Country Resort Niseko — Hotel in Kutchan

Spent 5 nights at the 2-bedroom Nosappu cabin with my wife and another couple. We couldn't have been happier with our stay, especially considering we booked it relatively last minute in late October (our stay was in mid-January). They moved some other reservations around for us and got us in this cabin. Given what hotels cost in Niseko, this was an absolute steal for the equivalent of $400/night. The cabin was super clean, plenty of space, has an entry way with locker/laundry room for gear. Heated stone floors in entry way made it particularly nice after a long day skiing. All of the appliances you would need and two bathrooms make it super comfortable. Laundry machine was awesome and unexpected. Overall, accommodations were fantastic. Only thing I would knock is that twice during our stay a HUGE amount of snow/ice fell off of the roof. I'm not exaggerating when I say that if one of us was under it at the time, we could have died. ||||In addition to the accommodations, the service by the staff was fantastic! Seem to be all foreign (Aussie, Canadian, American) workers in their early twenties, so they were, let's just say, a bit inexperienced, but they helped us before we arrived with ski rentals, backcountry guide, and a bunch of other recommendations for restaurants and onsens. ||||To top it all off, one of the best meals we had all trip was at the J'ai la patate restaurant that was 50 ft. from our cabin. French fixed price meal with Japanese ingredients and they catered very well to the three vegetarians in our group. It was on the pricier side but the service was excellent and food was really, really good. ||||So overall, incredible experience with MnK at the Country Resort. I think the only thing our entire group would change is more frequent shuttle service. We did not rent a car for our stay (maybe a mistake), so we relied on the shuttle, which often required us to wait 30-60 minutes. Sometimes it came quickly but something for the resort team to consider, as there were a lot of staff sitting around when we came into the office and it seemed like they could run them more frequently during certain...

Overall great accommodation. I think if you’re staying here a car is the way to go. We had one and it made coming and going very easy. Only about a 7 min drive into hirafu and convenient to get to kutchan for supermarket etc if you plan to eat in. Yes it’s a little windy and icy in some patches but driving slow wasn’t an issue for us. It’s easy to pull into the driveway of your own place and not worry about parking. We preferred staying just out of town where it was quieter. Also great view of mt Yotei.

Our lodge was clean and warm.

A few things that could be improved - decor is very underwhelming! It’s literally 6 chairs and a table, two sofas and a coffee table and two plastic cheap stools. It feels very sterile and after being out on the slopes to have a slightly more homely touch would be nice. It’s not the cheapest accommodation but the decor doesn’t reflect the pricing. Needs some improvement. They only show the premium lodges on their Google photos but some of the smaller lodges don’t look like this they are much daggier and dated.

Other thing is providing basics like salt, pepper, soy and oil. The kitchen is really well equipped in terms of utensils etc but lacking in basic touches like that which are a standard offering back home in a place with a kitchen. To have to buy those basic things for 5-7 nights is a hassle and would just end up getting left behind.

Not enough robe storage in one of the rooms. It has two single beds but only enough robe storage for one person. Winter gear is bulky and takes up room so this needs to addressed as one of the kids had to essentially still have everything in their suitcase.

Reception staff could be a bit warmer and more welcoming. We had a young English man show us around our cabin and he was friendly and lovely however reception staff are...

Unfortunately our customer service experience was very poor. We booked a specific chalet in the premium plus category because we liked the design of this house very much. We received a confirmation with an image of that specific house but when we arrived we were booked into a different chalet. Apparently the same category but a very different look. If we had known about that house we would have chosen a different category. That said we can deal with a mistake like this but the disappointing fact was the customer service. We spoke to the reservation manager, Paula, who did not make any effort to try to make us believe and only stated the fact that it is only possible to reserve categories. Nevertheless the fact we had a confirmation with an image of the house. She told us she will call us back until a specific time, never called back. So we did, and learned that she has written us an email instead of the promised call. It would have been nice if Paula would have made us feel understood and/or make a gestor of understanding: A bottle of wine, dinner voucher, or something. Instead of that we that we were made believe that we were too stupid to make a proper reservation. I would have expected a much better customer service from an institution such as the...