Ski Inn Hakuba

Poor communicators !!! The ski lodge looked very new , yes beds were comfy and room sizable but the toilet and its tiny bathtub is smaller than that on a cruise ship. They claimed they emailed my husband and myself about having no ski instructor availability on the first 2 days of our arrival yet neither one of us received anything. Hence we had to scramble over to evergreen for lessons for our kids! The receptionist seemed clueless to whatever questions we asked and had to ask someone else for the answers nearly 90 % of the time. There is hardly any breakfast spread and everyone was given the same cooked hot meal. 2 types of cereal and 1 flavor of yoghurt were the only things they had on their supposed breakfast table spread. I had to ask for fruits as there were none and they gave us 3 half blackened overly ripe bananas.

We booked this hotel VERY early and have zero regrets about staying here. We stayed for a week for some backcountry ski touring with Evergreen (located just down the street). We had a one-bedroom two-bed plus living area room that was more than enough space for our gear. When we arrived in our rental car, the staff appeared immediately to help us get our bags inside. It had been raining hard and the snow was turning into treacherous slush. We had a filling breakfast every day, which alternated between western a (eggs, pancakes, sausage) and more traditional (mushrooms, salad, roasted salmon). The beds were firm and the pillows were plentiful and extra fluffy. The comforters were WARM. We turned the heat way down each night and never felt chilled. If I could give this place 5.5 stars I would because of the staff. We mostly spoke to Nick and Windy who had fantastic recommendations and clearly wanted to learn more from us about backcountry skiing so that they could better serve their guests. Nick called around and got restaurant reservations for us. This saved us tremendous amounts of time and headache, because the last thing you want to do after a day on the slopes is wander around looking for a restaurant who will take pity on you. Windy offered us some sake to try and was incredibly thoughtful about the challenging parking situation. A pond developed in the parking lot due to rain on top of snow and she was concerned we would get stuck; she let us park just barely into the entrance so we could be assured to get out safely. I would recommend this hotel again without hesitation. It's not cheap but the service is absolutely impeccable and my high standards were well exceeded.

We enjoyed our experience at the Ski Inn Hakuba. The staff are extremely dedicated and the rooms are well renovated. The Inn is located higher up on the slope, which makes it very quiet and ideal to have a smooth run the way down the slopes. Whether you are there to Ski, relax at an onsen, or do a visit in Nagano - definitely consider this Inn. Thanks to the Ski Inn Hakuba Team (Nick, Windy, Takashi and others), we had the best Ski experience ever. Hope to come back or check out their other projects again.

The hotel is located next to the ski slope, so you can literally get out of the front door onto the piste and vice versa. The family rooms are large, with a vey comfortable living/dining room with kitchenette. But best of all is the exceptionally dedicated and friendly staff, who go out of their way to help customers in need (like drive them to places when taxis are impossible to book at 7am on a Sunday morning!)