Lotte Arai Resort Review: A Ski-In Hotel Stay in Niigata

Hi everyone, it’s Joe (@chiropiyo0331) here!

This time we stayed at Lotte Arai Resort, the first Japan property from the LOTTE Hotel group, which runs more than 30 hotels across 7 countries worldwide — here’s a look at what it was like.

In this article we’ll share our impressions and review of staying at Lotte Arai Resort in winter.

If you’re wondering whether to stay at Lotte Arai Resort, curious what dinner and breakfast are like, or looking for a hotel connected directly to the slopes, this article is for you, so please read all the way through.

Who is a stay at Lotte Arai Resort right for?

Niigata’s Myoko area has eight ski resorts, and every winter season from January to February it gets over 3 meters of snowfall, making it one of Japan’s snowiest regions — popular enough that visitors come from across Asia, Europe, and the Americas chasing its powder snow.

This time we chose this hotel for snowboarding at Lotte Arai Resort, and having actually stayed there, here’s who we think this hotel suits best:

Let’s go through each one.

First, anyone who wants a hotel connected directly to the slopes that’s reachable by train.

Getting to a ski resort usually means driving, but Lotte Arai Resort is accessible by train plus a free shuttle bus alone.

Second, anyone who wants to enjoy a luxurious hotel stay.

Lotte Arai Resort is a full-scale resort hotel complete with restaurants, a cafe, a spa, a pool, and a business center, letting you enjoy a luxurious time completely removed from everyday life.

And finally, anyone who wants to fully enjoy powder snow.

Lotte Arai Resort has some of the best snow quality even within Niigata’s Myoko area, which gets 6+ meters of snowfall, so whenever it snows there’s a high chance you’ll get to experience true powder snow!

We were looking for a hotel that checked every one of those boxes, which is why we decided to stay here this time.

Access to Lotte Arai Resort

Lotte Arai Resort is about a 20-minute drive from the Arai Smart IC on the Joshin-etsu Expressway, or about a 20-minute free shuttle bus ride from Joetsu-Myoko Station, and is Japan’s first resort hotel built by Korea’s Lotte Hotel brand.

The guest rooms at Lotte Arai Resort are split across four buildings — “LODGE,” “CLUB,” “NEST,” and “ARAI” — and the resort is equipped with a wide range of facilities including a hot spring, pool, spa, fitness center, and kids’ room.

The hotel also has restaurants and shops covering Japanese, Western, and Chinese cuisine, so you’ll never be stuck for food.

Lotte Arai Resort plans and pricing

With a resort hotel, the room rate is always what you’re curious about, right?

This time, on Rakuten Travel, we booked the “[1-Day Lift Ticket Included] Directly Connected to the Slopes, Zero-Minute Walk! Ski & Snowboard Plan (2 meals included) [Free for Co-sleeping Children]” plan, for two people in one room.

After applying various coupons, our room rate came to ¥56,990. This was during the February high season, on a weekend.

A 1-day lift ticket alone is ¥6,000, and breakfast plus dinner at the hotel would run close to ¥10,000, so when you factor that in, it’s actually good value.

* Prices shown are the lowest weekday rate for two guests with breakfast/dinner included, before coupons or discounts. Please check the linked page for the latest information.

Overview of Lotte Arai Resort

Now let’s take a closer look at the Lotte Arai Resort we stayed at.

This time, we took the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo Station, got off at Joetsu-Myoko Station, and rode Lotte Arai Resort’s free shuttle bus departing from the west exit of Joetsu-Myoko Station, arriving at the hotel in about 20 minutes.

The bus departs from the rotary at the west exit of Joetsu-Myoko Station, so it’s no problem even with heavy luggage.

> Tokyo → Lotte Arai Resort: Shinkansen/JR packages & tours

Check-in

There are two bus stops, at the ARAI building and the LODGE building; the bus stops at the ARAI building first.

The front desk is right in front of the bus stop, so you don’t even get snowed on — moving around is incredibly easy. It was a beautifully clear day.

Lotte Arai Resort is made up of four buildings, and this is the ARAI building.

The lettering is small, so it’s easy to miss.

Just to the left of the main entrance is the front desk, along with a luggage drop-off and cloakroom corner.

