AYA Niseko

We won’t stay again. We are at night 6 of a 10 night stay in a two bedroom suite. The hotel is advertised as ski in/out. It is NOT! The magic carpet that ‘should’ take you to the lift is only for those taking part in lessons. Even so you are still dragging your skis and poles through a car park up a steep incline with no designated steps or rails and then up ANOTHER incline to get to the Ace Family Quad Chair. BEWARE - FALSE ADVERTISING!! I feel fooled. Yes, first world problems and I am not putting my ‘Karen’ hat on. However, when you pay such an exorbitant amount of money for the privilege of ski in/out you actually want to be able to do so. Happy to pay and choose to pay if you get what you are told you will get. Other important things to consider about this hotel that you wont know until you actually stay. - The beds are hard and inflexible. Believe every one of these reviews here that agree. The closest bed we have ever come across that should be identifying as a dining room table. That hard! Requested a mattress topper. Something was put on top of mattress but both hubby and I can still not sleep. - similarity the couch is like a rock. Even the kids can’t sit on it. A family of four who all have sore butts and not from skiing. Not ideal when you want a chill out movie night - bathroom doors don’t stay open - ensuite shower is over bath and it has a roller blind to afford privacy from the bedroom. Water goes absolutely everywhere. Slip hazards. Hygiene issues - Not one appliance has English instructions. Have since requested those - There is a rice cooker but nothing to heat milk for a coffee using the espresso machine that is supplied - The check in was extremely lack lustre given the ‘up scale’ vitriol on the website. The Guest Services agent told us that our suite was not ready. Occupancy would have been 30% if lucky! Check in is at 2pm. We were given a key after 3pm - hotel staff are naturally very young and those that do speak English are seasonal workers. They are ‘green’ and really need intensive training. Yes, very friendly but truly have no idea of what their clientele is expecting. Enough said there. - The common areas of the hotel are very hot. You expect warm but not t-shirt appropriate. - No thermostat in room. Heat level one, two or three. We are leaving the heating off! Weird. Very weird. - Onsen good but the rules state you must be naked in front of strangers. If this isn’t your style then you can hire a private onsen. Again, crazy expensive but a quarter of the size of the female or male onsen - However, the ski hire shop attached to the Aya is a breath of fresh air. They know what they are talking about. They understand your needs. Nothing is too much trouble and they are our highlight! See Sienna or Clara. Amazing! Off/Early season. 10 nights AUD$14,000 not worth this expense by any stretch of the imagination.

Had a pleasant stay during the fall season. The staff I interacted with were very helpful and informative before and during my stay. My studio room was very spacious and comfortable. Will visit again if I stop by the Niseko area in the future.

Strange arrangement with the restaurant downstairs which was not operated well. The in-house ski hire was several times Not recommended by hotel staff- we went anyways and they were great. Very strange. You had to pay extra for daily cleaning of the hotel room. downstairs often smelled like cigarette smoke due to people smoking very close to the doors. It was ok but not amazing. Also, nothing to do for kids and relatively far to walk to restaurants with children.

During non winter period, there is nothing much to do here. Very few restaurants and shops are open, and the area gets dark very early (5pm). Private onsen is quite nice though, and the rooms are very clean too.

Very professional and friendly staff. They are efficient in service whether it be cleaning the room or assisting with your enquiries. The breakfast is also very delicious.

Summary: nice furnishing and aesthetics, good onsen, great ski valet, poor soundproofing and management of unruly guests, mediocre breakfast. Stayed in late Feb till March for 6 nights. We got a room near the glass access control entry and the sound proofing was poor, could often hear guests walking and talking along the corridor. This was tolerable as it happens in the morning. However, we were unlucky to have a group of thai guests as our neighbour (they stayed in the corner premium room/suite). Despite being quite far down the corridor from our room, their nightly parties and big group gatherings involving alcohol (we saw multiple guests carrying liquor in and out of the room) caused significant noise and disturbance to our sleep. We called the front desk several times over a few nights to feedback and the staff's management of the issue was not up to expectations. They went to the room to advise the guests who didn't belong to the room to leave but ultimately did not stop their gathering as the guests chose not to heed their advice. All said, the hotel staff did put in effort (and arranged for us to stay on a different floor for one night) but did not prioritise the outcome. It was quite disappointing to know that Aya's hotel did not have a zero tolerance policy towards rowdy behavior disrespecting other guests comfort. I'm not sure if that's the japanese hospitality culture, where the rudest, most aggressive guests have the upper hand at the expense of other rule abiding guests. It's sad because Aya did well on many other aspects. Ski valet was awesome, breakfast was mediocre and they did not ensure full selection of food even before 10am which is their official last walk in time of buffet breakfast (1030am end buffet, 10am last walk in). At 945am, 30% of the dishes were out and when asked, staff simply said no more replenishment. I mean if that's your policy then don't state your last walk in at 10am.

Aya is a beautiful hotel in a great location with easy access to the slopes.|The rooms are well set out and equipped for all your needs.|The staff on the Front service desk are professional and friendly and very helpful.|The only thing we didn’t love was breakfast time. The space doesn’t seem big enough for peak times so if you can avoid the morning rush it would be a lot more pleasant. The only coffee available is from an urn and it’s watery. But the fresh cooked eggs are fabulous!|We really enjoyed our stay here.

When we first arrived we were blown away by how spacious and lovely the room was (1.5 Bedroom room). And of course the amazing location right by the base of the family lift. There were so many things to love about this place - |- the kitchen was spacious and well equipped (dishwasher included!) |- the main bed was large and comfortable (second double sofa bed available) |- ski valet was convenient|- all our package deliveries were brought straight up to our room when they arrived ||But as we got into our week-long stay here, we noticed there was some room for improvement - |- during the daily mini cleans (towels and bins), our waters were topped up, but not our coffee pods. We had to write a note to request more each time|- the restaurant was wasted potential. It is in such a great location but is always empty for lunch and dinner. There's also no room service, or any sort of food delivery available|- no drying facilities in the room ||We were picked up from the Welcome Centre by Aya. When we arrived at the hotel, check in was quick and smooth. And when we got to our room our bags were already there from the shuttle bus along with our suitcases we sent via TA-Q-BIN earlier. ||We used the private onsen and the public one during our stay. I much preferred the public one. The private was ¥3000 for 1h and they say the onsen is meant to be for 3 but can easily fit 4. The public one had a large indoor bath and 2 smaller outdoor ones, one warm and one cold. The kids loved that novelty, and also having snow fall on you in the onsen is pretty special. The temperature of the public ones were a bit cooler and more comfortable too (only tried the women's).||I found it a bit odd that at checkout I wasn't asked how our stay was, but maybe the staff weren't too into small talk. All staff were very kind and polite throughout our stay though. And they were very quick to load our bags onto the shuttle bus back to the Welcome Centre. They also waited for our Chuo bus with us and then brought our suitcases to the bus for us too.||While I enjoyed our stay, I probably wouldn't stay here again, mainly because I'd rather stay near the King Gondola. Aya does offer a shuttle service over there, but it means you won't get there when the Gondola opens. But if you're happy with the Ace Family, this place is lovely. And close to Seicomart too.