Having had issues over the room allocation at the “Gora Kadan”:http://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/restaurant/163239-review-gora-kadan in Hakone, we’d been promised an upgrade to an executive room at the “Sharaton Hiroshima”:http://www.sheraton-hiroshima.jp/en Sheraton in Hiroshima. However, we all know you should never count your blessings in advance.
We arrived at 5pm and easily found the hotel as it’s a five minute walk from the railway station. The lobby was on the 5th floor and on checking in found we had indeed been upgraded to an executive room. A small blue card outlined our privileges which included a happy hour from 5pm to 8pm with snacks and beverages in the Club Lounge or, drinks only in the Lobby Lounge from 5pm to 7pm.
Our large room on the 21st floor provided good views of the city and was suitably opulent with TV, mini bar, robes, air con, desk, chairs etc. There was good quality toiletries in the open plan bathroom. We also had free wi-fi which we would otherwise have had to pay for (one of my pet hates about expensive chain hotels).
After a quick unpack, we went straight to the club lounge on the 20th floor which was similar to an airline business class lounge. There was a good array of drinks and hot and cold nibbles which were constantly being re-stocked. We had a swift G&T and after getting changed, also indulged in pre-dinner drink G&Ts.
Breakfast was well laid out and there was a great selection of hot and cold, Japanese and western dishes. In particular, we loved the mini Danish pastries especially with jam.
The hotel had a pool, Jacuzzi, spa and fitness centre which we had additional privileges in, but as we were only there for one night (and 15 hours at that), these remained unexplored.
