LOTTE ARAI RESORT

Booked a superior trple twin room (for 2 adults and 2 kids 13 & 11), and the check in staff kept trying to give us a room with 3 single beds. It required intervention from the hotel manager to finally get the type of room we had actually booked. When we got to the room only had 3 sets of towels, Yukata, and toiletries. Breakfast was 12,000 JPY for 4 people and was not worth the money. I've had the same budget buffet breakfast in the business hotels for less than a 1/3 of the price. The hotel is in the middle of nowhere, so you need to bring a lot of snacks, drinks, etc, or travel several kms to the nearest convenience store or further for shops. On the plus side, the hotel looks very new and is very clean. The kids activities are great, but a tad pricey.

Very exclusive and private resort, good for family.

Nice hotel but limited eating options and no Lawsons store, ATM etc. Ski mountain is disappointing for all but true powder hounds. Will not come back unless they open up more ski courses..

Very nice new self-contained resort, of much higher quality than most Ski resort accommodation in Japan, though would benefit from a few more facilities like a gym and a convenience store. There is a bus to take you to local shops but I was only there one night so didn't use. The skiing has limited runs but what there is is of good quality. Great onsen including outdoor bath. I tried to eat at the Korean restaurant without a reservation but was told it was full although several tables seemed to be available. Bakery was nice. Overall good for short skiing trips.

The resort is divided into 3 staying areas ie Hotel Arai, the Lodge and the Club. The room in the Lodge is big for 2 people. The Italian and Korean restaurants are generally good and so is the overall service. It has a hot spring in the hotel complex and you need to walk a little distance (with cover) if you are staying in the lodge or the club. Not much to do in the resort if you are not going up the hills for winter sport or going to the swimming pool. Ski pass and ski rental on site is a big pricey. The ski equipment on rental looks fairly new. If you are a beginner to intermediate skier, you may find the choice of routes a bit limited and maybe a bit boring after a few runs.

I was hesitant to stay at this resort because of mixed reviews read earlier. We found it to be a very lovely clean and new resort with friendly staff who if they could not understand english did their best to find someone who could! It was not overly crowded and in fact sometimes we were skiing by ourselves on the runs.. Its probably better for those who go off piste- there are only about 3-5 blue runs if you do not want to. Three day trip would probably be perfect. With respect to the dining and all the prices and charges for extras (like swimming!) in the resort I think that they will eventually hit on the right formula. It's not quite there yet. There is not much to do around on a no ski day. We used the hire equipment and it was practically brand new and had no problem. We did not use the ski school though so cannot comment. My summary is that the resort is nearly there. If the market is Australians or other Western countries they have to figure out what the families need with regard to food choices etc We had fun though so thanks Lotte Arai

The accommodations are overpriced and there's no options other than the hotel, but you're paying for privacy and sparsely populated slopes and it is worth it for the skiing. Things I wish I had known: - For breakfast, do the western restaurant (the Japanese restaurant doesn't have much for breakfast) - For dinner buffet, do the Japanese buffet and make a reservation! There aren't many tables so you may not get a seat without a reservation. The western buffet is also fine and had full kiwis the night I tried it. You can order a la carte from the Italian restaurant at the lounge but be prepared for a long wait and unattentive service (half an hour for a pizza and was such a pain to pay my bill...) - I recommend you just do buffet to avoid service issues. - Don't buy the first-class lift ticket unless it is a light snow day. You can go on the lift half an hour early (8am instead of 8:30), which is worth it I think, but one day there was a lot of snow and everyone who got on early had to wait at the top of the mountain in the blizzard conditions while the staff "checked the mountain" -- not clear to me why they couldn't have done that 10 minutes earlier since we are paying a premium for early access... - Annoying that the hot springs close at 9am on weekdays since checkout is at 11 and I would have liked to go after breakfast before I checked out. - It's not a very well run hotel (check in and rentals are a pain), but snow is worth it. - Wifi was incredible

Fabulous new place, snow was fresh and dry , room was clean and well designed. Staff were helpful and can speak English / Chinese.

Great hotel on the ski field. Came with kids who had never seen snow and the ski school was amazing!