Gero Onsen Yukyunohana

“The best services ever”

This is the second time that we visited Fugaku. Ben Ng and his subordinate(a cute girl) always tried their best to satisfy our requests. We really have a wonderful time in Fugaku because of him. Fugaku really gave me a great experience in Japan. Thank all the staff very much!

“not bad, was ok”

shuttle bus sadly only available after 230pm for check in, so I had to drag luggage to hotel (800m away from station) during noon. private onsen only available once during stay, wish I could book at least twice. hida kaiseki was average. all staff are excellent. room is a bit old but spacious. had … lisää

shuttle bus sadly only available after 230pm for check in, so I had to drag luggage to hotel (800m away from station) during noon. private onsen only available once during stay, wish I could book at least twice. hida kaiseki was average. all staff are excellent. room is a bit old but spacious. had a small souvenir shop at lobby too.

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“Pleasant stay”

Very good traditional Japanese room, gorgeous view from the room. Thanks to kind and helpful manager Ben. He has informative explanation of the hotel facilities and good recommendation for our trip in takayama.

“4 stars for the fine service, 3 stars if you take into account the price”

We had booked Gero Onsen Fugaku through another website, and didn't realise it was so popular here with so many rave reviews. Our experience was more balanced, however. At risk of repeating some of the comments by other reviewers, below is a list of pros/cons. Pros: (1) Ben, the manager from HK is… lisää

We had booked Gero Onsen Fugaku through another website, and didn't realise it was so popular here with so many rave reviews. Our experience was more balanced, however. At risk of repeating some of the comments by other reviewers, below is a list of pros/cons. Pros: (1) Ben, the manager from HK is definitely attentive (one might argue, slightly obsessively so). We had emailed him about the shuttle from Gero train station and he provided timely response. Lu Xiao, his lovely assistant who served us food every breakfast and dinner, was an unassuming gem. Think of Ben as the wrapper, she is the real present! (2) Hotel shuttle gets you to train station, downtown, and even the Gassho Village if you arrange the day before. The trek downhill from gassho was quite nice btw, don't bother with taxi. (3) Location was fine. 10 mins away from convenience store (lawsons) and the many free foot spas (some quite tacky though). We tried nearly all of them and had a bit of fun. (4) Traditional japanese tatami room was well-kept, though a bit dated. That dial phone is ancient! (5) Kaiseki meals are massive. Unless you are a big eater, don't even dream of getting close to finishing up. Easily feeds a family of 4. Some really exquisite stuff, including local delicacies -- seafood. But don't expect top-notch food. The wow-factor here is variety, not top quality. (6) Indoor (public) and outdoor (private) onsen are both very fine. Don't miss out. (7) Being a small/mid ryokan (only 5 floors, 20+ rooms) has its benefits -- no large groups of tourists. Cons: (1) Ben promised us shuttle from the train station but we couldn't find the driver upon arrival. Took us 10 mins with the help of drivers from other hotels to eventually track down the shuttle driver who was sitting in his van. (2) Turns out Ben was busy attending to his Chinese visitor group back at the onsen. We were second-class citizens. (3) We asked to book private onsen but were told it was all booked out for the day, and even limited times for next day. Ben told us we should have reserved ahead of arrival, yet this was never communicated to us. True or not, we don't know, since we could never verify that info. Other ryokans we have stayed were more transparent -- write your name on the board when you check in. I suppose this is the "real" value of Ben's service, which we never received. (4) Hotel staff didn't speak English, only Ben did. So they generally seem private and difficult to find. Reception was rarely attended. Pick-up/drop-off keys to the private onsen took longer than needed as such. (5) Everything ran on time and on time only. We felt rushed every day as 20 mins prior to meals they will come knocking on the door to set things up. We loved the room and the kaiseki, but having to do it on a schedule made the trip less relaxing. The cost of japanese efficiency maybe. But hospitality ought to be more flexible. (6) Tiny bathroom -- 1/10 the size of the bedroom -- situated at the entrance. Very poor design. (7) We were okay with the dated room (nostalgic if you like) but the insulation was terrible. We had to forget about sleeping with moonlight (makes for a really nice ryokan experience) as we had to shut the balcony sliding doors every night to keep the cold out. Gero is one of Japan's top 3 onsen towns. We loved it. But at this price, we expected better. Will try another ryokan next time.

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