Lotte Arai Resort

“3rd time return”

Lotte Arai is already a familiar place, it's our 3rd visit out of many to come. I will continue to return here, certainly as long as the kids will accompany us and I hope for many years after. Hopefully I will still be able to ski for a long time:) .The reasons are many and varied. I'll just sum.it… more

Lotte Arai is already a familiar place, it's our 3rd visit out of many to come. I will continue to return here, certainly as long as the kids will accompany us and I hope for many years after. Hopefully I will still be able to ski for a long time:) .The reasons are many and varied. I'll just sum.it up: great family friendly skiy in sky out with plenty of off track free riding areas for hard core skiers, great food options in one place, amazing onsen, great large family rooms, beautiful landscape, etc...We had so much snow this year it was like a fairy tale. Not cheap but not 5 star prices either, the services are very close to the latter. Looking forward to next year.

less

“Great facilities and atmosphere, but very poor check-In experience”

I liked the hotel a lot. We stayed in the Club building and really enjoyed it. The atmosphere overall is lovely and relaxing. Spa Manna was excellent, and Beco restaurant was very nice as well. The facilities are high quality and the property feels well maintained. However, the check-in was the lo… more

I liked the hotel a lot. We stayed in the Club building and really enjoyed it. The atmosphere overall is lovely and relaxing. Spa Manna was excellent, and Beco restaurant was very nice as well. The facilities are high quality and the property feels well maintained. However, the check-in was the longest I have ever experienced in my life - 30 minutes. There was a long queue, yet only one staff member was processing guests. Another staff member was standing next to the lift pass box and was not assisting with check-ins at all. Watching this while waiting for half an hour was extremely frustrating and felt completely unnecessary. With proper staff allocation, this delay could easily have been avoided. Another issue was the clothes dryers. They do not work properly. We tried drying cotton items for two hours and they were still damp. They seem to work slightly better for synthetic clothes, but overall the performance was very poor. We were also surprised to see large queues for the gondola in the morning. However, this appeared to be due to fresh snowfall and high demand, so it was understandable. Overall, we enjoyed our stay, but the operational issues need serious improvement.

less

“Convenient and comfortable”

The hotel is very modern and really well maintained. For the most part, I’d agree it’s a luxury hotel, but there are just a few things (that are super easy) to fix which fall short of expectations and surprised me. Pros:
 Large, clean rooms with big bathrooms Really good food at great value Sever… more

The hotel is very modern and really well maintained. For the most part, I’d agree it’s a luxury hotel, but there are just a few things (that are super easy) to fix which fall short of expectations and surprised me. Pros:
 Large, clean rooms with big bathrooms Really good food at great value Several airy public spaces to hang out Large outdoor onsen. Large steam room. Convenient ski pass ticket machines Connected to other parts of hotel by outdoor walkway Right off Shinkansen and free shuttle to and from train station Cons: Only 2 small elevators for main hotel. No bathroom amenities like Q-tips or cotton pads anywhere. Not even in onsen. Flimsy slippers. Cheap, thin soles that ripped easily. Onsen access strange. Entered through 2nd floor only to go down 1 more floor. Unisex shoe storage cubbies so small area always congested and bottlenecked the entrance to onsen. No tags for shoe storage, so guests mistakenly took each other’s slippers. Tiny chairs in steam room which did not allow for comfortable relaxation. Ski rental shop will not allow rental the night before unless you pay for the full day. Ski locker in main hotel inadequate for gear for 2 people. Can store skis/boards and boots, but no helmets. Nowhere to sit to put on boots. Oddly, the ski locker areas in the Club and Nest were bigger and much better laid out with benches in each row.

less

“Ok experience”

We came to Lotte Arai from Sapporo and had some issues getting there. We flew into Niigata and there were not many options from that airport. We ended up taking a taxi to Niigata station and trained to Myoko and then the hotel shuttle took us to hotel. We didn’t reserve but were still able to get o… more

We came to Lotte Arai from Sapporo and had some issues getting there. We flew into Niigata and there were not many options from that airport. We ended up taking a taxi to Niigata station and trained to Myoko and then the hotel shuttle took us to hotel. We didn’t reserve but were still able to get on. Check in was ok. At first, they pulled up a completely different name/reservation even after seeing my passport. Once we sorted that out, it was fine. We stayed in Lodge building and had two rooms that did not connect but were right next to each other. They do offer family rooms but by the time i booked, they were sold out. The rooms have a less modern, more rustic feel with dark floors etc. our room had a small balcony that overlooked a small pond. The bathroom was tiled and very cold. Heat did not reach. We tried both breakfast options and they were both good. One was Japanese breakfast buffet and the other was western plus a bit of Japanese. We went really early when they opened so it was not crowded. First night, on arrival, we tried to go to the Japanese restaurant but a customer was complaining about his reservation so the host did not even acknowledge. We bought some things at the self service conbini but it was frustrating to operate. It wouldn’t scan the barcode on the curved cc lemon bottle so i ended up scanning another drink twice. We had reservations at the japanese restaurant the second night luckily and it was sets. The staff did not speak english and did not offer english menu. We ended up ordering two of each set and one of each add on. Everything was good! The second night we ate at steak restaurant and got yelled at by another patron for my loud/laughing 4 year old. I also ordered my steak medium rare and got medium well. Then got it blue and had to send it back a second time. I think if that is a frequent point of confusion then they can remedy with an order form of some sort. The mid mountain restaurant was great but the credit card payment option on the ordering kiosk was down so my cousin paid with Wechat. The onsen had steam, hot tubs and cold plunge inside and two hot tubs outside. I really liked the outdoor setup with the waterfall wall. The lighting indoor was a bit fluorescent and less calming. It was better at their spa. The 60min massage was great as was the 30min before for sauna, hot tub, and cold plunge. The cold tub is outside facing the mountain. Coin laundry is by ski lockers in lodge building. Similar to other hotel laundry setups, this had a 30min wash cycle in a washer and then a separate dryer that took more than 180min to dry. One eventually was deemed out of order. I had to take my damp clothes back up to our room and just crank up the heat. Lodge building is connected to Arai building but Village is separate even though there appears to be a walkway from Club or Nest building. We rented at Village building and it was fine. The little kids ski school drops off there and one of the coordinators told my crying 4year old that no one wants to hear that. The 9 and 10 year old met outside but the instructors seemed a bit out of it, first arriving after 10:15 start time, taking the wrong lunch order, telling me they end at 3 when they end at 4. When we ran into the group mid day, they admitted the groups were not leveled properly. Kids were pretty frustrated waiting around. we did the indoor one morning and kids had fun. There was one staff for the entire trampoline and rock climbing areas. You have to pay and it is one hour. The indoor pool is also pay

less