Your Affordable Ski Lodge Accommodation in Niseko, Japan

Everything was fantastic! I had a fantastic stay at Snowgum! I stayed for 2 nights. I'm a snowboarder from Canada. I've stayed in quite a few guest houses around Hokkaido and Snowgum was great. The staff were very friendly and helpful! I had a rental car and friends staying in a cabin nearby so I didn't need a lot of extra help and the staff went out of their way to make sure I had rides to the village and transit leaving, even when I didn't ask. My bed was premarked with my name which is nice in a guest house. In some other places I've had a bit of a problem sorting that out with the roommates at 2am when I arrive from a spirited night at the bar. I ended up leaving a few of my personal items around outside of the room by accident and they were organized and returned to me without any problems, even thought it was my fault. The room, common rooms, bathroom, and showers were clean and well organized. Breakfast was great. I'd stay here again!

Many positives, but let down by customer service Recently stayed at Snowgum for 6 nights with a friend. We spent 5 nights in a 4 bed dorm, and 1 night in a twin room. I would have liked to rate it higher, but I will go into a bit of detail here. First, the positives: - the owners showed up a few days and in they were absolutely lovely - quick walk (1 minute) to the shuttle bus which takes you to the slopes. You can also walk into the village in about 15 minutes. - beds and bedding extremely comfy - other guests were pleasant and good to chat with - homey atmosphere, two lounges - clean/tidy - lodge shuttle which picks you up on arrival, has two daily early runs to the ski area for "first tracks", drop off and pick up each evening to the village at 6:30 and 10:30 pm Unfortunately, the less than stellar review was mainly brought upon by the young staff members. My friend and I are professionals and appreciate good customer service. We started off on the wrong for when my friend decided to change beds in the dorm (from one top bunk to the other) in order to avoid stepping on our roommates head (he was sleeping the wrong way around in the bed, so his head was right where the ladder was). She informed the staff the next morning that she had done this, and it caused an uproar about "the system" and how inconvenient this was...we were also told that it would be impossible to change to two bottom bunks once our roommate left because of this mysterious system. We were made to feel like we had caused a huge amount of trouble. This was brought up again a few days later which was highly unnecessary as it had already been dealt with. When my friend suggested she could just change the bed numbers around, she was told bluntly "That's not the point". A further fuss was made when we mistakenly thought check out was 11 instead of 10 am. Luckily the owner was there and was very helpful and didn't seem to think this was the catastrophe that the young staff made it out to be. We also managed to have our room empty by 10:15 am despite the error. I would suggest that the young staff require some training in customer service and how to interact with guests. We truly did not act inappropriately during our stay and sadly this did mar the experience. Also, the provided breakfast had big crunchy eggshells in the scrambled eggs. Please feel free to peruse my other reviews, I am generally very positive and honest and felt it was necessary to let people know the good and the bad about our stay.

Great Accomodation This was my first time visiting Japan and Niseko, and the facilities were great. We were in the villa for about a week with some family friends and it was a perfect set up - it even had heated carpet. The staff were also very helpful and willing to assist where ever they could which made the stay much more pleasant. The lodge is a short shuttle ride to the ski slopes so I would definitely recommend for people visiting Niseko!

Great Staff This was a great experience. We found our accommodations to be very agreeable, all while the staff was very personable and helpful. The location was good (Just a short shuttle to the ski resorts). We hope to be back soon!

Waste deep powder and friendly The folks at Snowgum ( and Ramat ) sure know how to look after their guests! My second visit and it just keeps getting better. The worlds best snow, food and service can be found at Niseko, but what good is it without friendly affordable accommodation? Staying out at Snowgum provides a great quiet base with the busyness of Hirafu just a ten minute walk away. The best of both worlds. I did find one big problem though: beware - after such a relaxing break, going back to work has never been so hard. Sue, Allan, Katie, Sarah, Will, Alex, Leanna, Mitzi and Gary all work so hard to provide their guests with the best ski holiday possible. They obviously enjoy what they do, which produces a great atmosphere for the guests. Bring on next year!

Peter S "Ski Holiday - Niseko Japan" Snowgum Lodge is a great place to be your base camp for a ski holiday in Japan. Great atmosphere, friendly staff and excellent food next door at Ramat Lodge. We would definitely come back here for our next ski holiday.

Snowgum Great accomodation. I injured myself on the second day of my trip and their staff were extremely helpful. Assisted me getting to the hospital and picking me up as well. Additionally, they were super friendly and helpful in getting groceries, showing us around the town and I will definitely be staying there again if I get another chance to go back to Niseko.

Fantastic stay - but overpriced Snowgum is like a home away from home for Australian and Western travellers in general. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful for the most part, the continental breakfast is very, very good and the first tracks bus to Hirafu Gondola and Base is great if you want to get to the slopes early and take advantage of untouched powder. However, it is quite overpriced for the size and quality of the room that you receive, and the rooms do not have their own bathrooms. However, the communal bathrooms are extremely clean and hygenic, although it was disappointing that the in-lodge Onsen looked like it hadn't been used in years. You really feel at home in a community-type atmosphere with the sister lodge Ramat Niseko next door, where we played pool, drank beer, played cards and shared travel stories with other Western travellers. Snowgum also consists of two large common rooms where you can relax of a night after a long day on the slopes. It is surprisingly not as close to the slopes and nightlife as you would expect from a lodge of this price - however, the shuttle bus (yellow dot) from Hirafu and Annupuri stops 50 metres outside the lodge and runs every 20-25 minutes.

Snowgum Lodge I've stayed at the Ramat/Snowgum lodges four times now and each time I have had a great time with friendly staff and a good atmosphere for meeting new people. We are already planning on coming back for a 5th time

Amazing - great lodge and we hope to return Stayed for 10 nights from 17 Feb 2014..... we arrived in middle of the night to find a lovely note explaining where our room was and what time breakie was in the morning. Our room was HUGE to say the least with plenty of storage space, huge comfy king bed, mini fridge, a corner room with 2 x large windows and it was spotless clean. No ensuite but with toilets just down the corridor this was not a concern at all (carpeted corridor so no cold feet in middle of the night). 2 x Shower/bathrooms on the upper level were also very very big and was no problem accessing when you needed (no line up). There are 2 x lounge rooms - both with large screen tv and dvd. Free internet was also good. The communal kitchen was large and ample to do own cooking if you wanted. Breakfast was provided each morning and consisted of cooked oats and other cereals, toast and condiments, fruit, yogurts, juice, tea/coffee and boiled eggs - you could also choose to cook your own eggs a different way. There was plenty to eat for breaky. There is ample storage and drying space for ski equipment. The lodge bus took us up for first lifts/tracks each morning or if you did not want to go to the slopes that early a Hirafu courtesy bus stopped out the front every morning about every half hour. We are a couple in our early 50's and we had no problem with other guests in respect of waking us up in the middle of the night or doors banging etc All guests were friendly nice and a mix of ages from youths to retirees. Special mention to the fantastic staff of the lodge who were always smiling and helpful - Katie, Lauren and Wazz (Warren) - thanks for making our trip a happy one. Second lastly - there are plenty of yummy restaurants within walking distance - advise you to book in advance though so you don't get disappointed and lastly the lodge does a supermarket run every few nights that you can join. I could rave on more about Snowgum Lodge - it truly is a lovely lodge with a homely welcoming feel. Glad we had the opportunity to stay there and hope we get back there again.