Today, I bring you my ultimate Park Hyatt Niseko review! If you don’t know by now, I’m on a mission to stay at every Park Hyatt hotel there is. Usually, I can only afford to stay one night at a Park Hyatt, but this time I had a friend with me that was willing to share the cost so I got to stay two nights for once! Also, if you read my other Niseko blog posts or been following me on Instagram, you would know that I fractured my ankle right before this trip so I definitely had a lot of extra time to spend at the hotel. So, just fair warning, this Park Hyatt Niseko review will be quite long so you might want to grab a glass of wine!
- Related Article: Top 7 Tips For Your First Time In Niseko
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Park Hyatt Niseko Review
Park Hyatt Niseko Cost
Minimum Night Requirement
For the holidays and winter ski/snowboarding months, you should know that there is a 3-night minimum stay at the Park Hyatt Niseko. Although, I think I might have found a hack for this which I’ll explain in more detail below. Shoulder months like March only require a 2-night stay. Otherwise, most of spring, summer, and autumn only require a 1-night stay.
Cancellation
Make sure you read the fine print! A lot of the cheaper advance rates are NON-REFUNDABLE. It’ll have language like “Full Prepayment At Time Of Booking/Non Refundable/No Changes.” So, make sure you are booking the right rate!
Points
The Park Hyatt Niseko is a Category 8 hotel so depending if it is non-peak/standard/peak season, it’ll be 35,000/40,000/45,000 points. If you are planning on going during the skiing/snowboarding months of January and February, you’ll most likely be coughing up the 45,000 points. The summer months is where you’ll probably see the 35,000 point redemptions. If you are planning on visiting during the summer months, I suggest you pay in cash though. I’ve seen rooms as low as $300/night and spending 35,000 points is definitely not worth it.
Cash
Most of the winter dates, you can find prices ranging anywhere from $1000-$2,000/night! The 45,000 point redemption would be a great deal, but for this trip, we decided to pay in cash because I found this INSANE deal (relatively speaking). I managed to get a 2-night stay for February in the middle of snowboarding season for 89,250 JPY/ night (~$590 USD/night) before taxes and fees. After all the taxes and fees, it ends up being around $722/night.
- Nightly Rate: 89,250 JPY (~$590 USD/night)
- Service Charge: 10% (10,710 JPY)
- Consumption Tax: 10% (8,925 JPY)
- Accommodation Tax: 2% (1,785 JPY)
- Onsen Tax: 150 JPY/night per person (600 JPY)
- Total Per Night: 109,485 JPY (~$722 USD/night)
I say this is an INSANE deal because first, I managed to bypass the 3-night requirement, and secondly, rooms during this time usually costs over $1,000+ USD. Lastly, my friend and I split the cost so the wallet didn’t hurt as much as it could have. If you’re wondering how you can grab this deal too, I’ll explain more down below!
Park Hyatt Niseko Location
The Park Hyatt Niseko is located about 2 hours from Sapporo and about 2.5-3 hours from CTS airport by car. It is located on the Hanazono side of Niseko United (the ski resort that you will most likely be riding on).
Transportation
There’s no easy route to get to the Park Hyatt Niseko by public transportation. You could take one of the many ski buses to Hirafu Village and then take a taxi to the Park Hyatt Niseko if you want. That’s what we did ultimately did on our way there since we stayed in Hirafu Village first.
But the easiest way to get to the Park Hyatt Niseko from CTS airport or Sapporo is by private shuttle. The hotel offers a shuttle once a day to and from CTS airport for 9,856 JPY ($65/USD). But if you are a Globalist, you are allowed to bring 2 adults and 2 kids for free on the shuttle. If you are reading this blog post in the future, please check their website for the latest schedule and prices.
Photo Credit: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/japan/park-hyatt-niseko-hanazono/ctsph/maps-parking-transportation
During our checkout, we didn’t utilize the shuttle back to the airpot mostly because we were going to spend a couple days in Sapporo and we wanted to leave later in the day. So, we decided to hire a private car. The company we used was Sky Express and our transfer to our Airbnb in Sapporo cost 49,000 JPY (~$325 USD). Yes, it was very expensive, but surprisingly the cheapest private car option I found.
Room
Typically, you will see the Park Hyatt Niseko offer a 1 King Bed or 2 Twins rooms, but what you might not have noticed is that the hotel has a “residence” side and from time to time offers rooms on that side. I’m not sure if the residence side is made up of condos that people have bought and then rent out, but this is ultimately what I ended up booking: 1 King Studio Residence for 89,250 JPY/night (~$590 USD/night). (FYI… The below screenshot is just an example of what it looks like when you search. The price shown is for a spring date. Not what I paid.)
Photo Credit: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/japan/park-hyatt-niseko-hanazono/ctsph
Food and Drinks
There are a lot of restaurants at the Park Hyatt Niseko, but unfortunately we did not get to try any of them because they were all BOOKED! Even though we were staying at the hotel, the hotel did not have any space for us and I was trying to book at least a month in advance. I did run into the Director of Food & Beverage and we talked about our situation and he told me that if we were to walk in a little bit later around 8:00-8:30 pm, there’s a chance that the restaurants can take us. He mentioned that all the reservations gets booked up by families and they usually eat around 6:30-7:00pm. So, hopefully this helps someone out if they really want to eat at the hotel.
If you don’t want to eat at the hotel or are in the same situation that we were in, the hotel has two convenient shuttle buses at night to take you into Hirafu Village or Kutchan for dinner. That’s what we ultimately did. Below is what the 2023 schedule looks like. For the updated schedule, please check the website here.
