Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora by IHG — Hotel in Hakone

As a member of the IHG for the past 26 years I always valued and enjoyed the high quality and amazing hotels and services you offered. When I stay at your properties, we always expect the very best hotel experience with impeccable service, and I am happy to say that up until now I have never left a bad review for anyone of your hotels. While our first stay was magnificent, we will have to rate our overall experience at our second and recent two day stay at your hotel as “Poor” due to unprofessionalism of your staff on multiple occasions during our stay.

Your hotel is wonderful and well-maintained property. The rooms are spacious and well maintained. We particularly enjoyed the spa, fitness center and most of all our private in room onsens. Your restaurant offered a wide variety of tasty cuisine, we tried your two pasta dishes, and they were outstanding; the cheese platter was abundant, and we found your happy hour 3200 YEN 1.5 hour all you can drink option to be well worth the price with your outstanding selection of drinks to choose from. We particularly appreciated the dedicated support from our server, AN, lady from Vietnam.

Unfortunately, our stay at your amazing hotel was ruined by blatant unprofessionalism from members of your staff. In particular, Mr. Tapa (Pakistani or Indian gentleman who works in your reception area) behaved extremely unprofessionally towards us. On 26 May 2024, as my wife and I were on way to breakfast, I greet Mr. Tapa as I remember him from our previous stay. Upon me greeting him, I noticed he had walked away from the counter where he was and proceeded towards the reception area. It was there when my wife had noticed him snickering with another member of your reception area while pointing at us. I do not know what he was saying to your other staff member at the reception, but it made us feel uncomfortable as it seemed like he was making fun of us. Keep in mind, all I did was greet him. Many people treat people in the service industry poorly or look down upon them, that is never the case with me, and I always go out of my way to treat people with respect and this exactly what I did in this case. At no time did me or my do anything to deserve such unprofessional behavior.

The situation so adversely affected and upset my wife that she had trouble enjoying her breakfast. In order to address the situation, I requested to speak to a manager. Your restaurant manager, Shu, came to use and I attempted to explain the situation to him but I at first, I feel as if he did not understand me due to the language barrier. Eventually, after multiple attempts I was able to get my point across to Mr. Shu. He then proceeded to tell Mr. Tapa about our concern. When my wife went to get her breakfast, Mr. Tapa came to me. I explained to him about our concern, and he responded by laughing in my face. At no time did he ever apologize for his indiscretion. He simply said he won’t point at us again then just left. For the rest of our stay, he kept avoiding us and his avoidance would come to a noticeable impasse later on when we experienced another situation due to language barriers. At this point my wife and I did not feel as if the situation was resolved but we decided to stay since we had already pre-paid for our stay.

Later on, that same day, we had another negative experience. When we came downstairs at around 1645 for some food and drinks, my wife went to the welcome drink counter and attempted to get a drink. Suddenly one of your staff members approached my wife from behind and due to your staff member not speaking any English, it was interpreted that we could not get a welcome drink however a few minutes later other guests came and were able to get a welcome drink, yet the same staff member did not say anything to them. We were left in total confusion at the situation. When we spoke to our server, Ms. An, she told us we could get a welcome drink. We told An about the situation and she said she would get a manager. A short time later Mr. Tapa came took a look at us and then immediately walked away.

While this situation was most likely a misunderstanding due to the language barrier this situation should not occurred. While I understand that in Japan according to numerous statistics, less than 10% of the population are proficient in English these statistics do not apply at a five-star resort hotel in a tourist destination such as Hakone where most of the guests at your hotel were foreigners. If the lady was not comfortable speaking in English, she should have gone to ask for help from your reception staff. There were other staff members present but not one of them were trying to diffuse the situation – it was if no one cared and this is not what you should be expecting from a five-star hotel. Lastly, keep in mind, we were paying over $500 a night for our stay at your hotel. When you pay this kind of money, there should be no such thing as language barriers or unprofessional staff that makes fun of their guests. This is just unacceptable and should never have happened. It is a shame because we like your hotel but because of this negative experience we will go elsewhere. I’m also in the process of disputing this charge with my credit card company because your hotel did not fulfill it end of the contract. We expected a five-star experience with the very best service not a two-star experience with unprofessional service and language barriers – not for this...

I am not sure if they have invented their own rating system, but this cannot be a 5-star hotel. There were several occasions where I felt that services received were of questionable quality.

Pickup/transfer There was a big misunderstanding on their part and the hotel transfer didn’t go smoothly. We waited for some time at a designated spot, but there was no sign of their car coming so we called them again (we had already called them twice before this). They then told us that they had not actually organised a driver for us, despite the phone calls we had made earlier. And the driver that arrived seemed nonchalant about this, and his language certainly did not help. In regards to other occasions when we asked for transfers from the hotel to go somewhere though, they were fine, and we greatly appreciated that they have the service available.

