Resort Inn Chitose — Hotel in Nozawaonsen

This is my third visit to Nozawa Onsen so I am pretty familiar with the town. The location was fantastic which is why I booked to accommodation. It is a 1 minute walk from the moving walkway to access the mountain for skiing / snowboarding. ||||The main section of town is also with in a minute or two walk down the hill with ample shops and restaurants.||||It is also a good value for the money given its highly valuable location.||||The property was great in a number of ways and extremely lacking in others.||||The traditional Japanese breakfast included with the room rate was excellent with lots of options and huge portions to give the energy you need to ski all day.||||The shared men's spa while dated looking was extremely functional and the shared sento bath was very hot which is what you want to sooth you sore muscles. ||||The staff was extremely kind and went out of their way to ensure a great stay. ||||On the negative side, the property is desperately in need of full and total renovation. The condition was much worse than any other hotel I have every stayed at in Japan in the 5 times I have visited the country. Besides looking dated (which to me is not that big a deal) the wall paper was literally coming off the walls with huge gashes. The carpet was really dirty and the furniture looked like it had not been changed since the 1950's.||||Our room had large dirt and water stains on the wall paper which were pretty gross. It was fine for the guys ski trip I was on but I would never take my wife there due to the lack of cleanliness. ||||The staff while very kind spoke basically no English. I know a bit of Japanese so it was fine once we arrived but trying to call on the phone to see if they offered pickup from the bus station was beyond my language skill level. I tried to communicate with the hotel twice on the phone with out much luck in getting the staff to understand the request. ||I also sent written messages via booking.com with no response. I finally had the owner of our previous lodging call and communicate in Japanese.||||Our expectation was someone would meet us with a vehicle and take us from the bus station to hotel with our heavy luggage. However, instead one of the staff just meet us there and walked us up to the lodging to...

The trick at Nozawa is to find a place which doesn’t have you climbing up to the slopes in in ski boots every day, or the reverse in the evening (sans uncomfortable footware) when hitting the town for dinner. The Resort Inn Chitose looked good from the Village map and worked out in practice.||||There is always an incline at Nozawa. The Resort Inn, Chitose sits at the top of a short rise at the end of the main drag, just up from the most photographed/famous onsen in Nozawa. Not far to walk into the Village at night, nor far to stumble home with ski-weary legs after a feed and a few. The Inn is about as close as you can get to the Yu Road moving walkway which connects with the Hikage ski area, where there is a selection of ski hire and a lift ticket office. After checking out what was on offer, we opted for the place in the basement of Mos Burger. Good gear, friendly staff and free overnight minding of the ski gear. (some are charging). That meant we had a leisurely walk to the Yu Road travellator in comfortable shoes, to pick up our skis and head off every day. Location ? Big Tick!||||The room was a spacious western/Japanese combo with large windows and a lovely view. The onsen was unusual, more like an over-sized, chrome bathtub, but it was hot and did the trick. Open only from 5pm was a little inconvenient if you like an early, pre-ski scrub and soak. The hotel has an arrangement with a sister hotel nearby for guests to use their onsen. We didn’t take advantage of that during our stay. The Missus was happy with the bath in our room and I didn’t mind the chrome onsen – never seemed to be anyone there.||||The clientele is mainly Japanese and the breakfast is excellent Japanese fare. There is a small lounge area for socialising which we used when the smokers were not around. (Get’s better every year but smoking in hotels and restaurants is still a factor in Japan). Our room had no traces of smoke.||||All things considered, we were very happy with our stay at the Resort Inn, Chitose. Big ticks for location, room size and amenity and the Japanese breakfast – smaller tick...

We stayed here 5 nights over the busy New Year period in a Western style twin room with private bathroom. ||1) Location is great! So close to the start of the Yu road to get up to the Hikage base station, and just up a small Hill from the main Street with lots of restaurants etc. ||2) Room itself is very spacious by Japanese standards. A little tatami mat area with low table and TV. The beds are firm but comfortable. The bathroom is a small capsule style toilet and shower, but good strong hot water. Very well insulated, so we normally turned the heating off. No fridge though. ||3) Excellent traditional Japanese breakfast each morning - so much effort and attention to detail! ||4) Helpful staff - one had enough English to help us book restaurants etc. Also was there all the time to show me where the washing machine was, or to let me into my room when my fiance was still on the mountain with the key. ||It is not fancy or modem or super fresh - but it is authentic and very reasonably priced compared to other inns / ryokans in Nozawa. Would...