Jam Lodge Niseko — Hotel in Kutchan

I spent 1 week at Jam Lodge with my husband and our 11 month old daughter. I can't say enough great things about Kat and Kyle, who run the lodge. I truly hope that the owner of Jam Lodge appreciates what an asset these 2 are to their company. Without them, I would be hard pressed to give Jam Lodge anything above a 2 star rating. ||||The owner also should give their marketing person a raise as they did a really great job of selling Jam Lodge as something that it certainly isn't. Don't let the website fool you, this is a hostel at resort prices. I wouldn't recommend this lodge to families traveling with children. ||||Pros: THE STAFF! We found them incredibly accommodating and enjoyable to be around. Kat was in contact with me by email before we arrived and answered all of my questions. She made sure that we had a travel cot for our little one too, which was huge! ||They, along with Tiff and Reece, were able to provide us with good local beta on onsens, restaurants, and the best on-hill powder stashes. ||||The location is really convenient, if you don't mind a nice 5 minute walk into town (which we enjoyed). The room where we stayed was large, though the description and photos shown on the website depicted something with a separate living space. There is plenty of room to store your gear, too. There is a mini-refrigerator available on premise, though I might suggest including a mini-fridge in each guest's room as a nice touch. ||||Cons: The rest of the lodge feels dilapidated and is in need of a serious renovation if they are going to continue charging $220 (US) a night (for a 3 person room). The communal space downstairs amounts to just the dining area, and a bar in the basement (that smelled so terrible it was all that I could do to go downstairs, grab my skis, and come back up). A seating area with some couches might be a nice touch in the future. ||||The kitchen is only available for staff use. Be prepared for a very basic breakfast of cereal and toast each morning, unless enough people request a bigger Western style spead. For the time that we were there, the main heater was on the fritz at least one day (and the entire lodge smelled like kerosene), if not more frequently. The showering facilities smelled moldy and could use a healthy update.||||Overall, I might not have minded these accommodations as a ski bum in my early 20's (though I wouldn't have been able to afford the nightly rate). But as a family traveling together, I won't be coming back...

I spent 1 week at Jam Lodge with my husband and our 11 month old daughter. I can't say enough great things about Kat and Kyle, who run the lodge. I truly hope that the owner of Jam Lodge appreciates what an asset these 2 are to their company. Without them, I would be hard pressed to give Jam Lodge anything above a 2 star rating. ||||The owner also should give their marketing person a raise as they did a really great job of selling Jam Lodge as something that it certainly isn't. Don't let the website fool you, this is a hostel at resort prices. I wouldn't recommend this lodge to families traveling with children. ||||Pros: THE STAFF! We found them incredibly accommodating and enjoyable to be around. Kat was in contact with me by email before we arrived and answered all of my questions. She made sure that we had a travel cot for our little one too, which was huge! ||They, along with Tiff and Reece, were able to provide us with good local beta on onsens, restaurants, and the best on-hill powder stashes. ||||The location is really convenient, if you don't mind a nice 5 minute walk into town (which we enjoyed). The room where we stayed was large, though the description and photos shown on the website depicted something with a separate living space. There is plenty of room to store your gear, too. There is a mini-refrigerator available on premise, though I might suggest including a mini-fridge in each guest's room as a nice touch. ||||Cons: The rest of the lodge feels dilapidated and is in need of a serious renovation if they are going to continue charging $220 (US) a night (for a 3 person room). The communal space downstairs amounts to just the dining area, and a bar in the basement (that smelled so terrible it was all that I could do to go downstairs, grab my skis, and come back up). A seating area with some couches might be a nice touch in the future. ||||The kitchen is only available for staff use. Be prepared for a very basic breakfast of cereal and toast each morning, unless enough people request a bigger Western style spead. For the time that we were there, the main heater was on the fritz at least one day (and the entire lodge smelled like kerosene), if not more frequently. The showering facilities smelled moldy and could use a healthy update.||||Overall, I might not have minded these accommodations as a ski bum in my early 20's (though I wouldn't have been able to afford the nightly rate). But as a family traveling together, I won't be coming back...

This place could be great but unfortunately it is not, the accommodation is very basic for the price paid, it was the most expensive place we stayed in Japan. The location is beautiful in the snow, however it is a 10 minute walk from the town which in the snow at night isn’t always ideal. ||The two staff who worked in the lodge were friendly, chatty and happy to help, apart from two other staff who lived there but apparently didn’t work there. I asked the girl a question one morning and she was very rude advising me she didn’t know and told me to go find the other girl. I think she could do with a lesson in customer service, it often felt like you were living in their home! Not paying a lot of money as a customer to stay in a 'lovely lodge'. ||The breakfast is beyond awful, just cheap cereal, and cheap bread for toast, for two days we didn’t even have butter as the staff kept on forgetting to buy any. One morning whilst eating the dry toast, the staff sat down and ate bacon & eggs in front of all the guests. I wouldn’t recommend staying here for the price, we...