Panketo Lodge Hakuba — Hotel in Hakuba

Small ski lodge owned/operated by a group that owns several similar properties in town. ||The good: option to be picked up from and dropped off at the local bus station was helpful. Decent WiFi, and it was nice to stay somewhere with a “homey” feel. Some of the staff were friendly and helpful. However . . . ||The bad: Some of the staff, who seemed to all be seasonal workers, clearly hated their jobs and wanted to be anywhere but at the lodge. Breakfast was hit or miss depending on who was preparing it. We stayed here toward the end of ski season, and it appeared that the rooms were no longer being cleaned and cared for (if they ever had been). Our bathroom—which was a raised, premade stall dropped into the room—had all kinds of hair collecting in the corners and under a rug. Someone could take a shower OR run water in the sink, but not both at the same time, since the shower ran from the same spigot as the sink. The shower head was badly broken, and when we asked for it to be fixed, they said they’d received many complaints about it and they’d take a look. They may have looked at it, but never fixed anything. It was so bad that the shower water was hitting the ceiling first before falling on the person trying to shower. We almost bought them a new shower head at a ¥100 store, which is not what guests should be thinking about during a stay. It would have been nice to have some soap in the bathroom, or to be able to regulate temperature in the room without opening a window. Be aware that some rooms are extremely small, and that there is no storage area in the room whatsoever. Normally, such rooms in Japan are laid out in a functional way, but this room was not. Walls are very thin. We could clearly hear all of our neighbor’s conversations, whether we wanted to or not.||For those who want to ski, there is a drying room in the basement. Be careful, as the outdoor steps down to that area were usually coated with ice. Overall some things were OK, but we would not...

We had the best stay at Panketo Lodge thanks to our host, Mami (and all of the japow, of course).

5 minute walk to the Sakka slopes (Happo) which connects to the rest of the mountain. Wildly convenient! Mami was a great help with making sure we knew where we were going.

We stayed in a queen room which was just big enough to navigate around, and included a dresser plenty big for 5 days worth of clothes for my husband and me. The room and bathroom were tight for us since we are bigger people, but we really were only in our room for sleeping and showering.

We took our golden retriever, Hoochie, who got to meet a couple other dogs. Mami also provided dog walking when we were on the slopes (additional paid service).

Mami cooked breakfast every morning, and even prepped the night before — Mami was always doing something to make sure that guests were well taken care of! Breakfast was a combination of buffet, with pastries, toast, granola, and fruit, and a hot homemade breakfast. It was all amazing and plenty to fill us up before a long day of snowboarding! My husband and I agreed that Mami should have her own breakfast cafe with how yummy the food was!

The common areas are so cozy and a surprisingly nice way to meet other travelers. There are books, games, a fireplace, and a TV with Netflix. Mami made sure we had plenty of firewood and a burning fire at the end of a cold day!

There is a yoga studio and drying room for gear in the basement. The yoga studio is so nice for stretching, rolling out, etc. There are plenty of yoga-related things (blocks, mats, rollers, straps, etc.).

I think I covered it all but all of this to say that we had an amazing stay because of Mami’s amazing hospitality and care, as well as the convenience and comfort of the Panketo...

We found Panketo Lodge to be a comfortable base from which to experience Happo One. It is very conveniently located just a short walk from the Sakka ski lifts and gear hire stores. Our family of five and three other family groups with young children booked all rooms so we were able to enjoy the whole house as a group of close friends. We made great use of the communal area by the fire and dining area, as well as the dry room for our extensive gear. The outside area out the front of the lodge was also the perfect playground for the kids in the snow. We are grateful to the staff, particularly Jack, Rachel and Cooper, for their friendly advice and shuttle runs, as well as the cooked breakfasts. The rooms were very comfortable and views from the lodge stunning. However, the 3 stars reflects a few things that we would have liked to see improved. The biggest issues for us were the lack of access to the kitchen (at odds with what was advertised), the relative inflexibility of the shuttle bus, and the staff use of the house as their own (including bringing in outside guests for a loud, late dinner party). We were hoping to use the kitchen to prepare meals (as the staff did), but ended up pulling together microwaveable meals from the Lawson (accessed by return Panketo shuttle). As such, dinners were a real challenge for us, though we appreciated the 2 food vans selling drinks and snacks just across the road. More clearing of snow and ice from around the access areas is also needed. We had also expected an onsen onsite, which was advertised but also not available (nor was a karaoke machine). Overall, we enjoyed our stay, but our experience differed from our...