Holiday Inn Resort Kuroyon by IHG

We stayed in the hotel's newest wing, where our room was immaculate, clean, and spacious. The beds were firm, and each came with both a firm and a soft pillow, a real luxury when traveling around Japan or Asia. Our room had an “open air private bath,” though the open-air part was just a window that opened a little. We also rented the private onsen for one night for about $10 USD, and thought it was well worth it. Dinner and breakfast at the buffet were excellent, as was the service. The property is beautiful and quiet on a mountainside, with stunning mountain views. Fall foliage was on display, and we could enjoy it from our balcony. We'd definitely recommend staying here.

The onsen was great, and the rooms were spacious. We also appreciated being able to do laundry, which matters when we travel for as long as three months at a time. Breakfast was good too, with a lovely mountain view. We travel a lot, and I’m an IHG Diamond member, so I’ve stayed at plenty of IHG brands. This hotel compared very well with many of the group’s higher-tier properties, while costing much less. It’s one of our favorite places in Japan, and we’ll definitely return. A really relaxing stay.

The room was unbearably hot at night. My niece couldn’t work out how to change the temperature, so she called the staff. They told us the air conditioning was set the same throughout the hotel and couldn’t be adjusted. Opening the window felt risky because insects might come in. It was a terrible experience. I had booked two otherwise identical rooms for two nights, one with two beds and one with three, for 87,400 yen and 98,350 yen. Both bookings included breakfast, though I may have been at fault for not checking whether breakfast was included for the triple room. The confirmation said breakfast would cost an extra 5,000 yen per person. That left a 10,950 yen difference between the two room prices, which should have covered breakfast for at least two people in the triple room. I tried to explain at check-in that the charge didn’t seem reasonable, but the staff insisted all three of us had to pay extra. My brother thought the price was unreasonable too, but offered to pay so we could all have breakfast together. I refused to pay even a single yen to a hotel like this.

We had a really enjoyable stay at this huge resort in a quiet spot, very close to the Ogizawa Station. There’s a large onsen with an open-air bath, and each dressing table has cleaning gel, toner, lotion, and a hair dryer. Breakfast has lots of choices, and IHG members can check out as late as 2 pm. A retail park with a big supermarket and Daiso is about a 15-minute drive away. The hotel also runs a shuttle to Omachi Station six times a day. We’d definitely stay here again, though we were disappointed to find a 300 yen hot spring tax for two people added at the end without any mention of it beforehand.