Photo Credit: https://www.hyatt.com/content/dam/hotel/propertysites/assets/park/ctsph/documents/en_us/home/Shuttle-Bus-Timetable-Winter-2023.pdf
Pool/Gym/Onsen
The pool and the gym were very spacious and there was never anyone really there. Unfortunately, since I had a fractured ankle, I couldn’t use the facilities. What I did use was the amazing on-site onsen that they have! You have to pay a onsen tax here so you might as well use it. Once you check in, they will give you a QR code where you can make reservations for the onsen so it doesn’t get too crowded. Each onsen slot is on the hour for 50-minute increments.
Ski In/Ski-Out
The most beneficial part of this hotel is probably the ski-in/ski-out factor. You literally walk to the back of the hotel and there’s a sloped path for your to ride down all the way to the gondola. There’s also a ski valet and ski lockers for you to store your equipment.
Service
The service at the hotel was top notch! A lot of the staff are foreign english-speaking so you’ll never have to worry about a language barrier. Everyone was very attentive and they definitely took care of me especially with my fractured ankle. For example, I really wanted to go eat the crab ramen at Hanazono EDGE (the lodge by the gondola) and there was no easy way for me to get there with my fractured ankle. The hotel was nice enough to drive me over to the lodge and pick me up at no extra charge! Keep in mind, this is a service they do NOT offer. I think they just wanted to be helpful since I couldn’t walk and we couldn’t check in yet.
Also, not sure if they did this because it was my birthday AND that I was a Globalist, but this was the best birthday treat I’ve ever gotten from a hotel! The bottle of Ruinart retails at almost $100 and the Pierre Hermé Hokkaido cheesecake was to DIE FOR. I wish I could have brought one back home with me!
Park Hyatt Niseko Globalist Benefits
Room Upgrade
Luckily, there was a suite upgrade available for the two nights I was there. Since I know it’s high season at this hotel, I didn’t hesitate one second to use my Hyatt Suite Upgrade on this room. At first, I didn’t think it would work since I booked a “1 King Studio Residence” room and not a regular hotel room, but I’m glad to report that it did in fact worked. I managed to book the lowest tiered room and got a “1 King Bed Suite.” It came with one king bed and a pull out sofa bed in the living room. It also came with two full bathrooms which is always a luxury when sharing between friends.
Photo Credit: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/japan/park-hyatt-niseko-hanazono/ctsph/rooms#rooms-KGST
Breakfast Benefit
The breakfast was AMAZING! It’s a buffet style and they have it on the hotel side or closer to the residence side inside the restaurants. I got to try both sides while I was there and both had the same type of food. The only main difference is the hotel side closes earlier than the residence side. I only know this because I was trying to have breakfast on the hotel side and they told me it was closing soon so they took me to the residence side.
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Waived Resort Fees
There are no resort fees for this property, but as mentioned before, there are a bunch of taxes and those are not waived. It begs the question if hotels are trying to skirt the waived resort fee by calling it something else instead now?
- Service Charge: 10% (although I think they might have raised this to 12% now)
- Consumption Tax: 10%
- Accommodation Tax: 2%
- Onsen Tax: 150 JPY/night per person
Bottled Water
Bottled water was provided in the room.
Priority Access to Room (aka Early Check-In)
We arrived pretty around 11:00 am which was pretty early so I wasn’t expecting to get early check-in. I was hoping that we were going to at least check-in closer to 2:00 pm, but it worked out anyways since we decided to have late lunch at the Hanazono EDGE lodge and didn’t get back until 3:00 pm. But it’s safe to say that if you’re coming in during high season, you’ll probably won’t get early check-in.
Parking
Outdoor parking is free for guests, so there’s no real Globalist benefit here. Although, their website says that there’s a fee for indoor parking so if a Globalist paid with points, I would hope you got the indoor parking for free at least. We didn’t have a car so I couldn’t find this out, but if anyone knows, message me and I’ll put it up here!
Late Check-Out
We could not get the usual 4:00 pm Globalist checkout. To be honest, it’s during the high season so I would have been surprised. Their normal checkout time is 12:00 noon which is later than most hotels and they were able to extend it to 1:00 pm. This would at least give you a half day of skiing/snowboarding before you had to check out.
Park Hyatt Niseko Hotel Hack!
Now, this doesn’t work for everyone, but if your plans are flexible and are willing to wait closer to your dates, this might work out for you. Throughout this blog post, I’ve been saying that I got to stay here during peak ski season for only two nights vs. the required three, and spent about $590/night vs. +$1,000+/night (before taxes and fees of course). Well, this this is how I did it!
Park Hyatt Niseko has a strict cancellation policy if you book one of their flexible rates during the winter months. It’s usually 90 days before your check-in date to cancel for free. So, about 3 months before my trip, I started checking the website every day for any award redemption cancellations or any cheap room availability. Around this time, people start cancelling their trips for any sorts of reasons and they have to do it fast since they will forfeit their points or money if they don’t cancel on time.
Lo and behold, a random 1 King Studio Residence popped up out of nowhere. Which is strange since this wasn’t even available during my initial research over a year ago. But not only that, but the “residence” was priced at almost half of what the “hotel” room was costing AND it let me book two nights vs. the usual required three. But the catch is now that the rate is completely non-refundable if I decide to book.
I was still on the fence about spending that much especially for a small studio room, so I check if there was a suite upgrade available and there was! The suite was costing around $2,000+/night so I know I was getting a massive deal. On top, since I was allowed to book two nights, I saved an extra night by not having to comply with the 3-night requirement. I immediately booked right away!
So, if you are in the same predicament, I would book a different hotel just in case with a more lenient cancellation fee (like 60 days or 30 days) and watch the Park Hyatt Niseko around 100 days before your trip to see if anyone cancels!
Park Hyatt Niseko Pictures
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