The owner is totally unprofessional. On the arrival night, we came in late at night due to flight delays and the owner initially refused to let me and my brother in even though we had paid for our room already. After letting us in, he put us in a room without any beds and left us to sleep on the wooden floor; he called it the Japanese style. He never took the time to explain how we should bed the room or what to do. He just left us there to figure it out. The second night, we asked to change rooms and the owner obliged. The second night was better sleeping wise. During our entire stay, the owner, refused to allow us to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner at his restaurant claiming that there is no food; even though we picked his hotel because of the good reviews on the restaurant. Interestingly, Japanese visitors were allowed to eat there, which looked very weird. Due to the location of the place, there is no easy access to other eating places. On the check out, the owner told us that we have to pay for the late check in, which we obliged and paid the entire bill as he gave it to us. As soon as we left, the owner sent an email accusing us of steeling drinks in the minibar; we drank one can of soda from the minibar, with the idea that’s why there were for and that the owner would add that soda to the final bill, which he did not. Not only did he accuse us but he said that he has sent our passport pictures to the police for theft; all for one can of soda. Who does that!!! We called him to try to make payment but because of his limited English, we could not pay for that soda. So we asked a client of ours who is Japanese to speak to him so that we can pay for that soda and he refused again stating he doesn’t want to deal with this anymore. Initially, we did not want to leave a review because we simply didn’t have any good things to say about the place or it’s hospitality but after experiencing this nonsense, we felt obliged to let other people know about our experience there. Therefore, we strongly recommend not using this place as same thing may happen to other foreigners like us.
This hotel is a historic property set in an iconic setting. We stayed in the Forest Section which features large, comfortable rooms that were a little dark, the bathroom lighting could be improved. Here is my issue. We arrived around 1:15 and we’re told that we could check in at 3:00. We had lunch in their cafe ( 50$) and asked again about an hour later if we could have early access. The very polite desk clerk replied “ Yes, for $70 dollars “. Astounded , I countered that we were departing early 2 days later, and he reduced the amount to $35. Now here is where communication becomes an issue: I continued the “are you kidding me?” and he kept bowing. I thought the issue was settled. That night and the next we ate at their lovely restaurants, French and the Cascade. Food and service was superb. With wine we spent about $900. Check out was early, and my husband didn’t really examine the bill. When we were back in our free early access room in Tokyo I noticed the $35 charge. I contacted the hotel’s customer service and they confirmed the charge. So, what about customer hospitality? I have NEVER been charged an early access fee for an hour. They have been times when we patiently waited for a room to be readied, and never demanded a rebate. It is all part of the guest/host agreement, I think this is probably a corporate decision by the Fujiya Group. Rethink your mission, guys, make guests feel wanted!