Early check-in wasn’t available, and we were told check-in starts at 3pm, so we picked up the 1-day lift ticket that came with our plan from the front desk. Since it’s an IC chip ticket, you can head straight to the lifts and gondola with it.

After skiing to our heart’s content on the slopes, we headed back to the hotel to check in.

We received a card-type room key for each guest and headed up to the 3rd floor where our room was. We were told to reserve dinner by calling from the room phone. (Why can’t you just book it at the front desk!)

Guest Room

The elevator hall on the 3rd floor of the ARAI building: an elegant, refined space built around a beige palette.

Our room was a Superior Family Twin, with one 160×200cm bed and one 120×200cm bed.

By the window there’s a sofa you could also sleep on, plus a turntable, and the far side of the room opens up into a spacious area.

This is the queen-size bed. It comes with no fewer than four pillows.

Next to the pillows there’s an outlet and a USB port on each side.

The other bed is a single with two pillows. The mattress is just right — not too hard, not too soft.

Across from the queen bed there’s a counter table with a TV on top, and a Sharp air purifier beside it.

Given the size of the room, it was a bit disappointing that the TV was fairly small.

Glasses, teacups, an electric kettle, and an ice bucket.

The ice machine is on the same floor.

Four kinds of tea bags: enmei-cha, Darjeeling, green tea, and coffee.

The lower section has a standard hotel-room-size refrigerator stocked with mineral water. (free of charge)

Don’t forget to grab it.

The closet is spacious, with three hangers per person. A robe hangs on top.

Ski and snowboard gear takes up a lot of room, so the extra space really helps.

By the foot of the bed: disposable room slippers and a bathroom scale.

A dial-type safe. Underneath it sits a laundry bag.

Bathroom, Toilet & Vanity

The bathroom has a unit bath along with a separate vanity area. The vanity space is roomy and easy to use.

Lotte Hotel uses the “Provancia” amenity line, developed specifically for the hotel, featuring organic plant extracts.

Razors and toothbrushes are available across from the front desk on the 1st floor.

The toilet is fully separate, clean, and spacious.

Lotte Arai Resort’s Lounges & Library

Lotte Arai Resort has several free lounges where you can relax.

Communication Lounge (CLUB Building, 2F)

On the 2nd floor of the CLUB building there’s a chic, stylish lounge.

If you’re staying in the CLUB or LODGE building, it’s a great spot to meet up before dinner or before heading out to the slopes.

Library (CLUB Building, 1F)

The most famous amenity in the CLUB building is the library corner.

Mostly foreign-language books, but there are a handful of Japanese titles too.

Hardly anyone uses it, so it’s also a good spot if you want somewhere quiet to rest.

Lotte Arai Resort’s Hot Spring & Pool

On the 2nd floor of the ARAI building there’s a natural hot spring, drawn from 1,750m underground, along with a pool.

You can head there straight from your room in the hotel’s guest slippers.

If you’re a hotel guest, just show your room key or tell them your room number at reception and you can use it as many times as you like, free of charge.

Even after checking out the next day, it’s still free as long as you give them your room number!!

It seems not many people use it in winter, but the indoor pool is kept at 33°C and can be enjoyed year-round.

Lotte Arai Resort’s Spa

Lotte Arai Resort has a spa facility where you can enjoy a private hot bath and sauna, plus treatments. It’s located on the 1st floor of the LODGE building.

At Spa Manna, which has won Japan’s top spa award, you can enjoy a special, top-tier spa experience: a 30-minute private hot spring sauna plus a 60-minute hot stone treatment!

We’ve written a separate article (in Japanese) about Spa Manna on our Japanese site.

Dinner at Lotte Arai Resort

For dinner at Lotte Arai Resort, you can choose from four restaurants, but since it’s reservation-based, we’d recommend booking your dinner slot as soon as you book your stay.

If you book on the day after checking in, you’ll need to call the restaurant directly from the in-room phone.

Restaurant	Location
Buffet Restaurant “The Plate”	ARAI Building, 1F
Japanese Restaurant “Asahi”	LODGE Building, 2F
Steakhouse “BECO”	CLUB Building, 1F
Korean Dining “Dak Hanmari”	ARAI Building, B1F

The most popular is the Japanese restaurant “Asahi,” so be aware that the best time slots can fill up a week in advance.

