Suimeikan — Hotel in Gero

We had the worst experience at Sumeikan & it honestly ruined the later part of our Hokkuriku trip.

The moment we walked into the hotel, there were only 2 staff on duty. They were very rude. We got off the shuttle bus provided by the hotel. & all of us just stood there very lost cause the staff didn’t look like they wanted to check us in.

The lady then yelled & gestured for us to put the luggages away at the side. The man snatched the bag from my friend’s hand. It has our senbei omiyage. I was shocked & quickly called out to him. He then yelled at me for going behind his concierge table. When we asked about the check in, we were repeatedly yelled at, “2pm 2pm!”

We asked about the luggage we sent via Yamato from the previous hotel. Just wanted to make sure it arrived safely. (According to our Apple AirTag, the luggage was in the hotel already.) The man said without skipping a beat , I don’t know, 2pm!

The attitude he had was appalling to say the least. We paid over 100,000 yen for the stay. & I honestly didn’t expect this level of service. It ruined our day & part of our trip. I wish we didn’t stay there.

Later on, after 2pm lol, when we returned to check in. The hotel looked like an entirely different hotel. There were lines of staff dressed in yukatta greeting us at the door. Where were these people earlier? It felt so strange. The manager was also there. I feedback to the manager about the experience.

All I got was a deep bow of gomenaisai. 😅 there was a very nice guy who brought us to the suite & gave us recommendations of places to go. But honestly I was pretty shocked that the manager didn’t do anything else for the service recovery.

Other than this, the hotel suite was very comfortable & cozy. We slept well.

However, there are limited restaurant options around after dark. You also have to make reservations for all the dinner options...

I'm struggle to put my review in words cause I am amazed by the services offered by the hotel and the staffs. ||First of all, upon reaching Gero station from Nagoya station using Hida Line, we are thrilled by the surrounding atmosphere and we took our time snapping photos around not knowing that the hotel offers a free shuttle bus for all their customers. The driver waited patiently at the exit gate, holding the hotel sign board waiting for all customers to leave the Gero station. This is a real PLUS in our stays. ||After we checked in, the staff lead us to our rooms and explained to us on the facilities of the hotel and the staff helped to exchange the size of Yukata after studying our heights. Very observant and thoughtful. ||There are 3 different hot springs in the hotel and if you have time, you can visit all of them. You can always put on your Yukata and walk inside the hotel region, including the stunning Japanese garden. Just that, most of the services/shops in the hotel are closed on 9pm JST. Remember to plan properly.||The room is very spacious with 2 comfortable beds, a small tatami region for you to enjoy your private Japanese tea time. ||We love the breakfast provided by the hotel as it offered variety of both Japanese and Western breakfast. ||There is a shuttle bus service (usually once per hour for instance 10am, 11am and 12 noon) to fetch the customers back to Gero station. The staff waved us good bye is another amazing experience provided by Japanese. It is just amazing feeling. |||Tips:|1. You can purchase the 5Days JR pass and enjoy unlimited ride on some JR trains if you plan to visit Nagoya region and a day trip to Tateyama Alpine Kurobe route. ||2. There are not many tourists during our visiting time (24 April 2023) and we love the peaceful feeling of it. Just that, it also comes with not many restaurants are available...

An amazing one day experience at this ryokan in this magical town! Leading up to my stay here, a few locals I had met in my travels had also heard of Suimekan and built up my excitement, it seemed to be a well known spot and as we know the japanese love their rotunburos.

The moment I got off my shuttle (which is very convenient and always waiting at gero station it seems) I knew I had entered something special. The insides were serene, a waterfall was visible beyond the windows, it felt like an urban forest. It felt like something Gaudi would design if he was Japanese, true to nature, soft lighting and corners, warmth in the air. I dressed in the cute blue yukata they gave me and spent half my day in their lovely indoor and outdoor onsens. Both were relaxing, not overly crowded and had varying temperatures of water available. I also enjoyed the 12ºC cold bath and the sauna (risking dizziness in all these switches but worth it).

The ryokan breakfast lived up to the hype! It had an array of all kinds of nutritious dishes like daikons, tamago, seaweed, miso paste, tofu etc.

Pizza at the lunch place was yummy and it was nice eating it sitting near the waterfall. They also had a nice gift shop and friendly folks there offering advice on what to try. I tried this freshly made warabimochi they had available for order, which was a kit that came with warabi starch, soybean flour and syrup separately packaged. Combining those and cutting into pieces was a fun experience.

I only had a couple small gripes - my slippers were too small and they said they'll send me larger ones but i didn't get them, but I only was here a day so I didn't bug them again. The laundry dryer seems ineffective and I had to...