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Agreed veronica.

 

Add: decent drying facilities

Add: deep bath (the ones at the Thredbo Alpine Hotel are just pitiful!)

Add: decent supportive mattress that is not too hard would be nice - but good pillows/and extra pillows is a must.

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I can't stand cheap and not clean hotels/accommodation. I need a decent place and pretty much agree with you two. I'm willing to pay more to get all that lot.

 

No smoking room is another.

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Usually 3-4 star (but the ratings are Sooo subjective, and rarely the same between cities, let alone countries!) but I've been known to take a night in a traditional old ryokan for the experience (one that will likely not be repeated too often, though! wink ) I'm getting too old to survive freezing nights and "compas and map" type treks to get to the loo.

 

Bed needs to be long enough that my toes stay IN. And, in Japan, that is a major problem in any place other than the regular gaijin tourist places. (Off the beaten track and the usual beds for the vertically challenged are more common).

 

Apart from that, bed, room to stand/sit, ensuite and pleasant, helpful staff.

 

Don't really want much, do I?

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5 star is OK, but I sometimes think I'm missing out on some of the Japanese experience if I get to sleep on a western bed, and have my own bathroom.

 

Clean, with hosts that speak basic english is good enough for me.

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If it's a weekend, location, location, location. I want to be near the lifts and something to eat. If it's a week or more it would be with a group so in a house and away from the main area. For e.g., three weeks in Whistler Village will make you feel like you are in a big snowy disneyland and I didn't like that at all. There for less than a week and you don't realize.

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Somewhere with a tattoo friendly onsen, a social area to meet fellow travellers, close to a range of bars and resturants within walking distance, ensuite, a large enough area to relax without having to lay on the bed including a couple of chairs to read in or have a chat over a bevy, agree re opening windows, high quality sheets, range of pillow sizes.......OMG Im such a diva smile

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I think for me it has to be a decent bed and pillows not these dreadful skinny matresses and broken brick filled pillows that you get at all the Japanese Ryokans.

 

Having said that I like tradional style Japanese hotels a lot and have stayed at some very nice places, I just can't stand the dreadful bits of short thinly filled pieces of material that they call futons.

 

I usually bring my own feather pillows as I usually always use my car, and stack about 4 matresses on top of each other to make a bed that is then sleepable.

 

An onsen is a must too!

So is queitness and privacy, so no gaijin houses for me. Actually never stayed in one in my life.

Decent food and lots of it!

 

Other than that I'm not to fussy at all!

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Interesting thread indeed!

 

Snowdude - is that no Gaijin Houses because of the privacy and quiet factor or the onsen factor?

 

We have stayed in 4 bedroom units in Niseko, very very Gaijin. But for us the attractions were:

*Proximity to the lift.

*Enough bedrooms/beds for our 4 kids and us

*Separate room for us (upstairs while they were downstairs - even better!)

*washer and dryer and drying room - all exclusive use (ya know we filled it anyway!!) A must when travelling with a family.

 

*****Being self contained we needed to worry about kid noise less than if we were in a hotel where we would be in a separate room to them and not know if they were annoying the neigbours. It was quieter being self contained.

 

*****We travelled with friends. Each of thier families had a separate unit as well. It meant we could all get together in one for a drink, or we could retreat to our own private area and get a break from the interaction - kids can get full on when they are together for weeks on end!

 

On the downside we had to cook or go out for dinner/the pub every night/breakfast, we didn't meet too many new people through staying in the same place and having a drink at night, and we had to go out to go to Onsen or massage.

 

But I would do it again.

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Interesting thread indeed!

 

Snowdude - is that no Gaijin Houses because of the privacy and quiet factor or the onsen factor?

 

Because of the privacy and quiet factor, and basically I don't like shared accomodation, never have done!

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hmmm...

maybe I am understanding wrong but my impression of gaijin house accomodation was private accomodations with western facilities and western sense of space; rather than a shared ryokan style experience (ryokan being simialar to a lodge I would assume).

 

We like the self contained units for family travel, but have done the lodge style (and it was fun in its own way) certainly not as convenient with the kids. But as a couple we quite enjoy hotel or lodge accomodations as we can be 'self contained' in the one room - and meeting other people can be fun.

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A gaijin house to me is exactly as deeplymad said tons of gaijin, with shared kitchen, shared living room, shared bath etc, but with own room.

 

A Japanese ryokan while of course a lot do have communial toilets, and lack toilets in the rooms, rooms are private, are usually always quiet and no need to cook and fight your way to the kitchen to be first to use the facilities, and no gaijins!

 

The baths are of course comunial in the ryokans, but tend to be of the onsen style, which I am happy to use anyway, and often you can get a family bath, which is even better.

 

As for when I go skiing I have a second house only about a 20 minute drive from the nearest ski resort and with in about a 30 min drive of 3 other resorts so usually don't use a hotel, unless I want to go to a different area for skiing.

 

Then it will be a ryokan or log house with a fire place!

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