Takayama Green Hotel — Hotel in Takayama

Three North American tourists enjoying a series of onsen-oriented hotels on our way to Nagoya, Takayama Green Hotel was a very nice mix of traditional and technological. This hotel is closely located to the JR station, perhaps at most a 10 minute walk if you are smothered in luggage, and the bus station located nearby gives you an excellent coverage of the city as well. After days of babysitting by tour guides, this was a hotel and city we were able to enjoy on our own - and if anything, we enjoyed the hotel so much it was probably unfair to the city. Nonetheless, the hotel's closeness to the bus station made touring the city easy and enjoyable, despite the grueling summer heat. A huge attraction in the hotel itself is the souvenir shop. This store is open for most of the day, is very large and well-designed, and is stacked with all sorts of gifts, though mostly edible gifts, with competitive prices. And since I started the review talking about the onsen-orientation of our trip, the onsens here are also exquisite. There is a large open-to-the-public onsen on the ground floor and a smaller, very fashionable and relaxing onsen located for hotel guests. Both onsens were very good and recommendable, though I personally had a preference for the hotel-specific onsen. All areas have excellent bathing areas and due to our frequent visits we didn't even use the bathing options present in our hotel room. Food options available are excellent. You can get some special meats at dinner if you have the card for that meat. With or without those special offers, the food is mostly buffet style and the sheer choice and quality are both tremendously good. It was also the first time that we were able to try Natto, fermented soy beans that you mix (very thoroughly) into rice. Between the three of us North Americans, overall impression was poor to middling, but it definitely was an experience that we won't forget! A nice quirk of the hotel is its signage - there are small machines that project the signs via light onto the floor in multiple languages. This could be an issue if you're in a hurry, but why would somebody checked into this onsen-providing hotel...

I am writing to express my concern regarding a recent hotel booking and stay at your establishment. Let me provide the details of my experience:||Originally, I had booked a room for 3 people for one night on May 21st through Japanican. However, my schedule later changed, so I canceled that booking on April 20th and instead booked a room directly with your hotel for a stay from May 19th to May 20th.||When I checked into the hotel on May 19th, the front desk staff confirmed that I had a one-night booking. During my stay, I was informed by hotel staff that the dinner buffet had a very limited time window of only 50 minutes, which made the dining experience feel too rushed.||To my surprise, on May 22nd I received an email from Japanican stating that I had a "no-show" for the May 21st booking and would be charged the full room rate. I immediately reached out to both Japanican and your hotel to clarify that I had only made the one booking for May 19-20 and had canceled the May 21st reservation in advance.||Upon reviewing the Japanican website, I discovered that it showed 6 identical bookings for the same check-in date and number of guests, with 5 of them canceled. This appears to be a system error on Japanican's part, as I certainly did not make 6 identical bookings.||Unfortunately, both Japanican and your hotel are insisting that I pay the 100% "no-show" fee for the May 21st booking, which I find to be unreasonable given the circumstances.||I would like to take this opportunity to bring two issues to your attention:||The very limited 50-minute window for the dinner buffet, which detracted from the overall dining experience.|The apparent booking duplication issue with Japanican, which resulted in this unfortunate situation.||In light of these concerns, I must express that I cannot recommend your hotel or Japanican to others. I hope you will reconsider the "no-show" fee and address the system issues to provide a better experience for future guests.||Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your response and a...

The hotel has several different buildings, each offering various types of rooms — including Japanese-style, Western-style, and a newer building with modern-style rooms. The staff are very helpful and polite, and they speak English very well. When I first visited Japan, I couldn’t speak Japanese, but I was able to communicate with the staff in English without any problems. Now, after many visits, I can speak Japanese, so whether you speak English or Japanese, the staff are always ready to assist. Thank you very much for your wonderful service.

With respect, I would like to offer a small suggestion to improve the guest experience. The onsens are very beautiful and relaxing. However, I noticed that many foreign guests may not be fully aware of proper bathing etiquette. It seemed that some of them did not wash thoroughly with soap before entering the onsen. In several cases, they only splashed a small amount of water on themselves for just a couple of seconds before getting in. Unfortunately, this made the experience uncomfortable for me, and I chose to leave the onsen due to hygiene concerns, which slightly affected the enjoyment of my stay.

I kindly suggest placing a clear and visible sign at the onsen entrance reminding guests to wash thoroughly with soap before entering.

Additionally, it may be helpful to inform guests that large towels should not be brought into the onsen.

Thank you very much again for your hospitality and for considering...