Pension Eastmountain Hakuba

Let me start with the good parts:  - The location is convenient, with lots of restaurants, cafes, and rental shops nearby. They also work with Hakuba Lion Adventure, so we got some great discounts for rentals.  - The room was very clean and well-equipped, they also have a dry room for snow gears.  - Breakfast was freshly made every morning, with a nice variety and really delicious food.   However, our experience was tainted by communication issues with the owner. Upon arrival, he realized we had come by car and immediately scolded us for not informing him in advance. He claimed to have messaged us about it, but we later discovered he was talking about *********** while we had booked via Trip.com. Since no parking was reserved for us, we had to use a nearby rental space for 1,000 yen per night. We accepted this, understanding that parking is limited during snow season. Until the third night, our car got stuck in the snow, so we went to ask for help. Instead of assisting us, the owner started blaming us again, saying he had already sent us a message telling us not to drive because of the heavy snow. But we were very confused because we double checked all our booking platform messages and emails there was NO such message at all. So before we checked out, we brought this up again and the owner just said, “Well, that’s not my fault, and I don't recommend booking platforms such as Agoda, Trip.com or *******". This place is quite a disappointment. The location itself is great, and the breakfasts were amazing, but the owner’s attitude completely ruined the experience. To make things even more frustrating, the owners speak Mandarin (as does one of us) and a bit of English, yet the owner insisted on speaking Japanese, fully aware that we didn’t understand it. It almost seemed like he was pretending to be Japanese. If you’re expecting authentic Japanese hospitality, this is not the place. I genuinely liked the place and even considered staying for a week to work remotely, but the owner’s behavior made that impossible. Who wants to be scolded multiple times during a vacation?

I stayed at Pension Eastmountain Hakuba in March 2023 on a ski trip. The owners are amazing and served some of the best breakfasts I had on my trip. They were incredibly accommodating and even drove me to the train station the morning I checked out. The hotel is in a great location near both Hakuba Base Camp for the free shuttles and Rainbow Rentals for all your snowboard/ski gear needs.