Intuition — Hotel in Kutchan

What an incredible and lovely trip and stay at Intuition Niseko! 5 stars is definitely not enough to thank and compliment them for their hospitality and customer service. Everything from pre-trip planning and itinerary booking, to check-in and check-out, were seamless and well coordinated! My wife and I, together with our big group of friends, thoroughly loved the stay and experience for our first time to Niseko!

The rooms we booked were spacious and cosy! Our 2BR room could fit 2 couples comfortably with a huge living room space to hang out after a day of activities. We also appreciated the washer/dryer that came with it, to be able to do laundry without any hassle after a day’s worth of snowboarding! The view out of the room was amazing and the place was just minutes away from the ski slopes! I appreciated that the location was slightly off the main city/road as it allowed us to rest and recover comfortably (no noise and rowdy crowd) before a new day of activities.

One of the unexpected highlights staying with Intuition was the drop-off and pick-up service! Our group didn’t get any car for this trip and was almost planning to walk our way throughout Niseko. Thankfully, Intuition had this pick-up/drop-off service that helped us navigate through the city wherever we were. We also enjoyed our conversations with different staff throughout our trip - shoutout to Simon, Gus, Guy and Honza. Customer service is always important in the world of hospitality. That said, I have to make mention of two staff - Dorothy and Jason - who went above and beyond to make sure my wife and I were safe, when my wife had suffered a bad fall on the slopes on one of the days. Dorothy was helping us to find the nearest clinic while we waited for Jason to arrive to send my wife back to the hotel, but eventually made a turn to the nearby clinic for a health checkup. Throughout this time, Jason was super attentive and made sure my wife was alright and had brought a pack of ice to nurse her wound while waiting for the doctor. We later found out he had already ended his work shift and worked overtime for us, without making mention of it at all. He made sure we are ok - both at the clinic and the supermarket lunch run - before sending us to meet with our friends. All in all, I couldn’t thank these two enough for this episode.

Last but not least, the guys in our group are especially thankful to the Intuition crew for arranging the flower bouquets at such short notice to surprise the ladies for Valentine’s Day. We also celebrated our wedding anniversaries and were gifted a bottle of Moscato from the Intuition team. What a lovely gesture!

All that said, what a way for me to experience my first trip to Japan, Niseko, and a wonderful snowboarding trip with Intuition! I’ll definitely recommend anyone - first timer or not - to stay here!!!

PS: here are some pictures taken from our room and a thank you...

Been to this property in Dec 2022, it was their opening month of the hotel and they had issues with being understaffed. So they did not provide their full service and I commented about this to James (Hotel Manager), he said he will fix it asap.

Then I went again in Feb 2023 with friends because we booked the hotel a while back, this time they actually improved their service level by miles.

Room They have one of the best room designs in Niseko. They use wood/grey/black/white/metallic material and color accent to create this modern yet warm and lofty feel for thier room design. I am just in love with the interior.

Ski Facilities Their ski locker has the easiest access, right next to the reception. They have keypad locker door locking system and helmets and boots dryer blowing wind into them after a long wet/snowy days out on the slopes.

Location It is 3 steps away from the center of Hirafu, but it is more quiet and less busy than other hotels. We can take just 3 mins walk to Family Lift to go up the slopes or 4 mins walk to Burton store/Seicomart at Hirafu intersection. Very convenient!!

Restaurant The property has only one restaurant, for morning they serve Japanese and Western breakfast. Then in evening they convert it into Niseko Naniwatei, the renown restaurant in Niseko. But we mostly eat out at other restaurants.

Service The second time we went in Feb, the service was AMAZING. We arranged with the front desk in advance to drive us to the Hirafu Gondola every morning and to restaurants in the evening. We even called them up to pick us up spontaneously from time to time when we were too lazy to walk back to the hotel. Another thing to note, they have free shuttle bus service going around Hirafu every hour, we use it a few times when there is no free van or driver available.

Staff The most awesome thing is the vibe of people working there, they are just so nice, helpful, and super friendly.

Onsen I would say they provide the best onsen water in Hirafu, it gives a natural smell. There are outdoor onsen as well as indoor for males and females in seperate rooms. It is a great feeling when you dip yourself in the outdoor onsen and the snow falls in front of you.

Cleaning The standard room cleaning for hotels in Hirafu area, is light cleaning every 2 days and deep cleaning every 4 days. This applies to Intuition as well. It will be a bit lacking for many guests staying at this hotel, they could and should improve on this to be like a normal hotel daily cleaning.

Final Thoughts Great decision that I went back a second time to Intuition. I will definitely revisit this hotel next season when I go...

It's hard for me to give this hotel 3 Stars because the front of house staff including the drivers and porters were absolutely amazing. In general the rooms are very nice with some caveats. The room we stayed in was a three bedroom and was very spacious, the living room was very comfortable and had a large dining table and kitchen if you wanted to stay in and eat, play games or work. Big windows looking to the outside to see all the amazing snow. That being said one of the first things you see in the advertisement is the bathtub in the master bedroom which seems romantic but the reality is there is a sign stating all blinds must be shut, for good reason, there are some lodges just across the way that can look directly into the bathroom so in reality the romance is gone because you can't take a soak or shower while enjoying the view. Another concern are the doors in the rooms. They are large metal, I am guessing fire doors but the only way to prop them open is with a door stopper, they are very heavy, even for me a 200 lb ski athlete and they don't stay open. Thats not where the rating comes from its more from the lack of amenities in the hotel. It has an onsen which I do appreciate very much but beyond that there is only one dining area and no lounge, bar or room service so you can't get a casual drink or snack in room or in the hotel. The location is off the main area of Hirafu not too far but enough to give you pause at the end of the day to go search out another place for a drink or snack but you have to because there are no options. All dining is by reservation only and the menu seemed limited and the restaurant just seemed average in ambiance and cuisine. The breakfast area is the same area they use for the dining and its not very big so it gets crowded in the morning and people had to wait for tables. Given it was lunar new year when we were there this year but I imagine in any high season it would be the same. So normally I would say no big deal but when you are pay the prices we are paying over $1,800 USD a night I would expect a hotel to have more offerings and amenities and at least have room service if they do not have a...