already very late and didn’t want to move our stuff anymore. So we put towels on the bed and tried to sleep. My wife was in panic, we didn’t sleep very well. We stayed up till 4am

What was worst is the next day the staff called and requested us to change to another room again, saying that the second room which looks like to be a game themed room is reserved by another customer…

At that point we decided we have had enough and request to check out immediately and refund for the second night. Although the staff did say sorry for the issues, I don’t think they really understand how much trouble these caused us. We have to check in to a new hotel at 3pm on that day. We didn’t have much time left in Awaji on that day.

Despite that, the staff Onuma San was very helpful and polite throughout the painful experience, and the dinner in the first night was actually very good.

We had been travelling to Japan for holidays 2-3 times every year since 2012. We never had such terrible experience with bugs on the bed. It’s now around 3 weeks we came home and there are no bed bugs visible yet. We definitely expect much more than this from a 5 stars accommodation with such overwhelming of positive reviews on the internet.

Up to this day I am still a little bit in shock. It makes me check the bed first on every hotel I am going to stay...