Sansui Niseko — Hotel in Kutchan

I selected this hotel as it was a smaller “luxury” option in Niseko compared to the Park Hyatt, etc in the area as it was ski in ski out with a rental shop on site as well. ||The rental shop staff is very nice and helpful but the spacing is limited and with a lot of families and children it can be challenging down there to get organized. To note, the hotel is on the family hill so you need to ski down the family hill to the chair lift to the gondola to get to more tough terrain. I was surprised the hotel had such limited skis available to choose from, essentially one option was presented.||The communication from the hotel was not great. I thought I was booking transportation through the hotel from the airport but it was a totally separate company. I expected to have water in the car after the long flight available with the long drive ahead but there was no water. We booked several restaurant reservations in the other areas outside of Hirafu where the hotel recommended prearranging their shuttle. We thought this was due to the distance of these restaurants and were surprised when we were at the hotel to be told there was no shuttle available to take us to Niseko village one night, a short drive away. Luckily the manager was very kind and gave us a ride after we were told by the staff they would not give us a ride. You cannot easily get a taxi in this area and with 95% of the restaurants requiring reservations we couldn’t just go walk and easily grab food in the nearby town. When we arrived from the airport we had dinner to pick up from the town and were told there was no shuttle to take us after the long journey. The vibe was very “well you are out of luck and there’s nothing we can or will do”. This attitude provided a really bad start to our stay. We had prearranged the shuttle for dinner one night both ways but there was a lot of confusion around the pick up timing and the hotel will not pick us up after 9pm…with omakase style dinners we were not able to control the pace and we thought it was strange to tell us we had a shuttle back but that we had to be picked up 30 minutes before the meal was over. Instead they sent a taxi for us to pay for instead of their complimentary shuttle, this restaurant was about ten minutes away from the hotel. ||I booked a studio room and requested the layout with the table or the seating area, this was not accommodated, even with a booking 8 months in advance. We were put in the smallest studio for a five night stay. If I were to stay again I would not select this room type. We had to eat dinner on the floor the first night as we had prearranged a seafood take out, expecting to have either a table or small seating area. We were fortunate to have decided to not to book a private chef for a very expensive price as this would not have been possible in this room. For two adults you are provided only two shower towels. The lighting in the bathroom is very dark and there is no vanity mirror provided. The beds and pillows are comfortable and they did provide me a firm pillow which I requested ahead of time. There are only two small drawers and a small hanging closet area. With all of the extra ski items it was impossible to keep the space organized. The view of the volcano from the room is nice. I looked at our neighboring one bedroom layout option and was shocked that it was nearly 3-4x the size of the studio, it is definitely worth the extra cost if you stay here as the price is not 3-4x higher. The studio would be OK for a couple of nights but five nights in such a small space for that price felt like being ripped off, especially being given the smallest option when all layouts are the same price. ||We had an excellent spa experience which the staff was able to accommodate very quickly. The private onset is nice, you can book this once complimentary. My husband went to the public option once and said it was very nice. ||As another reviewer mentioned the breakfast needs work. Quality is not great and there is little variety each day. We did not dine for dinner due to the breakfast experience however sushi shin in the hotel was fantastic but this chef nor food is directly associated with the hotel offerings. I had to purchase almond milk myself for my morning coffee from the hotel store which I thought was very odd, as they do not offer any nondairy milks. You would think with the price they would just offer a guest almond milk. I did appreciate that they are not stingy with the bottled water. ||Overall a hotel of this price needs to improve certain areas of service, communication and the breakfast experience. I would consider booking a one bedroom suite knowing the areas that still need improvement for our next visit, but I also may consider a different option due to the mismatched pricing vs experience. ||Thank you again to the incredibly kind manager who tried to rectify some of these issues. The young driver we had a couple of times for the shuttle was also incredibly kind. I found the rest of the staff to be quite...

