Rusutsu Resort Hotel was not what I expected, and was unlike any ski hotel I’d ever seen in Europe or North America. It was more of a village than a hotel, with a lot of rooms, but also several shops, bars, restaurants, amusement arcades, and other facilities such as ski waxing, a luggage forwarding service, and shuttles direct from hotel to airport. It has a great boot room and locker facilities, and is very nearly ski in/ski out (there’s a bit of a walk to the first ski lift in the morning). Its internal decoration had a large measure of flamboyance and whimsy, and the place felt wonderfully spacious. It even had an antique double-decker fairground carousel in the lobby. It reminded me a bit of Las Vegas hotels, and also of Arc 1950 in Les Arcs. I can see why it’s called a “resort hotel”. I liked it! Actually, it is fortunate that the hotel had so many entertainments and facilities, because facilities near the hotel seemed scarce. You are likely to remain in the hotel for your après ski activities. This is mostly not a problem but sometimes can be limiting, for example, the hotel seems to have only one place to get skis waxed and serviced, which was fully booked when I tried to use it. There did not seem to be any nearby ski service operations outside the hotel. I recommend you come here with your skis already serviced because you might not be able to get them done while here. Some of the hotel’s other resources seemed over-stretched. There was usually a queue for the breakfast buffet, although the staff were attentive and resourceful in managing it as best as their limited space allowed. My wait was usually no more than 15 minutes. My room was very nice; spacious, clean, comfortable, quiet, everything working. This hotel had a great idea which I recommend to other hotels. In return for vouchers, I agreed that my room need not be serviced daily. An all-win situation: it reduced costs for the hotel, reduced environmental impact, and meant I didn’t feel the need to tidy up my room every morning ready for the room service staff. I was given 2,000 Yen in vouchers for every day I volunteered to not have my room serviced, which I could use in the hotel’s shops, bars, and restaurants. Who needs their hotel room serviced every day anyway? Other hotels should copy this idea. Rusutsu (and nearby Niseko) are both great places to ski. The Rusutsu ski area is relatively small, but immensely satisfying for a few days of skiing. As a Brit who’s skied in Europe a lot, I’m also struck by how cheap it can be to ski in Japan (I thought Japanese skiing would be expensive). Slope side restaurants sell good food remarkably cheaply compared to Europe, and here’s a big thing – Japanese ski restaurants provide free, unlimited drinking water. That’s a big difference from European mountain restaurants where the only way to get water is to buy it in bottles for about 10 Euros per litre. Taking this into account, my Japanese ski lunches usually cost about half what
