Hotel Villa Hakuba by HHG

Good breakfast and location!

The room toilet smelled funky and the toilet bowl wasn't a typical Japanese toilet. Also no bidet.

Where to start, the location next to Sakka beginner slope was perfect, took the hassle out of getting to Happo-one mountain. The 3 bedroom apartment was amazing with plenty of space, kitchen, fridge and 2 bathrooms. Convenient laundry available on first floor. The reception staff are exceptional and go out of their way to help you, thank you Keelie and Alannah! The Rabbit Hole was an unexpected highlight with delicious coffee, breakfast and cocktails. Also, we got a visit from snow monkeys during our week stay at Hotel Villa Hakuba! Our family of 5 with 3 young children would 100% book to stay here again.

The music from Rabbit Hole can be quite loud at night depending on the musician. Didn’t really bother us because we liked the music ;)

This place was fantastic, right on the slopes of Saks lifts at happo one. The staff are friendly and helped to arrange transfers and restaurants etc. rooms were clean and modern. Tv facilities were great.

The pillows could have been more comfy.

- The location is fantastic for skiing. Literally a 1 minute walk to the Sakka lifts/ticket office. There’s a few bars and restaurants nearby in Wadano but it is about a 30 min walk to a larger selection of bars/restaurants in Hakuba. If you’re planning on going to any of the nearby bars (including the attached Rabbit Hole) to eat, or even just for a drink, anytime after 6pm then you need to book a table. - The reception staff (mostly Aus/UK/USA) are very helpful, friendly and reactive to customer requests. They can organise a shuttle bus to get you to nearby locations and make HHG restaurant reservations for you. They we are able to provide advice on local excursions, etc. - The Rabbit Hole bar/restaurant takes up pretty much most of the second floor of the ‘hotel’ so is super convenient with a great atmosphere. The food is good, staff are great and there’s generally live music performed most nights. But there is a down side to this convenience…read on…! - The beds are big, comfortable and warm.

- This is not a 4-star hotel as advertised. Maybe the adjacent cabins are 4-star (the online pictures of them look nice!) but we stayed in a double room in the main ‘hotel’ which is more like a 2.5-star lodge/hostel; the rooms are tired and in need of updating, and there are minimal facilities. - As mentioned, the Rabbit Hole takes up most of the 2nd floor of the main building, and our room (Rm 303) was on the 3rd floor directly above the kitchen. Whilst there was no issue with noise, the kitchen’s ventilation system is non-existent so whenever the kitchen is open (pretty much all day) then the kitchen smoke/smells just emanate up into the rooms above. We reported this to the staff on our second day, but as there were no other rooms available, the best they could do was provide us with an air purifier. The fact that the air purifier was immediately offered when we reported the smell suggested that this was a known problem and the air purifier was the go-to solution to pacify complaints from guests. The air purifier didn’t help so our otherwise enjoyable stay was marred by the fact that our room, and everything in it, smelled like a commercial deep fat fryer for the entirety of our stay. - If you’re in Rm 303 and you’re over 6 feet tall, be sure to duck every time you enter/exit the room otherwise the unnecessarily low door frame will get you….and it hurts!