The Westin Rusutsu Resort Review: Is It Really Expensive Without Feeling Luxurious?

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

This time we stayed at The Westin Rusutsu Resort in Hokkaido, reachable by about a 120-minute bus ride from New Chitose Airport — here’s our report.

In this article we’ll share our impressions and review of staying at The Westin Rusutsu Resort.

We’ll also put to the test some online reviews claiming it’s expensive without feeling luxurious, to see whether that’s actually true.

If you’re wondering whether to stay at The Westin Rusutsu Resort, curious about those negative reviews, 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 The Westin Rusutsu Resort right for?

Hokkaido has plenty of ski resorts, but Rusutsu, spread across three mountains, is a well-known ski area with extensive tree-run terrain and a high chance of enjoying powder snow.

Rusutsu Resort, operated by Kamori Kanko, has about 830 hotel rooms, a ski area with 42km of total runs, a 72-hole golf course, and an amusement park with around 60 attractions.

We chose The Westin Rusutsu Resort this time with snowboarding in Rusutsu as our goal, and having actually stayed there, here’s who we think this hotel suits best:

Let’s go through each one.

First, anyone who is a Marriott Bonvoy member.

The Westin Rusutsu Resort is a brand hotel operated by Marriott International. As a Marriott Bonvoy member you’ll earn points, and if you’re Gold Elite or above, you’ll also get great perks like late checkout and more.

Second, anyone who wants a hotel that’s easy to access from the slopes.

Just take the Tower Pair Lift right in front of The Westin Rusutsu Resort and you’re immediately at the base of East Mt., making ski-in, ski-out effortless.

And finally, anyone who wants a luxurious hotel stay.

Being part of the Marriott family, room rates run especially high in winter, but every room is a luxurious 70㎡ or larger, and the hotel is packed with restaurants, a hot spring, a gym, and a ski equipment shop — ideal if you want to enjoy a luxurious stay.

As a Marriott member, we decided to stay at this hotel this time because we wanted to head straight back to the hotel after snowboarding, soak our tired bodies in the hot spring, and then relax over a meal at one of the hotel restaurants.

Access to The Westin Rusutsu Resort

The Westin Rusutsu Resort is about a 90-minute drive or 120-minute bus ride from New Chitose Airport, and is a ski-in, ski-out resort hotel operated by Marriott International in Rusutsu Village, Hokkaido.

Every room is a two-story maisonette type, featuring large windows overlooking the natural scenery. You can relax in a spacious living area of 76㎡ or more.

A newly opened open-air bath where you can soak while gazing at a sky full of stars has also opened on the 2nd floor, and the hotel is packed with things to enjoy from morning to night.

The hotel has restaurants covering Japanese, Western, and Chinese cuisine — resort pricing aside, you’ll never be stuck for food.

The Westin Rusutsu Resort plans and pricing

A brand hotel run by Marriott International! The room rate is always what you’re curious about.

This time, we booked through Rakuten Travel under the plan name “Breakfast Included, All Rooms Spacious Two-Story Maisonette Type.”

Our room rate, for a 3-day/2-night stay with breakfast for two adults in one room, came to ¥173,691, or ¥43,423 per person per night.
That’s quite the price tag — a true testament to the Marriott name. This was over three days (Friday to Sunday) in February.

Overview of The Westin Rusutsu Resort

Now let’s take a closer look at The Westin Rusutsu Resort we stayed at this time.

We rode the Hokkaido Access Network bus, which we’d booked in advance through Rakuten Travel, and arrived at the Westin in about 2 hours!

It wasn’t snowing that day, and it was sunny!

Check-in

Walk through the entrance and you’re greeted by lit-up landscaping and a monument of two deer.

The lobby is a spacious, glass-walled atrium that feels great to be in.

(The glass looks dark in the background because this was shot at night.)

When it opened in 2016 there was apparently only one deer, which gave birth that same year.

The front desk is to the left.

The front desk area is spacious, and the corridor visible behind it leads to the guest room wing.

We were walked through the restaurants and hot springs on-site, and how to get to the Rusutsu Resort Hotel via the monorail, and check-in was complete.

Just ask staff and they’ll carry your bags to your room.

Gold Elite members get 15% off restaurants, free late checkout until as late as 2pm depending on availability, room upgrades including Deluxe rooms, and free hot spring access after checkout (normally ¥1,300) among other great perks.

We received our room key, which doubles as a spa access card key, and headed to our room.

Along the way to the elevator hall leading to the guest rooms, there are several shops, mostly outdoor brands like The North Face.

Guest Room

We took the elevator up to our room. Wait, there’s a gap between certain floors?!

We’d find out the answer once we got to the room.

The guest room hallway has a bright, clean feel built around white tones.

Our room for the night was Room 709. Click… here we go.

