Hotel Zao Shiki

WARNING!!!!! There is free hotel shuttle bus to pick up customers at 10:30 am at Yamagata station West exit. Today I cannot see the hotel shuttle coming and stopping at the Yamagata Station West exit. I have booked the free shuttle three days ago. It did not turn up at 10:30 am today. We waited there for more than 20 minutes but no shuttle was coming. Taxi-drivers and another passengers there confirmed the right location we were waiting. Upon contact the hotel, they told us the shuttle had left from Yamagata station west exit. However, we did not see the shuttle did come! The hotel did not give us any appologies!!! Really really angry!!! The hotel is a liar! We waste our time and money to buy bus ticket to Zao Onsen. What a fraud hotel! Please don’t patronize this hotel! So expensive ¥62000 one night stay at this hotel! It did not worth this price with such service! Very disappointed!!!

This hotel truly exceeded all expectations! The location is perfect, with the ski lift just a 5 minute walk away. After a long, exhilarating day of snowboarding, stepping into the cozy lobby feels like a warm embrace. The hotel offers complimentary hot and cold beverages, ice lollies, along with small treats like nuts and chocolates—a thoughtful touch that makes all the difference. Our room was spacious and comfortable, easily accommodating 3 people. The tatami flooring added a traditional charm, and the ONSEN was a perfect way to unwind after a chilly day on the slopes. We stayed for 3 nights and 4 days with breakfast and dinner included. Breakfast featured a delightful mix of Japanese dishes alongside a small selection of continental options. But the true highlight was the incredible Winter Zaosan Kaisen dinner, expertly crafted by Chef Shinobu Hasebe. Every dish was beautifully presented and full of exquisite flavors, complemented by unlimited servings of fragrant Yamagata Prefecture rice and comforting soup. The hospitality at Yama no Ute was exceptional—every staff member was friendly, attentive, and made us feel truly welcome. Their dedication and warmth added to the magic of our stay. We are so grateful for this unforgettable experience and can’t wait to return!

Rooms: very spacious in Japan context. Everything is provided - clothes spray, air purifier, hangers, yukata and such. Very clean and well maintained. View from room was awesome too. Service: Room for improvement. Most staff do not speak English. Will definitely encounter language barrier if you can’t speak Japanese. Simple point and international sign language is good to use here. I wasn’t expecting to carry up all luggages by myself. I have 5 large luggage and 3 small cabin size luggage. Hotel staff expect us to carry up ourselves? This is a proper hotel isn’t it? Even at ryokan, the old uncles help us carry up the stairs - with no lift some more. This is quite ridiculous till I told them we need help - unacceptable. Check in wasn’t a good experience for us too. Wasted and waited for almost 2 hours for hotel to resolve booking issue with 3rd party booking app. Help rendered wasn’t very much useful and we have to make a call personally to the booking app for fix the issue. This system glitch could have been handled better by the hotel - given that we are tourist, we do not have landline, no one offered to help us call on behalf to the 3rd party serve provider. We have to do it by ourselves. I understand, system glitch from 3rd party cant really blame the hotel. But they could have handled it better, by providing some useful help or snacks or something tangible for us to ease our anxiousness. We are all so tired n cold from travelling. The staff was inexperienced in tackling time sensitive issues like this - very bad. The entire stay itself was not cheap at all and we received this kind of service. Very bad. Service recovery wasn’t as good as compared to sg. In Japan, we have higher expectations on service but was disappointed. Hotel: Amenities were great. Hotel lobby provides feee drinks and some snacks for all guest to use. Have laundry room, ski drying room, onsen and more.. they do have shuttle services provided from Yamagata West station to hotel. Need book at least 3-4 days in advance with the hotel. If you need food, it’s 10 mins walk away from Lawson and along that stretch, there’s some local restaurants you may try. But do note they closed early during winter. Onsen: there’s 2. One outdoor, which you need to walk out of hotel to natural onsen, smell full of sulphur. It was snowing when we soak there so was a great experience for us. And the outdoor onsen was really beautiful. Another one is indoor, within the hotel at L1. Was great too for indoor since we are too lazy to brave the cold to outdoor onsen. Not crowded, compared to the outdoor one. The indoor comes with view too. They do have an outdoor onsen within hotel but was closed during winter. If you plan to stay here, do use the amenities here as the room per night is not cheap. But suggest do check out other hotels as well before deciding. This hotel isn’t the best you can get.

I stayed this hotel for my early season skiing trip to Zao. The hotel has been refurbished constantly and the room given to me was impeccably clean and functional. The only negative I felt was that they did not accept an early check in (I arrived at 12:30 with the official check in time of 14:00). But they offered the use of "onsen" and in the end it was better than getting an early check-in. When I checked-out, they offered the service of storing my luggage (I wanted to ski after checking out and before going back to Tokyo) and the use of onsen after skiing. Thank you.

We encountered parking extortion at this hotel. My family and I parked our car near this hotel and went to the Zao Ropeway for a few hours. When we went back, our car was blocked by a bus and a burly Japanese man wearing the hotel's uniform ran over and demanded ¥5,000 parking fee upon discovering that we are not the hotel guests. He claimed that the parking space belongs to the hotel (when there's clearly no signs or indication of that). We argued against the claim and told him to call the police. Shortly after, a hotel staff ran over and tried to resolve the dispute. She asked the burly man how much we need to pay. The man said ¥5,000 so it became clear at that point that it's an extortion. Thereafter, we went to the hotel lobby to try and resolve the issue. The hotel manager went in and out of a room before claiming we need to pay ¥10,000 parking fine instead. After some back and forth, we ultimately parted with ¥5,000 to get out of trouble but it left a bad taste in our mouth. We thought better of them but maybe overtourism turned them mad.

Hotel was nice. Staff are really friendly and helpful. Foods was good. Onsen was perfect. We would come back again for sure^^.

The staff were super friendly and helpful (really can’t share the experience of other foreigners that had bad experiences). Both the outside and the inside onsen were great. The inside one has a cold plunge bath and a sauna but the outside one has sulphur waters (which gives you super soft skin). Perhaps the rooms and the hotel are slightly outdated, but it has its charm and everything is well-kept and most importantly clean. The breakfast is one of the best we had in Japan (and I have been to 20 different hotels in differents parts of this country). Amazing place if you are looking for a peaceful holiday, with lots of hiking and nature.

Not the fanciest facility, but the staff here were amazing! Everyone is so kind and accommodating. The dinner is very delicious, too. My mom and I stayed here for 4 days, and it has become one of our favorite hotels in Japan. Definitely coming back!