Rusutsu Grand Cabin — Hotel in Kimobetsu

Japan is one of a very small number of countries where I consider hostel-style accommodations. The Grand Cabin Rusutsu did not disappoint. I stayed in their shared room, in the style of a simple capsule hotel, with shared bathrooms and other facilities (there are also 'private' rooms but I believe they all share the common facilities). The capsule is quite private, with your own individual blind, a light, one 110V and one USB (A) socket; see attached photo. Shared facilties are impeccably clean (no idea how they do that). ||Surprisingly, although I was in a room with 19 other people, everybody was extremely polite and considerate. Most of the time you barely heard that there were other people around. ||The staff is very nice and friendly. Shuttle goes 3 times in the morning to Rusutsu resort (8,9,10am) and back 3 times back (I always took the first one, at 4pm, not sure about the other times). The Lawson conbini 2 minutes away is super convenient for food etc. There is a restaurant on the first floor which is open to the public. This is the 'grill your own meat' style. I tried it once and it was OK.||I was the oldest guest (by quite a margin) but I did not feel out of place. Had nice conversations with some of the others, about half from Asia (various countries) and the other half Westerners (Aussies, Canadians and a single American). ||Costwise, it is an enormous bargain compared to the Resort itself. In particular of course for solo travelers. If I come back to Rusutsu I will for sure stay...

Really well organized with fantastic staff. The place is clean and the restaurant attached was great. The toilets are upstairs but there are no sinks. Sinks are in the shower room downstairs. We stayed in the 2 bedroom suite. You definitely need ear plugs as it can get a bit loud when the hostel is full. But once we had ear plugs in, we slept really well. The beds are very comfortable. The place is located very close to a Lawson and 711 in a tiny town called Kimobetsu, just 15 mins drive from Rusutsu Resort. You have to reserve the shuttle in advance and the times are limited, but with a little planning, it wasn’t a problem for us. We loved staying in a charming small town. We took the 8 AM and 4 PM shuttle almost daily and ate at the restaurant here. We visited Rusutsu for the riding, not to party or dine out extravagantly, so it worked perfectly for us. The staff are all wonderful. Kou, Ota, Katsuki, and Chiho took great care of us during our entire stay. The dry room for our gear was perfect and hot so we woke up to dry gear every morning. If they had sinks attached to the upstairs toilets, we would have given them a perfect rating! All in all, a wonderful hostel stay. We usually stay at hotels but the accommodations are ridiculously expensive at the Rusutsu resort. This was a good...

Better than a hostel, much better than a cheap motel. Grand Cabin is a great place to stay for the budget conscious when playing on the mountain at Rusutsu. A modern fit-for-purpose building, with a huge drying room in the basement. Much more affordable than other on mountain accommodation, and the fantastic young crew of staff work hard to make sure you are comfortable and drive you the 8km each day to drop you off at the resort, and are always on time to pick you up at the requested time each afternoon or evening (highly recommend the night skiing too!).||The common area is well stocked with Tea, Coffee, Sugar, Creamer and Hot Water plus a microwave for meals picked up from the nearby convenience stores (we found it worth the short walk to 7-eleven which had more variety than the closer Lawson Station).||The bathroom area is well set up and very private, with extra security for the ladies, and complimentary toothbrush/paste, hair brush, razor and vanity packs.||Our room was very quiet and comfortable, we...