Noboribetsu Grand Hotel — Hotel in Noboribetsu

Noboribetsu, Hokkaido Prefecture. Filled with the mists of the North Pacific Ocean deep in the forrest valley lies the home of the thermal volcanic “hell valley”, all-natural hot springs, lakes, and the cuddly Bear Mountain Park. This is a tourist’s escape from whatever burdens them in the city, into the natural wonderland of mountains, hot spring streams, and warm local hospitality. ||The Noboribetsu Grand Hotel was opened in 1938. What was the Noboribetsu Guest House now revolutionized and expanded into a 300 plus room hotel with a finished off with a hot spring spa. Now a popular holiday getaway for the tourists both from Japan and abroad, this hotel packs itself to the brim both during the hot summers and the freezing winters. As part of our adventures down and around Hokkaido, we experienced this hotel and here’s our honest review of the Noboribetsu Grand Hotel:||Our stay occurred from July 22nd to 23rd, this was our first night in Hokkaido after a long flight from Shanghai. A long hour drive from the highly trafficked New Chitose Airport would lead you to the Grand Hotel. Upon driving up, you would see how old the hotel is with its grey tiled walls and white drive up area. Greeting us at the hotel were the bellmen bowing as they would in the Japanese-style etiquette as you enter the lobby filled with one of Noboribetsu’s gift shop, monster figures, and marbled front desk area. None of the staff members spoke much English, so our lovely tour guide helped us in translation. Our check-in agent guided us through the specific details of the hotel facilities, breakfast facilities, and tatami installation times. ||We were given a 4-person Japanese-style “VIP” room, which consists of an at most 30 SQM space with a tatami floored living/bedroom space combination, a sitting room, a toilet room, a sink area, and a compact bathroom with separate shower & bathtub facilities. During the daytimes, living room acts a place for dining and seating with tatami chairs and a table. The TV stands at a corner. At around 7PM, the room attendants would turnover the tatami beds by moving the tables and chairs into the closet space and setting up the tatami beds. The tatami beds were rather inconvenient for us because of the size of the pillows that made of the tatami rather hard to sleep on. Don’t get us wrong, tatami beds are an efficient sleeping beds for families, but a single small sized pillow per bed makes the difference between authentic Japanese comfort and discomfort. Much of the challenge during the sleeping process was making sure your body stayed on the mattress when getting used to the firm yet small bean-filled pillow. I would recommend rooms that they provide that caters to a more westernized style with full beds. The tatami issue is a situation the hotel needs to revamp on. If they can start providing extra pillows in the closet or thicker sized pillows, it would be a great turnaround.||The Japanese Hot Spring SPA concept is quite bizarre. Unlike most Chinese, Taiwanese, or foreign hot springs, the Japanese hot spring etiquette is one that requires you to be fully nude to enjoy. I don’t object to that tradition as it is customary to Japan’s culture for thousands of years. What I don’t find customary was the fact that there were female hot spring attendants in the male spa areas, which I found much more disturbing than seeing other fellow nude men with me in the area. I feel that same-gender attendants are more appropriate for the bath houses. I wouldn’t understand the concept of it, so would the thousands of foreign tourists that come into this hotel every week. ||Breakfast likewise was somewhat of a hassle as well. For a 4-star formal hotel, the hotel has a rather tight breakfast buffet business hours from 6AM-9AM. It would be in this case less flexible given the hassle to wake up early whilst on holiday just to catch the first meal of the day. Other hotels like the one I’m staying in Hakodate stretches until 10AM, which frankly is better given the grace period we would be given. Breakfast consisted of a range of items from western options like omelettes, sausages, & bacon; to Japanese options like Hokkaido seafood, miso soup, and the all-iconic Hokkaido Milk. The maintainability of the buffet seems to be lacking, as some items like the corn chowder was described as undesirable. ||Check-out was at 10AM, which for some Japanese hotels would be customary. Other hotels would stretch to 11AM or even noon. To me it’s not efficient given the hassle of waking up earlier, getting breakfast, and leaving. Without a doubt however, this would fit the itinerary of tour groups with intensive day journeys around Hokkaido. ||Overall, the hotel has a lot to improve on given the expensive rates and the lack of substantial quality for the price we paid. For a hotel located in the prime valley area of Noboribetsu, we would have paid $360 including breakfast and access to the hot spring. That’s a rough night of sleep for $360, and it is not worth the effort to invest in. Hopefully, the hotel would be able to recover after a hard-hitting pandemic for the tourist industry in Hokkaido, and that this hotel will be back...

