Korinkyo

After a harrowing day of travel with cancelled trains and delayed bus we landed here around 1 pm. My son (18) discovered he had left his iPad in our car service and the hotel attendant immediately took up his cause and called and arranged for its return! We were shepherded to the lounge for a welcome drink and able to check into our rooms right away. From the hotel-distilled scents in the lobby to the gorgeous architecture and design we felt wrapped in luxury and comfort. The Taiwanese breakfast was a lovely break and both artfully executed and delicious. We also booked the rooftop sauna and tubs and enjoyed all the amenities. We also really enjoyed the coffee!!

Korinkyo accommodated our special requests of checking in early & arranging transport to the airport with ease. The hotel is well-situated near all the museums. The staff is kind & accommodating, even calling to make reservations for us or preparing hand-written letters to better communicate with us. The hotel is very quirky. With a unique concrete design done to a moderate level of specification. Lots of good treats & teas in the room. There are no coffee makers in the room, but you can pop down to the lounge on Floor 2 & the team will cheerfully prepare one for you. We were able to accommodate our family of 5 over two rooms in the hotel.

Probably the WORST hotel experience in Japan. And the most ridiculous response from a hotel management team. As an international traveller nestling in art & design industry for nearly 20 years, Kanazawa has always been my beloved destination for relaxation and good taste in Ishikawa area. Despite it was my third time visiting the city, Korinkyo has left a despicable stain for the spring travelling memories. We arrived at the hotel around 3:30 in the afternoon. Instead of being offered by a welcome drink or refreshing towel usually you get in any hotels in Japan, we were left to be standing in a very narrow space by the backside of the ground floor store. The check-in process was rushed and unpleasant. Later I asked the staff about the reason why customers were treated differently when I saw other customers were offered drinks and towels in the first floor reception area. The answer I got is that we arrived TOO EARLY for the check-in time 4pm. Whilst they had the entire first floor as the reception area, Korinkyo decided to stream hotel guests into different space in the building in order to avoid congestion in the reception area, regardless of how uncomfortable those space are for hotel guests (I read some of the guests were even left to wait in the storage room). We then were taken up straight to our room after the rushed check-in process on the ground floor store. Instead of getting the serene and calm atmosphere presented in the hotel public photos, or on instagram etc., the room was distastefully decorated and executed in every design aspects. All the furnitures in the room were cheaply made and sourced. We immediately wanted to leave the room after we stepped in. We had to change the room three times before we finally got a noisy room by the street. It was really a torturing night of sleep. The next morning when we were having breakfast, I asked the girl serving us for the WiFi password since I left my WiFi device in the room and needed to send some emails. To my surprise, she answered that the hotel had NO WiFi, whilst there were two Korinkyo WiFi names on my phone with full signal bars. I could still vividly remembered the smug smile when she replied this rather juvenile lie, as if she was winning something by not helping the hotel guests. And this incident has made the very average Taiwanese breakfast a brand low experience. Korinkyo is no doubt a project run by a very inexperienced owner, who tried to test the water of the Japanese hotel business. However when you charge guests with this level of expense, you really need to get rid of the self-serving love hotel’s mindset. —————— We received an appalling response full of fakery and lies from the management team two weeks after our first review. First, We’ve never made requests like Korinkyo team lyingly described. Second, People would not think a waitress could fluently described the detailed food ingredients of a foreign cuisine in English would not know how to spell a simple WiFi password, instead she chose to tell a lie to the customer. But after seeing the lies from the management team’s response, it is awkwardly not surprising to comprehend the young waitress’s low service level. Thirdly, as any professionals in art and design industry would know it takes much more than a good design concept to achieve a good hotel project. Korinkyo’s existence is simply an insult to the Japanese hotel industry.