Reservation slots run in five 90-minute sessions: 17:00, 17:30, 18:45, 19:15, and 20:30. The 18:45 and 19:15 slots are the most popular.

Buffet Restaurant “The Plate”

A Western-style restaurant on the 1st floor of the ARAI building.

There’s a live cooking station run by the head chef, plus a marché corner using fresh ingredients sourced from Joetsu, Niigata.

Western-style buffet: ¥6,050 for adults, ¥3,740 for children.

There’s also an all-you-can-eat red snow crab plan, which adds ¥3,300 for adults and ¥2,200 for children.

Japanese Restaurant “Asahi”

A modern, sophisticated Japanese restaurant on the 2nd floor of the LODGE building, built around a black color scheme.

Lavish options on the menu include Wagyu cooked on a ceramic plate, domestic young chicken sukiyaki, and sablefish marinated in Niigata sake lees — all priced at ¥5,280.

You can also pay extra to swap your main dish for Wagyu fillet on a ceramic plate or Wagyu shabu-shabu.

We actually ordered the Wagyu cooked on a ceramic plate, since it’s the most popular item on the menu.

Beyond the Wagyu, there was a whole lineup of dishes that go great with rice — an assorted sashimi platter with salmon and yellowtail, tempura, fried dishes, and simmered dishes.

Rice and miso soup are free refills.

Steakhouse “BECO”

On the 1st floor of the CLUB building is BECO, a steak specialty restaurant known for deeply flavorful red meat.

Founded in 2014 in Kyobashi, Osaka by a former Japan national rugby player who put his playing-days know-how on body conditioning and health to use, becoming an evangelist for red meat — and now it has opened a location here at Lotte Arai.

The restaurant travels directly to producers all across Japan, relentlessly pursuing the healthy, tender red-meat steaks you’ll find on the menu.

Korean Dining “Dak Hanmari”

A Korean restaurant on the B1 floor of the ARAI building, named after its signature dish, dak hanmari — a hot pot made with an entire chicken.

Dak hanmari is hugely popular with women thanks to its rich collagen and vitamin content, great for your skin — we’d highly recommend it.

It’s not spicy, so even kids and anyone who doesn’t like spicy food can enjoy it.

Breakfast at Lotte Arai Resort

Breakfast, like dinner, can be taken at any of the four restaurants, but we’d recommend “The Plate,” a buffet-style restaurant serving mainly Western dishes alongside Japanese options.

It’s a buffet with over 30 Japanese and Western dishes to choose from.

You can even get gimbap, the rolled rice dish popular in Korea — an incredibly lavish way to start the morning!

Our Impressions of Staying at Lotte Arai Resort

For this trip, we stayed at Lotte Arai Resort, directly connected to the Lotte Arai Resort ski area in Myoko, Niigata!

Beyond just the guest rooms, it’s a massive, luxurious hotel complete with a hot spring and pool, lounges, karaoke rooms, a spa, and a gym — it really delivered on that resort feeling.

The rates certainly aren’t cheap, but every dish we had at the Japanese restaurant “Asahi,” and at the Western restaurant “The Plate,” was delicious and satisfying.

The food at the ski resort itself is already high quality, so we had high expectations for the hotel’s food too — and it still exceeded them!

Most of the guests were Korean, Chinese, and other Asian and Western visitors rather than Japanese, which gave it an overseas feel and made for a really fun snowboarding trip!

* Prices shown are the lowest weekday rate for two guests with breakfast/dinner included, before coupons or discounts. Please check the linked page for the latest information.

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About the author

Joe

I love hotels, hot springs, and saunas across the whole country!!
I’ve made it to 40 prefectures so far.
Around 100 hotel stays and 50+ saunas visited, and the count keeps climbing.
My hobbies are travel, golf, snowboarding, saunas, and the gym.

Getting good information is essential to living a rich life.

I’ll keep sharing useful info for wherever your next trip takes you! For work inquiries (venue PR, advertising, hotel article requests), please reach out through this blog’s contact form.
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