Setsu Niseko (雪ニセコ)

Buyer Beware!! I’ve never left a hotel review before but feel compelled to warn people that this property is not what it represents itself to be. Per their website, they boast, “After being voted the ‘World’s Best New Ski Hotel’ at the World Ski Awards last year, Setsu Niseko continues to garner accolades and recognition for excellence in 2024, concluding a remarkable second year of operations and solidifying its position as one of the top luxury hotels worldwide”. They are nowhere near being a top global luxury hotel so be careful with your expectations. I travel often for work and holiday for the past 30 years and have solid knowledge of hotel rankings. It’s a 3 star property at best, with a mid-tier food quality cafeteria for breakfast (that can have a line) that is self serve including only two self serve coffee machines for hundreds of people. I ate cold eggs every morning. Our room looked squarely at a concrete wall versus the beautiful picture in the brochure. They were completely unhelpful at the front desk about our room and offered poor service and communication. I require some special needs for a medical condition and while the other hotels we stayed at in Japan happily helped me, they told me they could not assist. The main hallway to our room was full of people in line everyday/night waiting to get into the ramen shop. I felt like I was in a nice college dormitory and believe I totally got ripped off versus expectations in marketing. If they positioned themselves as a quality 3 star, it’s a perfectly acceptable property. I just expected so much more from their marketing and was incredibly let down by our experience and terrible customer service. The other hotels in Japan we stayed at were dramatically better in every way. Beware!!!

Breakfast quandary. This is purely a mediocre review towards the breakfast buffet that serve rock hard fried eggs. Two days in a row we requested soft fried eggs. These were freshly made hard. The restaurant ignored us and the restaurants manager ignored us. They said that’s the way it is and they are not changing it. We spent $17k on accommodation here for my family. Not a good response and not great hospitality on such a basic ask.

Not Recommended! This hotel provides impolite service. The front desk staff was extremely rude, with one receptionist even rolling her eyes while speaking to customers. The service was terrible. If I had the chance again, I would not hesitate to choose another hotel and completely avoid Setsu. Niseko has many other excellent hotels to choose from. Additionally, Setsu offers no room service for food, which is especially inconvenient for guests arriving late at night. The Lawson across the street closes at 10:00 PM, making it even more unfriendly for late arrivals.

It’s a great hotel. The room we were in was expensive but it was large and fully featured. I believe it’s a studio with Tatami room. What’s the point in the Tatami room? We ended up hanging out in it a lot and just chatting or reading etc. place is centrally located, ski bus is excellent. The gym is ok. That’s where I’d say they need a consultant to come look at it. There is no press machine, no squat options. Treadmills are a few years old and the newest ones are amazing. So they seem really dated. Small changes would make large differences in the gym. The onsen is excellent. Sauna could be a smidge hotter but they have a cold plunge and both indoor and outdoor onsen. The private onsen is also a good facility. Great range of restaurants including one that is really reasonable and has excellent ramen and Karage. Also- great wee coffee shop. Very cool. Downside… probably quite a few families with young kids going completely bonkers at breakfast. The hotel seems very popular with Chinese tourists. Hence we didn’t go back to breakfast after the first day. There is a good convenience store right across the road. Nice fireplace at the entrance for a glass of wine in the quiet moments. It’s pricey but if you asked me if I’d wanna go back? Yes. That’s an easy yes.

My wife and I stayed at the Setsu Niseko in a studio room for 3 nights in January 2025 for a ski trip. After reading many reviews and now having experienced the hotel myself here are my thoughts/takeaways: - While very nice the Setsu isn’t a 5-star hotel experience. It felt more like serviced apartments associated with hotel amenities and concierge services. Don’t stay here expecting the level of service you would receive at a 5-star Japanese hotel even if the nightly price might lead you to believe the Setsu would be in this category (it’s more just ski town pricing). Examples of things it lacks: no room service, no minibar, no toiletries in the room (they are at the front desk to take as needed), no daily full room cleaning though they did take out trash/replace towels/make the bed, and no “higher” level of service where the staff seems to know your name/use it when you’re a guest. - All that being said, the facilities, amenities that are offered, and location are all excellent in my opinion. - Our studio was spacious, had great views of the Grand Hirafu slopes, had a combo washer/dryer and drying rack, as well as a reasonably well stocked kitchenette. - The on site ski shop, ski lockers, and very frequent shuttles to King/Ace Gondolas at Grand Hirafu made the ski experience excellent. While not ski-in, ski-out you could be on the slopes within 5 min. - Nice gym facilities and daily yoga classes in a studio. Also has public onsen as well as 4 private onsen available to reserve. The private onsen were great to relax with my wife after a day on the slopes. - The hotel includes many restaurants and bars. We only dined at Afuri and enjoyed it. - We had no issues with breakfast. You could choose from a Japanese and western buffet (good but not great in my opinion, ie not to the level of 5-star Tokyo property’s breakfast buffets but still a large spread and good food), Afuri for ramen or congee, or a premade takeaway breakfast. - I would highly recommend dinner reservations made well in advance while in the Niseko area. We didn’t utilize the concierge for this, but they were responsive to multiple other enquiries I had in the months leading up to our stay (they helped me book my ski rental and transportation to/from CTS). - The location of the Setsu is ideal. There is a Lawson directly across the street and it’s a short (5-10 min) walk to everything else in Hirafu. We chose this location so we could walk to restaurants/bars without having to deal with shuttle/bus schedules or finding taxis. There are other, perhaps fancier, hotel options in the Niseko United area but they seemed to be in locations where it would be much more cumbersome to leave the property for dinner/drinks at night. I think the Setsu’s location is better for those who don’t want to just dine on property every evening. Overall we really enjoyed our stay at the Setsu and I would stay here again if we return to Niseko. I think perhaps the price point gives people the impression it’s a 5-star property in the mold of the Park Hyatt, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, etc. and while very nice it’s not in the same league. But for the choices on offer in the Niseko United area we feel it’s the best.

Im glad i picked this place to stay as a first timer in Niseko. The room is spacious and has everything you need (complete kitchen utensils and washing machine). They have Rhythm store located in the hotel which make it very convenient whether you just want to do rental or taking ski/snowboarding lessons, the hotel provides ski shuttle which is running maybe every 10mins which will take you from hotel to the ski gondola/lifts. The breakfast at meli melo is my favorite and the best part is their Private onsen! Will definitely come back to this place.

Enjoyable stay so far, loved the chill vibes (in the room) despite peak season. Eats wise would suggest avoiding the sushi restaurant which is really really overpriced but everything else was fine. Highly recommend the daily onsens!

Setsu Niseko is a fantastic choice for your stay when skiing in niseko. Everything from the room, breakfast options, onsite ramen shop, lockers, transfers to and from slopes and even coffee shops was top notch. Thank you to all the staff it’s a great hotel and would recommend this place to everyone.