craigthemif

For 2020 the Park Hyatt should be open, and for now no Hyatt-branded hotels can go higher than Cat 7. (so PH would be the obvious choice subject to availability)

antonius66

I wouldn't say "can't". They just said they don't plan on it for now, which means until they do. Zero chance they leave a Hyatt House as a 7 and don't make the PH an 8.

Duke787

Bookable on Hyatt.com:

mnredfox

Duke787

Anyone stay here yet? I think we may target Jan 2020 and availability looks decent -- especially since I know the Hilton is a non-starter (points stays will never see the light of day in the winter there).

Guess we could always snag this and then switch the the PH if it opens and isn't outrageously more expensive on points

ghzhammer

I stayed here a few weeks ago overall great property but its still getting things up and running. I was upgraded to the two bedroom penthouse suite and enjoyed it greatly outside the smelly bath tho its indoor and outdoor. Breakfast is ok nothing too amazing but locations is great, street food near by at night and I stopped at Costco to get a bunch of a4 beef to cook so the kitchen was handy. A ski shop is located inside the hotel and shuttles ran often. Oh one last note niseko seems like the place to go for Australians as it was full of them

SNA_Flyer

Hilton finally opened some dates for points this winter season. Took them forever to do so and thus can not be relied upon for planning purposes. I'm going next month. I do miss the days of 30k/night stays there. Still valuable at 60k with the current rates though.

Duke787

All good to hear -- I hadn't even considered the "House" part coming with the kitchen (duh) which is attractive even if Costco wouldn't be realistic for us we can presumably swing by somewhere in Niseko.

Not surprised on the Australians -- was turned onto Niseko for our first trip by some Australian friends of mine -- was talking to them about wanting to go skiing in New Zealand and they said don't bother and pointed me to Japan/Niseko instead and I stumbled upon the Hilton and made it work with my then business school spring break for some spring skiing.

Me too -- there's part of me tempted to wait until March and go spring skiing and hold out for the Hilton but with our work schedules doing the late December / early January thing is the easiest option especially heading all the way to Japan from the East Coast

RichardInSF

Does anyone know if the bedrooms in the multi-bedroom suites each have their own complete bathroom?

Also, is there any reason to visit this area in summer as part of a Hokkaido tour?

Aventine

If you like hiking, mountains and nature?

mnredfox

Duke787

Was just looking at my bill from 2015 -- paid 48k points + 24k JPY for a 4 night early March stay -- quite a sea change.

Duke787

Was going to make a booking here for next March as a hedge in case the Hilton doesn't open up but it looks like they've added the following requirement on award stays:

Colin

what does "Cancellation Policy: One Night Deposit/Bal Due 60day/Non Refundable" even mean?

i suspect they mean one night deposit at booking which is refundable up until 60 days prior to arrival.
within 60 days prior to arrival, then whole stay in non-refundable.

TerryK

Yes, that's what it means. Don't forget balance is due 60 days prior to arrival and entire balance becomes nonrefundable at that point.