Hotel Iwasuge

The friendliness of the staff, the location and the food

Nothing

The value for money was the number one benefit of staying here, for half the price of near by accomodations we had an amazing experince. Amazing food for breakfast and dinner - all traditional Japanese but very tasty, central location to access all the different ski areas easily, very friendly and attentive staff, clean and comfortable onsen area. Felt like a home away from home experience - we would definitely stay here again if returning to Shiga Kogen.

The pillows aren't traditional, even in Western bed arrangements - this made for some uncomfortable sleeps, but very minor issue.

Breakfast and dinner was very nice and always different menus each night we stayed. Nice big dry room and individual lockers. Very convenient location as one of the main gondolas for the central Shiga Kogan ski area was 30m from the hotel. Views from our room where amazing. Very comfortable beds and sitting areas. Public onsen and shower facilities were fine.

Strangely the room did not come with a shower but the there was actually a bathroom in the room but the door to the bathroom was permanently locked. We knew booking the room there was no shower but just seemed strange that they could have provided a shower but did not. Not sure if this is a maintenance issue or if they don't have the staff to clean them or what. The Sauna in the onsen was not working when we stayed. In the common area near the reception they could have easily had a bar setup there but was just wasted space and also smelt like cigarettes as there was an attached smoking room directly next to the sitting area.

The staff were very friendly and extremely helpful. The twin room we had was very large for a Japanese hotel and the onsen offered welcome relief at the end of each day skiing. The hotel is also ski in ski out and right next to the gondola station. Lastly the food was excellent.

I like everything