I spent 1 night at the Grand Arimoto with my husband on May 20th 09.
We caught the ferry across from the mainland which only took 10 minutes. i called them when we arrived and a bus came several minutes later to collect us. Be prepared for the slightly hairy ride to the hotel winding up mountains the narrow roads, can be daunting, especially when the bus driver has to lock it up for a rogue deer!

We arrived at the hotel at 2:15pm, and we were hot, tired and exhausted having travelled by shinkansen in the morning from Kyoto and explored Hiroshima from 10-1:30pm.
We were thirsty and sweaty and desperate to get changed and have a lie down. The front desk staff spoke hardly any english, so i called upon my broken japanese to check us in. But check in was not until 3pm. i don't recall reading this on our booking and thought it was a strange time, as most check ins are 2pm. They were very insistent that we had to wait until 3pm, and suggested a drink at the bar..which was closed. The front receptionist fecthed us 2 drinks, a beer and a coke for almost $17..ouch. The lobby is very dated, like something from 1984, mint green and gold finishes, the furniture was scuffed and looked original...from 1984.
We waited, fell alseep in the lounge chairs and it became apparent that as more people arrived to check in, we all had to wait, the lobby started to look like a airport departure lounge. The right on 3pm, bingo...your room is ready!!??!!
The room itself was nice, a traditional tatami room section overlooking the Torrii Gate which was amazing!!! But the 2 single beds in the other section was interesting, i thought i reserved a queen, but i let it slide as we just wanted to rest.
Again, the furniture and interiors were very very tired, the wood trimmings were faded and split, as this was the most expensive room rate out of all the hotels we stayed at, i was a bit dissapointed by this. The view from the bathroom overlooking the Torri Gate was amazing, picture postcard stuff, but again, very dated bathroom and be sure to turn the light off at night as people from the street stare straight up at you in all your glory!
The proximity of the hotel to the Itsukushima Shrine is literally 2 minute walk, it's great.
we had a Kaiseki dinner included with our room rate, which really was amazing!!!
The western style breakfast in the morning also had us rolling out of the room, very generous.
The staff were always very courteous and professional, i just think the appearance of the hotel let it down, its in serious need of a makeover. Then it would be a destination hotel to visit again and again!!!

I spent one wonderful night at this charming hotel during end of summer. The staff was very attentive, making sure we we're comfortable with the yukata and double checking our dinner and breakfast decisions since we chose Japanese style food. We had a traditional room with an excellent view of the red torii gate, which looks even lovelier at night. The highlights were the kaiseki dinner, fresh and seasonal traditional food and the outdoor baths, so very relaxing. I'd advise caution when if you're going to use the hotel geta as they are quite worn. And be careful when using the internet in the lobby late at night, the whole island seems to power down and my web browsing was cut short. Overall I highly recommend the hotel and hope to visit it again.

Stayed in an executive room with breakfast and dinner. One word : magnificent. It was very clean. The room was spacious. Very quiet and peaceful. Employees were helpful and very polite. The food was delicious. 10 minutes walking from the ferry.

Stayed in a very nice/clean, Japanese style room (western toilet) with an outdoor rotenburu (bath). Loved the location and the in-room service level was very high. Front desk staff had very good service in English. The kaiseki-style dinner was quite good, albeit service was very rushed and in a private dining room rather than our room. The over-jacket for my yukata smelled badly of smoke. Top choice for the island however a little disappointed for the price.