Hotel Chalet Yuzawa Ginsui

The hotel is right beside the Iwappara ski lift, which made getting onto the slopes easy. The counter staff member was welcoming and helpful, and arranged a ride to the train station on our last day. We had the Japanese dinner at the hotel for 5000jpy per person, and it was great. The rooms were old but clean. The wifi was very slow and kept cutting out. The hotel is far from the other ski resorts and the city centre, and the Yuzawa shuttle didn’t come very often. There aren’t restaurants nearby except partway up the ski slopes, so most days we got dinner and breakfast at the convenience store.

The location right next to Iwappara ski resort is great. The hotel itself is old and outdated, with too few power outlets in the rooms. The onsen was okay, but small, with few amenities. The owner was very unpleasant and rude to talk to. At the same price, there are plenty of much better options. I really wouldn’t recommend it.

The bill was what really tipped this stay into a bad experience. We had arranged by phone, with help from a Japanese friend, to pay just under ¥90,000 for three nights. At check-in we were handed a bill for ¥100,700. After translating it later, we saw ¥7,200 for 20 onsen visits. We hadn’t said we planned to use the onsen and assumed it came with the hotel; the room booklet did say it cost ¥360 each time. My husband and son went in only twice, so the charge made no sense to us, though it wasn’t the main problem. From the pickup at Echigo Yuzawa Station, the male owner or manager seemed grumpy. Neither he nor the staff spoke much English, and we know only limited Japanese, so we tried Google Translate. His tone and gestures still made it feel like he wasn’t willing to keep arrangements or explain basic things about ski gear and lift passes. He had first offered to take us to Gala Yuzawa Snow resort to rent gear, but when we said we had already rented from a local ski shop, he waved us off rudely and said something in Japanese that we took to mean we should find our own ride. The day before checkout, my husband asked for a 7:30 am station drop-off. The owner brushed him off, and our Japanese friend had to email to get the agreed time confirmed. We spent three weeks in Japan recently and mostly met kind, helpful people. I’m Australian and have visited Japan four times, but this hotel was among the worst I’ve experienced across more than 120 cities. For the whole three-night stay we tried to avoid the owner in the lobby. It also felt expensive for a two-star hotel. I consider the onsen charge dishonest and the customer service absent. Japan was otherwise wonderful, but I would never return here. Stay away, anything else is better than this hotel.

Kobayashi san, a really nice manager, picked us up in his van and brought us to this cozy hotel, just a short way from Echigo-Yuzawa station. The onsen is open 24/7. Dinner was included in our room booking, and it was a great five-course Western meal: smoked salmon, spinach soup, scallop in sauce, beef steak, then apple pie with custard.