We stayed at white hotel grand hakuba in early March, it is really uncrowded for hakuba as location is slightly secluded which is a plus for us. However you will need a car if you want to ski and eat outside of the resort. The location is great as it is just up the hill from the ski lift. What is most memorable for us however was the service. My car’s battery went out of juice just before we went out for dinner where we had a reservation. It was snowing heavily and freezing cold, but Kuma San (thx so much!) helped me jumped start the car (which was first time for him and me, with the help of YouTube). And we made the dinner in time! Really appreciate the effort.

Positives: the staff tries their best to help solve any issues and provide information and help with equipment rentals. The restaurant is spectacular and I ate breakfast and dinner there every day of my stay. Breakfast is traditional japanese food only. Dinner was sensational, a five course meal each night. Always with a special menu. The hotel has just been renovated and everything is brand new, including the equipment available for rental. They event have ski clothing available to rent. They lit up the fireplace everyday in the living room of the hotel. Ryu, one of the staff members was super helpful. I would stay there again if I were looking for a quiet place close to a slope for beginners/intermediate.

Negatives: the hotel is 20km away from Hakuba JR train station. There are only two pick ups a day made by the hotel and public transportation is basically unavailable. The ski resort shuttles do not go to the hotel. The staff tries to help as much as possible, but we did have to take taxis a few times and taxis in Japan are very expensive. Breakfast and dinner needs to be requested a few days in advance (but they did accomodate my request the night before). Few members of the staff speak English well and that led to some confusion regarding transportation.

The spa/sauna was amazing. We booked a private spa which was well worth it. The staff were super friendly and went out of their way to help out. We did not have a car which made getting around painful as the hotel is a bit out of the way but the staff were amazing and helped with transfers etc. The hotel is right off the side of one of the ski runs at Sanosaka ski resort so you walked out of the ski locker room and 10m away you were putting your board on to go down the run, was amazing. The ski lockers were super clean and heated with lockers for each room to keep your gear in.

Public transport was difficult to get to, highly recommend having your own car if you stay at this hotel. Dinner was a bit on the pricey side but always delicious. I wish the lobby bar was open as it was never open the nights we stayed.

The room: Room size is perfect if you have all your skiing gear and clothings with you. The facilities: The private bath is a must try, you get to use the hot bath for an hour with a humble fee of 5000 yen There is ski rental service at the hotel lobby, and it is basically a ski-in-ski- out hotel. Yet, the choice is limited; you may consider renting from elsewhere if you are picky skier. But personally I m satisfied with my rental boots and skis. The restaurant: The food from the restaurant was amazing: Breakfast is not the buffet style but the presentation and the taste of the set breakfast is simply one of the best I have had from many ski resorts I have stayed with in the past. For Christmas dinner we had the Sukiyaki set for two, the taste was impeccable and the portion was very generous too. Overall it is a cozy little restaurant but a fireplace at the centre; perfect for a white Christmas setting! The staff: The staff are super helpful; although it’s a hotel but the staff serves you like you are staying in a home stay/ B&B. On the first day, we forgot our ski pass and we just realised it at the chairlift entrance. We called the staff and they offered to bring us the passes, saved us the trip of walking back to the hotel with our gears on.

The only concern with the hotel is the location. It is quite remote if you are using public transport. But the hotel does offer shuttle from Hakuba station daily. Getting to other ski sites could be troublesome if you are not driving, seems using taxis/ Uber is the only option. We drove from Nagano station, and the GPS pointed us to a wrong location. Luckily we called the staff and they were able to direct us to the hotel. Pls get a 4WR car if you go in the winter cuz the snow could be quite heavy. And take the hotel shuttle instead if you are not used to driving in the snow and through the winding country roads. For us, driving to Hakuba 47 was a 20 min drive only. So the location is not too inconvenient for us.

Very nice hotel, ski in ski out resort, you can hire all your ski gear from the hotel which is handy. The rooms are very clean and the staff are lovely. They have a private bath which you can book, which also has a sauna.

Only thing was that it is a bit of a mission to get to the hotel, it’s a bit out the way as you have to drive all the way up the mountain. It’s not in walking distance to any restaurants or shops so you’ll definitely need a car, or you can catch the shuttle bus but it only has certain times/locations throughout the day

Recently renovated - room is very spacing , shower is very good !

Staff seems not familiar with facilities One way driving route to hotel - not suggest for someone are holiday driver

The staff was very nice and helpful. They went out of their way to make sure we had what we needed. I liked being able to reserve the onsen for a private bath. The ski in ski out area is excellent as well.

The restaurant is only open for breakfast and dinner, no lunch and nothing in the hotel to buy food from. The location is beautiful but a bit remote so getting an Uber was difficult on heavy snow days. There are also no phones in the room so the only way to communicate with the staff was to go to the front desk.

The staff were very helpful during the check in process as they were willing to walk us through the process. They also hand carried our many bags to the room and explained the policies of the hotel to the max. Room was very clean and everything looked brand new, amenities were fully stocked in the room and we didn't have to grab them from the front desk. Lift tickets for Sanosaka can be purchased right at the front desk at greatly discounted rates and the small rental storeroom also was very helpful in getting basic gear for beginners and helping to skip the lines at the lifts!

The onsen was not free but that may have been due to us not checking the fine print properly. We would have liked to utilize the bath but there are many in the area so it was not such a big deal.

Lovely staff, all really friendly and helpful. Really spacious hotel so much room to relax throughout the place and an excellent private onsen facilities. Really cool location, I enjoyed the picturesque drive to and from the hotel each day. Top notch gear room to store your equipment overnight and dry etc they even seemed to have very nice rental gear if you don’t have your own. Also 24/7 free coffee pod machine to use as much as you like!

Maybe a lil more atmosphere but that really depends and relies on the current guests staying there at any time so can’t really fault the hotel for that.

Mai and Shintaro are both very warm and helpful people! Even had trouble to get to hotel because of the snow, they react quickly no matter how late that was. The leaving day, the other staffs including driver all help us to remove the snow to leave the hotel. Overall was very pleasant stay for me and my family, the ski in ski out was perfect for us as well. Thanks again!

The road to get to the hotel during snow season