Okushiga Kogen Hotel — Hotel in Yamanouchi

I brought my dogs for a weekend stay during the winter. It was a very lovely stay.||We stayed at the ground floor where they allow pets and there was a special back door for the dogs to go outdoors to play in the snow. It was a fun experience for us. Our hotel bedroom was also well-prepped for the arrival of our pets. The cages next to the mattresses were spacious for our dogs and they were clean, covered with enough pee pads on every corner. There were also extra pee pads provided on the side table. The staffs also left welcome treat bags for each dog in our bedroom. There were also empty pet bowls ready for use on the side table. I really appreciate the kind gesture the hotel prepared for our stay with the dogs. ||The hotel looked like a vintage log cottage, even the heater in our room was ancient. But we still enjoyed our stay. Beds were comfortable but the pillows were really small. Bathroom was super small too but I love the shampoo, it smelled good and made my hair soft. ||Breakfast buffet was not a large spread but had both Japanese and Western food. Scramble eggs, sausages, hash browns, miso soup, curry rice etc. They also had freshly squeezed orange juice available. ||Request for late checkout will only be met when payment is made. We had to pay extra charges for every hour of time requested and did so as we wanted to ski for a longer time. ||Ski area was walking distance and there was a free shuttle bus to take us to the ski lifts. ||Staffs...

A visit in March 2024 for 10 days. There was wonderful service from the well-known Japanese hospitality. Rooms are large, comfortable, very clean and well-maintained. Lots of room amenities for guests comfort.

Delicious food from both the Japanese (Kaiseki) and French restaurants. Big breakfast spread that included Japanese sparkling wine and freshly pressed orange juice. The croissants and pain au chocolat are delish.

Quiet and peaceful environment, no brouhaha in the night. Love sitting and reading by the fireplace in the evenings. The bar by the fireplace serves a luscious hot chocolate too!

The public bath is very well-kept, spacious, and has a wide range of toiletries for guests’ use. There’s also a sauna that’s good to fit 2.

Ski-in/out, direct to 2 chairlifts. There were some days of strong winds with heavy snow, some days of low visibility and many wonderful days of clear blue skies with fresh snow! The staff said it was unusual that they had so much snow fall and that March felt like February’s weather.

The online reservation system is rigid though. To add one more day, the online booking system did the additional day by refunding the 1st booking and then a second charge was made on the new set of dates. As a result, it costed very high exchange...

While the place is ok they said they gave us an upgrade but when we got to the room it didn't look much like an upgrade. The extra star is for the front desk lady Sakurada which on check out was delightful and when I left my drink behind on the chair she rushed outside to bring it to me.

Be warned that there are no convenience stores anywhere and this place is out the back of nowhere. The restaurants are overpriced and they call Fine dining so unless you want that every night you can head to the sports bar for cheaper food but they are not open Mondays. So you are forced to make a reservation for the overpriced only 2 dining places in the hotel. No room service from what I could find either. We had the French fine dining and I asked for my steak medium and what turned up would have barely touched the pan more than 20secs each side. It was cool in the middle of the meat and I would call it raw not even rare. I'm not one to send food back as I know what chefs do when you think they are wrong so I went with it. The hotel St Bernard's were probably the highlight of the stay. We wont be booking this place again and you're better off staying...