Lotte Arai Resort

Lotte Arai Resort offers an exceptional experience for those seeking breathtaking views and excellent skiing opportunities. The resort’s stunning surroundings and convenient location make it an ideal destination for winter enthusiasts.

If your going to stay here bring your own food cause all the restaurants are open at odd times or say they are open on the map but wont feed you, no where to eat or drink that isn't resort owned town is pretty far away and no food on location past 19:00, no offsite food allowed!?!?! skiing is good but staff is bad got the same bs response cant help you manager will call never heard from anyone would rather eat McDonald's than at lotte arai . Tried to drive here the road wasn't plowed and it hadn't snowed in a few days nearly ripped up my rental car bumper due to roads 5k plus of bottoming out and dragging. Skiing is great decent Backcountry but food roads and service were lacking stay somewhere else. Hot spring was best I've been to but they let kids in and they really ruined any relaxing aspect of it. Lotte turned off reviews on google and offer discounts for good reviews so don't trust the bs on google review for lotte. Not worth the hassle. Was supposed to be amazing to bad they ruined it, even the japanese food was bad and if you like steak skip the sit down spots the ramen by the gift shop was decent and the breakfast beef stew was good but everything was microwave or frozen. Why lotte why.

Should have left when we pulled up to the inviting front doors. No signs of life Opened the front door no one to help with luggage . The rooms are spacious but no where to put your clothes could do with some drawers and more hanging space This place is like the Truman show no atmosphere very bland Food choice poor and restaurants no ambience Skiing was ok but get bored after a few runs One plus was the onsen it was the best part They are obviously struggling with staff No one answering the phone I had to get dressed and go to reception to get question answered not ideal from a supposed luxury hotel I would of left if I hadn’t already paid Don’t waste your money go get a real experience at a Japanese village ski resort

We (family of 5 – kids aged 18, 15 and 11) visited for 5 days just as the ski season opened in December 2023. We were on a Luxury Escapes 5 night/4 day ski lift package. We chose Lotte Arai as we heard it was an excellent place for beginners. Unfortunately our experience was not positive. Luxury Escapes were not transparent at the time of booking that we were right on the cusp of season opening, which would have influenced our booking decision. Weather was not favourable and unfortunately the snow was not sufficient to fully open on 15/12 as planned (not LE or Lotte Arai's fault of course). This coupled with a broken chair lift (which Lotte Arai did not disclose - we only discovered when we arrived) and another chair lift that couldn't run due to lack of staff, meant our ski options (as beginners) were limited to one 350m run. 4 days of limited ski options at top $ was incredibly disappointing and no way reflective of the quality experiences we had with LE previously. We stayed in a lovely room in the Lodge part of Lotte Arai resort. Spacious comfortable room, somewhat tired bathroom. The resort is a hodgepodge of different buildings that connect only on different floors (it seems the property has grown organically over 30+ years with no real thought to full integration). Navigating from the Lodge to breakfast and the onsen took some planning, especially as one part was almost outdoors, in freezing conditions. Meals were at the buffet styled Plate restaurant in Lotte Arai Hotel (a full 700m walk involving a lift ride, outside (albeit undercover) walk and flight of stairs from our room) which was more akin to 3/3.5 star standard. On the plus side the bus transfer to and from Joetsu-Myoko train station was great; we really enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Japanese restaurant Asahi and the outside onsen was lovely. The separately run Myoko Snowsports school is exceptional and the resort's ski hire enterprise rents quality gear. Plus our step count walking around the various buildings was high! Lotte Arai staff were warm and tried to help best they could. But truthfully for a resort claiming to be 5 star, staff were not as polished or proficient, as elsewhere on our Japan trip. Communication in advance to organise meals etc. was difficult - often multiple days' wait for response and sometimes no response at all. We did speak to the Manager on duty on our last day to offer feedback. He was pleasant and listened. He offered a bottle of wine and free access to swimming pool and indoor climbing wall. Luxury Escapes similarly listened to our concerns and offered a $300 voucher for next booking. On a $4.7k booking it felt more symbolic than significant. All in all the most disappointing days of our holiday. We spent A$6k incl. ski gear on a "special deal" - it was by far the worst value on a 3.5 week holiday trekking around Japan.

Unreal ski area and a very nice place to stay. We stayed at Lotte Arai for 4 nights on our ski trip. The room was large very clean and very comfy. Restaurants all served really nice and good quality food. It was by far the nicest onsen we went to on our travels around Japan and it was included so that was great. You can ski (nearly) anywhere on the resort once ski patrol have cleared it for safety. Whilst we were there they had over 90cm of snow in the 4 days, it was insane! Apart from one windy day (government issued a special weather alert ) they got the lifts open and even with reduced ski area there is more than enough snow for all. My one comment is that they’ve not yet fully grasped the international ski hotel vibe. There is a lot of elevator music and all the great restaurants are closed until 6pm. We found lots of people wondering the halls looking longingly at the closed cocktail bar and nearly chewing on drink coasters to curb that post ski hunger. So if you are looking for a buzz maybe stay in Myoko Kogen, if you’re happy to sleep post ski and wake up for dinner then stay, I’d stay again just to be close to the pow.

The rooms were small unliked advertised. Further I hurt myself on the slope (pulled my calves and sprained my knee) tried to get a refund on my ski gear for the next 2 days I had rented from Salomon station for as I am unable to go out, however was told no refunds was possible despite being injured. Terrible experience from a luxury hotel. Further the rooms were far from the rental and the gondola, and the paths were not covered. Not the ski in ski out experience I envisioned. Pool was also closed after 6pm but was advertised on website to be all day.