A staircase suddenly appears inside the room — we couldn’t help but let out an “oh wow!”

Ah, so this is the maisonette type.

The lower floor has the living area and water facilities. Upstairs, on the left, is the bedroom.

First, let’s head downstairs and look around.

The living room is quite spacious, with a generous floor plan.

And what’s this suspicious-looking door in the back?

It turns out there are two fold-away beds, so the room can actually sleep up to four people.

Handy for a longer stay!

Next to the large sofa is a mini kitchen with a counter and sink.

The tap water is natural spring water from the foot of Mt. Yotei.

The mini kitchen can also be used like a bar counter.

It has good depth and is just comfortable to use.

Above the counter is a mini bar, with AHMAD TEA for the tea selection.

Just pop in a capsule and you can enjoy real coffee.

Open the drawer and you’ll find mugs and glasses.

There’s no tableware or cookware, so cooking isn’t an option. The ice bucket is in the lower drawer.

Below the mini bar is a fridge that’s already ice-cold from the start.

The bedroom is upstairs.

This happened to be a birthday trip for us, so we got a birthday surprise.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY” was spelled out on top of the comforter!

The other bed was decorated with balloons too.

The bedroom also has its own closet, stocked with room slippers, loungewear, and a safe.

Beside the bed there’s one USB port and one outlet.

Further back in the bedroom are a sofa, a humidifier, and a TV.

Bathroom, Toilet & Vanity

The vanity is a separate, stand-alone unit, though it’s a bit tight given the size of the room. A hair dryer is provided.

The amenity case includes a toothbrush, hair tie, razor, comb, cotton swabs, cotton pads, and a shower cap.

The bath is a standard unit bath.

Rusutsu Resort has two hot springs (The Westin Rusutsu Onsen and Rusutsu Resort Hotel’s Kotobuki no Yu), so there’s really no need to use the in-room bath.

The toilet has a washlet. It’s also a fully separate room, which makes it easy to use.

The Westin Rusutsu Resort’s Hot Spring

“Kotobuki no Yu,” a hot spring facility newly opened on July 1, 2019, located on the 6th floor of the North Wing.

The open-air baths — 20m for men, 20m for women — let you sit in a chair or lie back and soak while taking in Rusutsu’s starry sky.

The windows are floor-to-ceiling glass, so you can enjoy the view from the indoor bath too.

Free for hotel guests. Day-use bathing is ¥1,300 for adults.

The men’s sauna is a two-tier dry sauna that fits about 8 people, with a TV. It runs at around 95°C and is nice and dry. After the sauna, there’s an almost unbelievable outdoor cool-down at around -15°C.

The women’s sauna is mist-only, with no TV, at around 40°C.

Dinner at The Westin Rusutsu Resort (Japanese Restaurant Fuka)

For dinner on our first night we visited Fuka, a Japanese restaurant serving kaiseki cuisine and teppanyaki.

Plenty of seafood from Hokkaido’s waters — salmon, octopus, spot prawn, tuna, and more. Beautifully plated.

Simmered Rusutsu highland pork belly. Perfectly seasoned!

Grilled atka mackerel, cooked together with shishito peppers.

We finished with a rice porridge (zosui).

Dinner at The Westin Rusutsu Resort (Chinese Restaurant Kanten)

Lightly salt-stir-fried bok choy.

A classic Chinese-style five-ingredient fried rice.

A special sweet-and-sour pork made with Rusutsu highland pork belly.

Sichuan-style mapo tofu.

Breakfast at The Westin Rusutsu Resort

Breakfast buffet in the 1F atrium, right in front of the front desk.

The morning light pouring through the atrium’s open ceiling makes for a bright, perfect wake-up. Good morning!

Topping your rice with salmon roe (sujiko) is incredibly tasty!

Drinks include the usual coffee and tea, plus fresh juice and smoothies.

The Westin Rusutsu Resort’s Cafe

The same atrium used for breakfast also serves as a cafe and light-meal spot during the day.
The beef burger is ¥2,500. The meat is juicy and packed with flavor — delicious!

After 3pm, the lunch menu disappears and only burgers and curry are served.

After Staying at The Westin Rusutsu Resort

For this trip, we stayed at the Westin as our base for a snowboarding getaway in Rusutsu!

Depending on availability, we were able to use the room before the official check-in time, so we could change and get settled at a relaxed pace.

Every room being a maisonette type made it feel just like relaxing at home after a day on the slopes. On the other hand, having to go up and down the stairs to use the bathroom at night was a bit of a hassle. (laughs)

You can choose from several restaurants for meals, so there’s something for every taste, and the sophisticated atmosphere left us very satisfied. The Westin really delivers.

Access to Rusutsu Resort Hotel is via a monorail that runs every 10 minutes, but waiting around in the cold of winter is tough, so a slightly shorter interval would be welcome.

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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.

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