Travel Review: Solo Trip to Japan, Hakone, Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Naoshima, Cycling, Cooking, Hiking

I wouldn't book a trip with this travel agency.

With $8000, I would book an agency to customize a trip that specializes in single traveler tours who understand and know how to deliver a higher level of experiences in Japan. And I'd book a Hakone ryokan experience at the Gora-Kada Ryokan. 

TRAVEL COMPANY'S COMMENTS

We started working with the traveler in February 2017 for her trip to Japan in November. This gave us plenty of time to design and arrange her trip. We presented a number of different itineraries and options for her trip, talked on the phone a number of times and sent her over 50 emails answering her questions and getting her feedback. We finally settled on a unique itinerary that she liked. 

We arranged a number of unique experiences that are suitable for seasoned travelers to Japan. These included a stay with a friend of ours in rural Kameoka which the traveler stated, “It was a fascinating departure from the city experience, I loved it and would highly recommend spending at least two days at Ms. Teramachi's home to learn and experience what a tour doesn't typically offer.” We also arranged a day trip to Naoshima, hiking in Hakone, and visit a private pottery gallery. There were also some standard activities like private local guides and cycling tour of Kyoto. All of these together gave her an experience that most new travelers to Japan would not do.

As I mentioned above, we had enough time to design her trip but unfortunately, the traveler did not decide to take this trip until October 2 when she paid her deposit. By this time most ryokan accommodations in Japan were already fully booked as November is high season. With very little time I was impressed that my arrangement team was able to make all of the arrangements including a single room in a hot spring ryokan in Hakone. 

In Japan as most traditional ryokans (Japanese inns) do not accept single travelers. This is even more difficult during high season. In Hakone, we work with a number of ryokans and we contacted all of the ones that accept single travelers. Unfortunately, they were already fully booked by the time the traveler paid her deposit. Many popular ryokans like Gora-Kada Ryokan become full 4-6 months in advance. This meant that we had to arrange a ryokan that we never worked with before. We called a large number of new ryokans that looked good and finally found one that would accept the traveler's reservation. When we call a new ryokan our Japanese staff talk to them for a while and ask a number of questions to check their service level and how they treat travelers. We also check online services like TripAdvisor and others to give us the opinions of travelers who have stayed at the ryokan. This is an important step and gives us a clear idea of the quality of the ryokan from the point of view of a large number of traveler. I am sure the traveler also did her research on this ryokan like most of our travelers. All of this gave us a positive image of Shiunso. The only negative thing was this ryokan allows smoking and the traveler's room would be a deodorized smoking room, this was explained to the traveler and she accepted it. I felt bad that the lobby did not meet her expectation.

Of course, we could have arranged for the traveler to stay at Hyatt Regency in the Gora part of Hakone. This would have been very easy as it is a large chain hotel with all of the advantages of a large chain. The traveler asked for a unique experience that is suitable for a seasoned traveler to Japan and staying at a ryokan is part of this experience. 

Staying at a Japanese ryokan is not for all travelers as you are going deep into Japanese culture. This was the only ryokan that we arranged for the traveler as all of the other accommodations were chain hotels except for her home-stay in Kameoka. Based on the traveler's comments above it is clear that we should have arranged a chain hotel in Hakone for her as it would have better met her exceptions.

I am sorry that the traveler did not enjoy her stay at a ryokan as I am sure that if she would have given it a chance she would have enjoyed herself. I am glad that she enjoyed the other parts of her trip and especially that she “loved” her time in Kameoka with Ms Teramachi.