Staff language Some of the Japanese staff’s language was inappropriate at times. The foreign staff’s Japanese was more than fine though, I thought. I sort of rationalised that some staff may be more used to speaking English than Japanese, but as far as I could see most guests were Japanese at the time of our stay. Owing to the fact that this is a high-end hotel, your guests will be those who can afford your highly priced services and products, which means your guests would be expecting treatments and staff behaviour that match the prices that they are paying. If you as a hotel are accepting Japanese guests, I believe some staff could use some training in the formal Japanese language, if you have the money to spare and place a Bose speaker in each room.

Room I loved how our room was facing the river, however, the surrounding scenery is really not pretty or calming, which was unexpected from what we paid for the room. I found the size of the room quite underwhelming too. The washing basin in the toilet is also small and does not have a place for soap. I’ve noticed that a lot of Japanese toilets don’t have soap, but I thought this hotel wanted to attract non-Japanese people? And if so, I think you should stop colour-coding everything based on gender (e.g., sandals, yukata, room keys). The sandals provided to you are also very small. I’m AU 6- 6 ½, and if I found them quite uncomfortable, I don’t think they will fit most folks. Also, one of the straw bags that came with the room had straws sticking out everywhere... Do you guys not check the condition of such amenities after each group of guests’ stay..? And as in a lot of places in Japan, it was disappointing to see that the hotel has little environmental awareness; all the room amenities came individually wrapped in plastic bags even those that had a recyclable outer casing.

Restaurant When we entered the restaurant to have dinner on our first night, they had someone else’s bill propped up facing towards the restaurant for anyone to see... For the menu, they have very limited options for vegetarian and vegan folks, and the salads were disappointing (and overpriced). Having said this, every single main meal we ordered was phenomenal and cooked to perfection. However, the next morning we almost got turned away when we showed up for breakfast, as we were told our plan did not include breakfast...Right.

Gym There is a very poorly equipped gym if you are wanting to do weights. A smith machine or a barbell set would have been nicer instead of the random LED screen?

Bath We went to the onsen pool with a bathrobe on. Apparently that’s somehow prohibited, and someone from the spa went out of her way to catch us and told us NOT to do that, and that she “should know that bathrobes are for indoor use only, anyway”, in a very condescending manner. I was quite taken aback by her attitude, to say the least.

I feel like there were many hiccups on their part that made our trip quite unpleasant. It kind of infuriates me how this rip-off of a hotel is considered a 5-star and thinks it is okay to charge consumers so much for...

My partner and I stayed in a Standard King with Private Onsen and Mountain view room. We paid about 560 USD or 84000 Yen. Included with our room was a complimentary breakfast buffet that included both Japanese and Western dishes. Overall, the Indigo is a decent hotel, not bad nor good.

The Cons

Service: What makes a 5 star hotel stand out is the attention to detail and a certain level of service. I understand that dealing with tourists and foreigners is extremely stressful, and generally, I try to give the benefit of doubt when dealing with certain interactions. At the Indigo, there were several instances where my partner and I felt slightly disgruntled. Allowing japanese guests to checkout before me even though I was standing in line to do so, providing other guests a tour of the breakfast foods but just sitting us in a corner, and no one checking in on us as we have our cocktails or meals while other guests are constantly given attention. Generally, I believe the staff do care and want to make guests feel welcomed, but it also feels very clear that the staff is more focused on meeting specific groups' expectations over the needs of others.

Location: The hotel is situated in the mountains near Gora Station, right by a river. The location feels peaceful, and the views are decent, but the rooms both river and mountain facing can hardly be appreciated from your room. This is to no ones fault. Regardless of the floor or side of the building you are on, you will be facing a street in some capacity and will have reservations about keeping your window blinds open. Walking from Gora Station is impossible, it goes through a windy staircase path next to a car road, some parts you walk on the road itself. If you can, try and call the hotel for a shuttle pickup! I emailed them and was able to get a whatsapp number!

The Pros

Amenities: The foot spa is extremely nice. Have a morning coffee or an evening cocktail by the foot spa. The onsen itself is not very traditional but still very nice. You pick this hotel not to have a traditional experience but for its luxury amenities. I personally enjoyed being able to bathe with my partner as the onsen is unisex. Make sure to ask for the onsen rules and follow them, please!! Be respectful of others.

Room: The room is huge for a Japanese hotel. The bed is extremely nice, and honestly, my favorite part about this hotel were the pillows, but this is all subjective and depends on your preferences! My partner and I both enjoyed our room and had an incredible nights sleep.

Drinks: The cocktails are nice, while you shouldn't expect any special or unique drinks. The drinks available were made very well, and tasted very balanced. The happy hour specials they...