Noboribetsu, Hokkaido Prefecture. Filled with the mists of the North Pacific Ocean deep in the forrest valley lies the home of the thermal volcanic “hell valley”, all-natural hot springs, lakes, and the cuddly Bear Mountain Park. This is a tourist’s escape from whatever burdens them in the city, into the natural wonderland of mountains, hot spring streams, and warm local hospitality. ||The Noboribetsu Grand Hotel was opened in 1938. What was the Noboribetsu Guest House now revolutionized and expanded into a 300 plus room hotel with a finished off with a hot spring spa. Now a popular holiday getaway for the tourists both from Japan and abroad, this hotel packs itself to the brim both during the hot summers and the freezing winters. As part of our adventures down and around Hokkaido, we experienced this hotel and here’s our honest review of the Noboribetsu Grand Hotel:||Our stay occurred from July 22nd to 23rd, this was our first night in Hokkaido after a long flight from Shanghai. A long hour drive from the highly trafficked New Chitose Airport would lead you to the Grand Hotel. Upon driving up, you would see how old the hotel is with its grey tiled walls and white drive up area. Greeting us at the hotel were the bellmen bowing as they would in the Japanese-style etiquette as you enter the lobby filled with one of Noboribetsu’s gift shop, monster figures, and marbled front desk area. None of the staff members spoke much English, so our lovely tour guide helped us in translation. Our check-in agent guided us through the specific details of the hotel facilities, breakfast facilities, and tatami installation times. ||We were given a 4-person Japanese-style “VIP” room, which consists of an at most 30 SQM space with a tatami floored living/bedroom space combination, a sitting room, a toilet room, a sink area, and a compact bathroom with separate shower & bathtub facilities. During the daytimes, living room acts a place for dining and seating with tatami chairs and a table. The TV stands at a corner. At around 7PM, the room attendants would turnover the tatami beds by moving the tables and chairs into the closet space and setting up the tatami beds. The tatami beds were rather inconvenient for us because of the size of the pillows that made of the tatami rather hard to sleep on. Don’t get us wrong, tatami beds are an efficient sleeping beds for families, but a single small sized pillow per bed makes the difference between authentic Japanese comfort and discomfort. Much of the challenge during the sleeping process was making sure your body stayed on the mattress when getting used to the firm yet small bean-filled pillow. I would recommend rooms that they provide that caters to a more westernized style with full beds. The tatami issue is a situation the hotel needs to revamp on. If they can start providing extra pillows in the closet or thicker sized pillows, it would be a great turnaround.||The Japanese Hot Spring SPA concept is quite bizarre. Unlike most Chinese, Taiwanese, or foreign hot springs, the Japanese hot spring etiquette is one that requires you to be fully nude to enjoy. I don’t object to that tradition as it is customary to Japan’s culture for thousands of years. What I don’t find customary was the fact that there were female hot spring attendants in the male spa areas, which I found much more disturbing than seeing other fellow nude men with me in the area. I feel that same-gender attendants are more appropriate for the bath houses. I wouldn’t understand the concept of it, so would the thousands of foreign tourists that come into this hotel every week. ||Breakfast likewise was somewhat of a hassle as well. For a 4-star formal hotel, the hotel has a rather tight breakfast buffet business hours from 6AM-9AM. It would be in this case less flexible given the hassle to wake up early whilst on holiday just to catch the first meal of the day. Other hotels like the one I’m staying in Hakodate stretches until 10AM, which frankly is better given the grace period we would be given. Breakfast consisted of a range of items from western options like omelettes, sausages, & bacon; to Japanese options like Hokkaido seafood, miso soup, and the all-iconic Hokkaido Milk. The maintainability of the buffet seems to be lacking, as some items like the corn chowder was described as undesirable. ||Check-out was at 10AM, which for some Japanese hotels would be customary. Other hotels would stretch to 11AM or even noon. To me it’s not efficient given the hassle of waking up earlier, getting breakfast, and leaving. Without a doubt however, this would fit the itinerary of tour groups with intensive day journeys around Hokkaido. ||Overall, the hotel has a lot to improve on given the expensive rates and the lack of substantial quality for the price we paid. For a hotel located in the prime valley area of Noboribetsu, we would have paid $360 including breakfast and access to the hot spring. That’s a rough night of sleep for $360, and it is not worth the effort to invest in. Hopefully, the hotel would be able to recover after a hard-hitting pandemic for the tourist industry in Hokkaido, and that this hotel will be back...

The hotel is in a great location, just a minute’s walk from the bus station, and most restaurants are within easy walking distance. The front desk staff were friendly and helpful. The room was cozy and clean, and I really enjoyed the outdoor onsen.

However, I’ve deducted two points due to an unpleasant experience at breakfast. Upon check-in, I was told the buffet breakfast was served from 7:00 to 9:00. I assumed, as is typical in many places I’ve visited, that this meant food would stop being served at 9:00, and the latest you could enter was by 9:00. But at this hotel, it actually meant that the restaurant closes by 9:00, and all guests MUST leave by that time.

This wouldn’t have been an issue if the hotel had made this clearer upfront. Instead, around 9:10, the restaurant manager approached us with a stern expression, pointed at his watch, and harshly said, “Finished, out, now!” We were taken aback, especially since we still had food on our plates, and asked, “Now?” He repeated, “Yes! Now! Out!” and pointed us towards the exit.

I wouldn’t have been offended if this had happened in a small restaurant or from a local, considering the language barrier, but for a four-star hotel manager to speak to us in such a rude and unprofessional manner was truly disappointing. This was disrespectful by any standard.

I hope the hotel improves communication with guests and provides better professional training for their staff on how to treat foreigners with courtesy and respect. As tourists, we may not always be familiar with local customs, but as paying customers, we should at least be treated with basic respect and...