Hoshinoya Guguan

Good getaway from the cities! Awesome room, it's clean and comfortable. The staff are very friendly and professional. The location is 1.5 hours away from Taichung city center, the road is windy so prepare your motion sickness pills! About 10 - 15 mins walk from Hoshinoya, you can find convenient stores and restaurants.

Pros - great views as a nature retreat - hot springs were great with a private room pool too - hotel food when served was ok to great , no complaints - service staff were polite, helped with various things including getting a cold compress with ice - rooms were spacious , though walls were thin. Visited during a non peak period so it was quiet anyway - no problems with room temp control in the summer Cons - With the exception of the first night that we came in, they were very strict about the dining window. Luckily there are convenience stores across the river. No decent ad-hoc orders outside dining hours - Seems to be a wellness resort, no alcohol served except at a mini booth at night & mini fridge . Also, there is no gym so would have exercise outdoors if needed. I think this was ok for me - Transportation. The way here is a mountain path and public buses don’t come often. Most drive

The resort is absolutely wonderful!!! It’s definitely Luxurious. But our room had some carpet stains etc so the maintenance could be better. Onsen in room was perfect and the structure of the two level room was unique. Bed and living area also great with full length mirrors (although the view forces some appearance of the dirty roof of the main resort area). Service was questionable. I had booked a massage in advance and they said they never received reservation upon check in - despite me showing them the email. They lied / said a staffer called in sick but they didn’t let me know until I inquired. Then they promised to do the massage the next day, and at the end of confirming this with us, said they needed to confirm with their staff. So again they lied. This was the front desk manager that day. The staff also showed us to our room and spent way too much time showing us the room itself and silly features in a way that was more frustrating as he didn’t leave for an hour. Since this happened right at check in it left a sour taste. Food is quite nice but the service for lunch is pretty slow and they mixed up the order. So overall attention to detail and integrity of some staff is not where you would expect for a resort of this caliber.