Hotel Sporea Yuzawa

For about 27,000 JPY a night for three people, or roughly 9,000 JPY (about 60 USD) per person, I expected much better. The hygiene and service at that price were unacceptable, and I wouldn’t stay here again. The room had visible dust and hair on the floor and in several other areas. It didn’t look properly cleaned. The bathroom was poorly maintained, and I found what appeared to be a previous guest’s underwear near the bed, along with a receipt. That was deeply uncomfortable and left me seriously concerned about housekeeping. We told the front desk about the cleanliness problems. A housekeeping staff member came in looking visibly unhappy and asked whether we wanted cleaning and which areas needed attention. It felt awkward and unprofessional. Guests shouldn’t have to point out obvious cleanliness issues. We also had to call the front desk several times, and the replies felt impatient and dismissive. The problems weren’t handled efficiently, which suggested poor coordination and management. Staff mentioned that the hotel had only recently resumed operations after a management change under new Chinese-backed ownership. With the hotel reopening under new management, I would have expected stricter operating standards and better staff training. Instead, the cleanliness, service procedures, and overall guest experience management all seemed lacking.

For the reasonable price in Yuzawa, I thought the hotel was good value. The facilities are a bit dated, but the heating worked well and kept the room warm. The staff were friendly and helpful, and the hotel is conveniently close to the station. It was my first trip to Yuzawa, and I loved the view from the window, with the whole town covered in snow. The outdoor onsen was especially beautiful.

The location is decent and the price relatively affordable, but this was the worst hotel I’ve stayed at in Japan over four consecutive ski seasons. In Nozawa Onsen, Shiga Kogen, and Niseko, I’ve stayed at places in similar periods and price ranges, and the quality was significantly better. The service felt noticeably weak, and the staff seemed very junior and inexperienced, perhaps because the hotel has only just reopened. The previous operator went bankrupt during COVID. Although the hotel has reopened under new management, there doesn’t seem to have been any meaningful renovation. The facilities are outdated, and the ski room smelled strongly and unpleasantly, almost like an abandoned building. You get one bottle of drinking water per person on check-in day, with no refills afterward. The duvets are extremely thick, with no alternative, which seriously affected sleep quality when we needed to recover after skiing. WiFi was essentially unusable, so be prepared to rely on your own mobile data.

Operations were rough: the ski lockers were closed, and takyubin wasn’t available, though there was at least a part time shuttle service. The location is okay, about a 10 minute walk from the station. The roof outdoor onsen has a nice view, but the sauna was barely warm and the onsen itself was nothing special. The rooms also seemed unchanged from the usual old Japan bubble era standard. A different hotel in the area was revamped this year, new otani -> livemax, and kept its rooms the same too, but at least improved the common area and onsen with a proper barrel sauna, lounge chairs, and a cold plunge. The WiFi was erratic and barely usable. It looks like a new hotel brand targeting asian and chinese tourists took over an old japanese hotel and rushed it out for the 2026 ski season.