Hotel Symba Resort Gotemba — Hotel in Gotenba

Scammed, yelled at, and trapped in a basement-like room. AVOID this fraudulent hotel at all costs.

TL;DR: This hotel is a scam. We paid for a luxury Mt. Fuji suite for our anniversary and were shoved into a cold, windowless room with none of the promised amenities. The staff yelled at us, refused a refund, and Agoda was no help. To make matters worse, we had to walk past used needles just to find food. Avoid at all costs. The location is a serious issue. The last bus leaves at 3:45 PM, there are no taxis available, and we had to walk two kilometres in freezing wind just to get food and water. Along the way, we passed used needles on the pavement, abandoned bikes next to a highway underpass entrance, and heard glass bottles smashing inside. It felt unsafe, and the hotel offered no assistance with transport, food, or anything else. I’m an Australian traveller, and this was the worst hotel experience I’ve ever had. We paid $360 AUD per night for Hotel Square Gotemba’s so-called premium suite. It was advertised with an outdoor hot tub overlooking Mt. Fuji, a massage chair, microwave, bottled water, and other luxury features. We were genuinely excited — it was meant to be one of the highlights of our trip. Instead, we were placed in a cold, windowless basement room with none of the amenities we paid for. There was no view, no hot tub, no massage chair, and not even basic drinking water. We raised the issue politely using Google Translate, since no one on staff spoke English. The response was shocking. An older woman came out yelling at us, waving her arms as if we had done something wrong simply for asking about the room. They refused any refund or change, even when we asked for just 50 percent back, knowing that everywhere nearby was fully booked. Then they tried to charge us more and threatened to evict us. This was not a mistake. It was intentional. Since our stay, they have altered their Agoda listing, shuffled photos, and made the descriptions vague. The photos are either from another hotel or a staged model room you will never be placed in. It is a bait-and-switch scam, and the listing should be removed. We sent Agoda screenshots and video evidence. Their response was a scripted message defending the hotel and ignoring all the proof we provided. The hotel even lied, claiming Mt. Fuji is not visible from the property (See attached email)... That is simply false. You can see it from the lobby, but not from most rooms. We considered going to the police, but honestly, it did not feel safe and we assumed they would side with the locals. If you truly want to see Mt. Fuji, go to the Fuji Five Lakes area instead. It is a much nicer area. Avoid Hotel Square...

We chose the Hotel Square FujiGotemba as a base to explore the area. Great if you have a car. |We chose to pay the premium for the balcony room with the outside bath (spa) as if offered a (chance of) viewing Mt Fuji. This was for the first two nights back in Japan after a 6-year absence after our last trip. Covid etc. |We then checked out for a third night and checked into a standard room (no balcony, no spa) as a separate booking. |The standard room was a good size including a table we could sit at facing each other instead of many hotels. It was a corner room so two windows (one facing the mountain).|Not so good…|Mt Fuji is only visible about 30% of the time. Not the hotel’s fault. It did appear briefly around sunset on the first day to give us a sample of her location and majesty. It was a bit disappointing to have the view impacted by the steel pillar in the middle of our balcony (to hold up the big hotel name sign). See main hotel photo. There are only two rooms on offer with a view from a balcony, the rest have a view from the smaller box windows. |Also the view includes a set of overhead power lines right across the view (not shown in their hero photo). This impacts your photos but not your admiration for this mountain. |I was also a bit miffed by having to sort out loading and unloading in the rain near the front door to find, from the window of our standard room (third night) that there are covered parking spaces at the side of the hotel. |Our corner standard room was a good size but we had to sleep with both the window shutters closed on both due to the hotel’s spotlights...

A slightly refurbished love hotel with overcharged rates.

Unaware of this fact, I unfortunately booked one of their larger rooms, more than twice the price of the cheap 6,000 Yen rooms typically listed.

Clean and very spacious, but the decor is cheesy and over the top, very typical for a love hotel, and the mattress was uneven and likely unchanged since the hotel's previous incarnation as a place for romantic trysts. There are no windows. The air conditioner sounded like there was a tractor idling in the hallway all night.

The bath is very large, clean, and nice.

But despite the positives, the overall atmosphere is vaguely unpleasant.

The breakfast was the worst hotel meal I have ever had in Japan. Perhaps they were having a bad day. When asked at check-in, I asked for the sausage option (it was sausage or fish). What I was served was a reheated piece of spicy fried chicken from the convenience store, probably Lawson or Family Mart (I know because I eat them all the time, it's my favorite snack on the road).

The staff seemed stressed and amateur.

Overall, I kept expecting Basil Fawlty to appear at...