What was supposed to be a highly anticipated vacation in Izu turned out to be the worst and most sickening accommodation experience I have had in recent years. As an established hot spring hotel that brands itself on high-end service, its staff not only severely lacks professional ethics, but its management also shamelessly tolerates and shields discriminatory behavior targeting Chinese tourists.
The incident began at 10:00 AM on June 16, when we were woken up by the cleaning staff ringing our doorbell. Having not rested adequately, we went to the front desk and politely used a mobile translation app (Chinese to Japanese) to state our request to a male front desk staff member, asking if our room cleaning time could be noted and delayed for the following two days. However, the moment this employee saw the translated content, he immediately showed displeasure, and with an extremely arrogant attitude, he crossed his arms and shouted "NO" at us. After multiple inquiries yielded no results, and given his rude body language and demeanor, I ultimately had no choice but to state that we would cancel the room service for the next two days.
Sensing his extremely low willingness to communicate in Japanese at the time, I attempted to switch to English to communicate with him, to which he responded with a hostile attitude, "No English." Yet, extremely ironically, he clearly knew our identity as Asian/Chinese tourists, and while claiming not to understand English, he refused to look at the Google Translation (Chinese to Japanese) we provided. Instead, he later used his own translator to perform a Japanese-to-English operation. This behavior was by no means a communication barrier or a mere service attitude problem; it was a highly malicious, deliberate obstruction and selective service with clear racial discrimination tendencies.
After encountering such rude treatment, I attempted to continue reasoning with him, but instead of offering any assistance or explanation, the employee exhibited a highly provocative and negligent attitude. What was even more shocking was that when my companion lodged a complaint with the female front desk staff member next to him, she actually replied: "I am sorry, but he is like this to everyone, please bear with him." As a hotel positioned as a five-star establishment, the front desk ignored a customer's reasonable request and went so far as to ask the customer to tolerate an employee who lacks basic professional literacy. This completely exposed the hotel's indulgence of internal misconduct. Subsequently, I insisted on management intervention, and after a standoff of nearly ten minutes, the night shift supervisor on duty that evening finally came forward to handle the matter.
However, what was even more infuriating was the management's perfunctory and irresponsible way of handling it. Although the night shift supervisor offered an oral apology upon arrival, the male front desk staff member, who was the direct wrongdoer, stood by coldly and arrogantly, even wearing a mocking smirk. After the supervisor sent him away, the hotel management did not give me any proper explanation, nor did they have the person involved make a direct apology. What was even more absurd was that when I went downstairs to the hot spring afterward, I was shocked to find that the involved employee was actually still patrolling and wandering around the entrance of the floor we were staying on. Even though management clearly knew he had committed a serious error, they took no measures against him whatsoever, allowing him to immediately resume normal work and continue appearing in our line of sight. This was not only secondary psychological harm to the guests but also a huge irony to the hotel's management system.
On the second night, the hotel's General Manager (the Taisho) came to knock on our door accompanied by a Chinese translator. He defended the hotel intensely and denied the existence of any discrimination, claiming that they had placed the involved employee on a "two-day leave," making it impossible to arrange for a face-to-face apology. The General Manager performed a 90-degree bow apology at our doorway for as long as fifteen minutes and proposed a free upgrade to the highest-specification private hot spring room in the hotel as compensation, but we clearly stated that we only wanted an apology from the direct wrongdoer. Yet, until we checked out, the direct wrongdoer never showed his face. I want to make it clear that as consumers, what we demand is absolutely not material favors or upgrade benefits, but equal human dignity and strict, rule-based handling of discriminatory behavior. This practice of not even dragging the wrongdoer out to face the customer, blindly relying on "Japanese-style bowing," is nothing more than a formalistic fig leaf to cover up their indulgence of staff discriminating against Chinese people.
In addition, regarding the hardware facilities, because we had learned in advance on social media that this hotel might suffer from outdated facilities, we intentionally paid extra to upgrade to the newly renovated "New Japanese-Style Room" to ensure our vacation experience. However, to our great surprise, even in this high-priced upgraded renovated room, the pillows and blankets still carried a heavy smell of mildew, which remained unchanged even after we requested the staff to replace them with another set. Although this is a tolerable flaw compared to the extremely vile and discriminatory face of the front desk, it is sufficient to prove that this so-called five-star historic hotel has completely collapsed in terms of basic management and quality control. I have been to Japan many times and am well aware of the professionalism of most of the service industry, but Inatori Ginsuiso's actions have severely trampled on consumers' bottom lines. For Chinese friends who have zero tolerance for racial discrimination and pursue equal dignity, please completely avoid this hotel. Do not spend money to buy humiliation.