I selected this hotel as it was a smaller “luxury” option in Niseko compared to the Park Hyatt, etc in the area as it was ski in ski out with a rental shop on site as well. ||The rental shop staff is very nice and helpful but the spacing is limited and with a lot of families and children it can be challenging down there to get organized. To note, the hotel is on the family hill so you need to ski down the family hill to the chair lift to the gondola to get to more tough terrain. I was surprised the hotel had such limited skis available to choose from, essentially one option was presented.||The communication from the hotel was not great. I thought I was booking transportation through the hotel from the airport but it was a totally separate company. I expected to have water in the car after the long flight available with the long drive ahead but there was no water. We booked several restaurant reservations in the other areas outside of Hirafu where the hotel recommended prearranging their shuttle. We thought this was due to the distance of these restaurants and were surprised when we were at the hotel to be told there was no shuttle available to take us to Niseko village one night, a short drive away. Luckily the manager was very kind and gave us a ride after we were told by the staff they would not give us a ride. You cannot easily get a taxi in this area and with 95% of the restaurants requiring reservations we couldn’t just go walk and easily grab food in the nearby town. When we arrived from the airport we had dinner to pick up from the town and were told there was no shuttle to take us after the long journey. The vibe was very “well you are out of luck and there’s nothing we can or will do”. This attitude provided a really bad start to our stay. We had prearranged the shuttle for dinner one night both ways but there was a lot of confusion around the pick up timing and the hotel will not pick us up after 9pm…with omakase style dinners we were not able to control the pace and we thought it was strange to tell us we had a shuttle back but that we had to be picked up 30 minutes before the meal was over. Instead they sent a taxi for us to pay for instead of their complimentary shuttle, this restaurant was about ten minutes away from the hotel. ||I booked a studio room and requested the layout with the table or the seating area, this was not accommodated, even with a booking 8 months in advance. We were put in the smallest studio for a five night stay. If I were to stay again I would not select this room type. We had to eat dinner on the floor the first night as we had prearranged a seafood take out, expecting to have either a table or small seating area. We were fortunate to have decided to not to book a private chef for a very expensive price as this would not have been possible in this room. For two adults you are provided only two shower towels. The lighting in the bathroom is very dark and there is no vanity mirror provided. The beds and pillows are comfortable and they did provide me a firm pillow which I requested ahead of time. There are only two small drawers and a small hanging closet area. With all of the extra ski items it was impossible to keep the space organized. The view of the volcano from the room is nice. I looked at our neighboring one bedroom layout option and was shocked that it was nearly 3-4x the size of the studio, it is definitely worth the extra cost if you stay here as the price is not 3-4x higher. The studio would be OK for a couple of nights but five nights in such a small space for that price felt like being ripped off, especially being given the smallest option when all layouts are the same price. ||We had an excellent spa experience which the staff was able to accommodate very quickly. The private onset is nice, you can book this once complimentary. My husband went to the public option once and said it was very nice. ||As another reviewer mentioned the breakfast needs work. Quality is not great and there is little variety each day. We did not dine for dinner due to the breakfast experience however sushi shin in the hotel was fantastic but this chef nor food is directly associated with the hotel offerings. I had to purchase almond milk myself for my morning coffee from the hotel store which I thought was very odd, as they do not offer any nondairy milks. You would think with the price they would just offer a guest almond milk. I did appreciate that they are not stingy with the bottled water. ||Overall a hotel of this price needs to improve certain areas of service, communication and the breakfast experience. I would consider booking a one bedroom suite knowing the areas that still need improvement for our next visit, but I also may consider a different option due to the mismatched pricing vs experience. ||Thank you again to the incredibly kind manager who tried to rectify some of these issues. The young driver we had a couple of times for the shuttle was also incredibly kind. I found the rest of the staff to be quite...

To the Management of Sansui Hotel Niseko,

I am writing to express my profound disappointment with my recent stay at your property and to formally request compensation for multiple service failures that significantly impacted my experience.

First, I must address the fundamental misrepresentation of your property's positioning. While marketed and priced as a 5-star establishment, the actual experience falls drastically short of this standard in several critical areas:

Room Location and Noise Issues My room was placed on the first floor directly facing the street, compromising privacy and comfort Daily disturbances began at 6:45 AM with aggressive snow shoveling Constant elevator bell noise penetrated the walls throughout my stay Despite multiple complaints about these noise issues, no action was taken to address them or offer alternative accommodations

Inadequate Facilities The absence of a proper serviced lounge, replaced instead by a basic kiosk shop Spa facilities that fall well below the standard expected of a luxury mountain resort A dining room that lacks the refinement and atmosphere expected of a premium hotel

Substandard Dining Experience Limited breakfast selection with inadequate portions Presentation and variety more aligned with budget accommodations Overall atmosphere more reminiscent of a casual dining hall than a luxury hotel restaurant

Discriminatory Service I was particularly disturbed by the staff's comment upon departure that the hotel "caters to Asian clients." This type of discriminatory statement is unacceptable in any hospitality establishment and raises serious concerns about your commitment to international service standards.

Inadequate Response to Complaints Your staff's dismissive and rude response to my concerns during my stay demonstrated a troubling lack of professional customer service training and commitment to guest satisfaction.

Given these serious shortcomings and the significant disparity between your marketed promise and the actual experience, I am requesting:

A partial refund of my stay to reflect the substantial gap between the promised and delivered service level A formal explanation of your hotel's policy regarding cultural discrimination Confirmation of specific steps being taken to address the noise issues that impact guest comfort

I expect a response within 5 business days addressing these concerns. If I do not receive a satisfactory response, I will be forced to escalate this matter through appropriate channels and share my experience through relevant...