Karaku, Gora

I recently stayed here one night on October 5th and this hotel did not disappoint. The hotel is located a few steps away from Gora train station and they do offer a free shuttle bus to another station. The hotel staff - front desk and restaurant had been excellent. The hotel room was amazing. Be sure to book a Japanese style room as it is on the top floor (6th). The room was clean, up to date, private onsen and waking up to the sunrise in onsen was amazing. The dinner was good but I was still hungry afterwards. Area is very quiet in the evening and night.

My wife and I were booked into this hotel as part of a private tour. We were told by our travel agent that it was a ryokan which it's not. Upon entering our " deluxe" room, we were immediately disappointed. The shower and separate toilet room were tiny. The bed was a nice size but the tv was at the other end of the room and did not have a swivel so we couldn't watch tv from our bed. The porch and view were lovely but the onsen was quite tiny. The deluxe room was not as nice as an average US Holiday Inn room. The meals that were included were terrible except for the grill room. The breakfasts were so bad that on our last morning we skipped breakfast. The grill meal on our second night was quite good but our other meals were bad. At checkout, I incorrectly thought I had been overcharged by 1,000 yen for an orange juice. I asked them to take it off the bill. It's about $6.40. The desk clerk insisted the charge was correct so after 5 minutes I finally agreed to pay it. However, she wanted me to see the documentation that the charge was correct. I told her please let me pay the bill so I can leave. However, I had to wait another 15 minutes for her to produce the documentation. It was a wasted 20 minutes over a $6 item. I cannot recommend this very disappointing hotel and we would never return. We loved Hakone which is awesome and beautiful and this hotel was the only downside.

We are confused about how this place gets a 5 star rating. It is in a nice location but the hotel does not offer the type of service one would expect to find in an upscale Japanese onsen with a Michelin rating. The room was nice, and it had a great view which we enjoyed from our private bath on the deck, but it lost its appeal when we spotted a giant hornet in our room. We called the front desk and after waiting, one of the reservationists came to the room with a broom and some bug poison spray which she sprayed all over the room. She said there was no one on duty from maintenance to come to the room and get rid of it. She thought the giant bug was “probably dead.” I was seated outside the room (I was using a cane due to an injury) and my daughter was standing outside in the hallway- there was only one chair moved out for us. We had to request another room ourselves because ours smelled of insect poison spray. The lovely woman (I think her name is Odette) who sprayed our room, helped us change our room. The next evening, the hotel scheduled our dinner reservation for 5:30pm. We went to the Open Air Museum (which is wonderful) and returned to the hotel around 5 pm. We requested to have dinner later and they refused! We asked if we could just have the dinner brought to our room around 6:30 - 7:00 pm and they also refused that request. They had no alternative restaurant or service to accommodate us for dinner. I had prepaid for the meal and found it completely unacceptable that they would refuse to accommodate our request to eat later, or in the alternative, to have the meal service brought to our room. We asked the desk person for a dinner recommendation elsewhere and they recommended a gyoza place which they said was open until 9:30pm. The gyoza place closed at 7:30 pm. Thank heavens we got a great cab driver who recommended a local sushi restaurant. On our next morning, as we were checking out, we could not find any one to help. I’m In my mid-70’s and use a cane, and I passed at least 2 male hotel workers who saw me struggling with my luggage and neither offered to help. I found this behavior shocking and unlike the usual courtesy and great service we found everywhere else in Japan. Finally, as we were walking out to the cab, a young woman behind the desk and the same woman who came to our room to kill the hornet, offered to help us with our luggage. Last, the breakfast was terrible. For some bizarre reason, they served minestrone soup in the morning. I know of no American, Italian or other European, or Japanese person who would ever eat minestrone soup at 8:30 am. They served a minuscule spoonful of eggs (I actually asked for an additional portion), and bread (neither toasted nor heated). They served 3 tiny bites of fruit, primarily grapes. We traveled around Japan for two full weeks staying in very nice hotels and this was by far the worst breakfast we had - it was bad. The dinner had a lovely presentation and was certainly better than the breakfast, but was mediocre at best. I requested a refund for the dinner we did not eat, and the person at the desk robotically said “we don’t give refunds.” If it was not for Odette, I would give this place zero stars.

I’ve stayed at hotels all over the world, and Karku Gora Hotel was easily one of my favorite stays. The service was outstanding and the food was excellent from start to finish. A huge bonus was the complimentary shuttle to the main train station — an absolute lifesaver and something that made getting around effortless. Every detail felt thoughtful, and the staff truly elevated the experience. I’d happily stay here again and highly recommend it to anyone visiting.

A very new and nice place to stay in a great location of hakone, if you can afford the high price. We had dinner at both restaurants and it was really good (what you would expect from a 5 star hotel). The amenities , snacks and open lounge bar were all well stocked and you were left with no wishes. Service is also impeccable . The only downside is that the hotel is missing a bit of character. It is highly targeted for western people. You’ll encounter a lot of snobby western rich travelers and definetly loose the japanese vibe a bit. So its not the the right place if you are looking for some japanese charm.

We had the most amazing two nights in Karaku Gora. The rooms were spacious and so comfortable - and the private onsen was so relaxing and convenient we used it first thing in the morning and last thing at night. The restaurant served some of the best food we’ve had during our 3 weeks in Japan. Everything was cooked and made perfectly. And the waitstaff were so helpful and friendly with our baby. We had a wonderful stay here and hope we have the opportunity to be back again in the future.

Had part of our honeymoon here and it was nothing short of amazing… the the point where we decided to stay an extra day. The private onsen experience on the balcony of your room is worth it alone but the staff were amazing and overly accommodating during our entire stay. Truly one of the best stays i’ve ever had.

We had an excellent stay at Gora Karaku. The rooms were spacious and comfortable, with the highlight being the private onsen and forest views. The staff were wonderful, especially Shiryu-san who checked us in and was also our server at dinner and he was very friendly and provided great recommendations for our upcoming stay at Tokyo. We enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere and would recommend to other travelers. Thank you!