Wisterian Life Club Forest of Verde — Hotel in Hakone

After reading the reviews, we were a bit concerned with our choice, but after our stay we wanted to be sure to post our own review. We were able to find the shuttle from the Gora Station to the hotel by asking at the information outside Gora Station. To get to the shuttle stop, you have to walk under the tram line and take a left up the hill a bit. The shuttle runs every 30 minutes, but not during the lunch hour.||||We ate at the Italian restaurant mentioned by other people, but the next day we found that the bus system is quite user friendly and accessed easily on foot about twice as far from the hotel as the Italian restaurant. While the desk staff at the hotel do not speak much English, they were able to help us navigate to the Italian restaurant and the bus stops.||||The room was the largest room we had in Japan, with a separate sitting area and bed area. We had a balcony and a great view of the mountains. The onsen was the only one we visited and I thought it was great. It had a number of different hot pools with various amounts of bubble, various shower-type installations, and a cold pool.||||It is true that if you don't pay for breakfast, there is nothing very close, but we had breakfast bars (from home) and fruit and there is a coffee machine in the lobby from which one can get a cup of coffee...

After reading the reviews, we were a bit concerned with our choice, but after our stay we wanted to be sure to post our own review. We were able to find the shuttle from the Gora Station to the hotel by asking at the information outside Gora Station. To get to the shuttle stop, you have to walk under the tram line and take a left up the hill a bit. The shuttle runs every 30 minutes, but not during the lunch hour.||||We ate at the Italian restaurant mentioned by other people, but the next day we found that the bus system is quite user friendly and accessed easily on foot about twice as far from the hotel as the Italian restaurant. While the desk staff at the hotel do not speak much English, they were able to help us navigate to the Italian restaurant and the bus stops.||||The room was the largest room we had in Japan, with a separate sitting area and bed area. We had a balcony and a great view of the mountains. The onsen was the only one we visited and I thought it was great. It had a number of different hot pools with various amounts of bubble, various shower-type installations, and a cold pool.||||It is true that if you don't pay for breakfast, there is nothing very close, but we had breakfast bars (from home) and fruit and there is a coffee machine in the lobby from which one can get a cup of coffee...

My recent stay at Wisterian was extremely disappointing and below any acceptable standard for cleanliness. Upon entering our room we noticed there were blood stains on the bed, dirt on the walls, and what appeared to be urine stains on the futon. When we raised these concerns with the staff, they initially denied the stains, even trying to claim the blood stain wasn’t actually blood, and dismissing the urine stain as something else entirely. This lack of acknowledgment was both frustrating and unacceptable.

To make matters worse, we had booked a “non-smoking” room, but the floor smelled heavily of smoke as soon as we stepped off the elevator. Upon entering our room, the strong smell of smoke was still present, which made it extremely uncomfortable.

We requested a room change, but were told that no rooms were available. After further escalation to the manager, we were suddenly told that another room was available. However, given the unacceptable conditions and the lack of responsiveness, we chose to leave and book a stay at another hotel.

I was incredibly disappointed with the poor standards of cleanliness, the lack of proper customer service, and the overall disregard for our comfort. I would not recommend this hotel, as it does not meet even basic expectations for cleanliness...