Name: Hotel Cultured
Address: 828-112 Oaza Hokujo Hakuba 399-9301,, Hakuba, Hakuba, Hakuba, 399-9301, Japan
Rating: 7

Air conditioning

Elevator/lift

Smoke-free property

Garden

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

General

Non-smoking rooms

Fridge

Shower/Bathtub

Slippers

Toiletries

Rooms

Luggage storage

Laundry

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Restaurant

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet access

Internet

Parking

Location

At the hotel

Room amenities

Matsumoto Airport

Toyama Airport

Hotel Cultured

Hakuba

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

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4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

We booked this hotel for our week stay in Hakuba. What a mistake this was. The rooms are so run down, the beds are springy and the rooms stink. It’s like this was built for 1980’s Olympics and then never cleaned or refurbished since. We all ended up more sore from sleeping on the beds then we did from the actual snowboarding. In saying this the two girls working here where lovely, always so polite and helpful. The location is awesome as you are only one bus stop away from the HAKUBA 47 slope and a 5 min walk from the 7/11. I would however trade all this for a decent night sleep on beds that didn’t wake you up every hour.

Would not reccomend

This hotel was an excellent establishment - great service from the front of house and bar staff all amazing! Anyone looking for a reasonably priced budget hotel in echo land hakuba should stay here great value for money!!!

Best place in Hakuba

This hotel is situated in the quieter end of town. If you don’t mind a bit of a walk, roughly 15mins into main area this hotel is perfect for quietness and getting a seat on the shuttle buses as it’s one of the first stops and the bus stop is right out the front! It has a lovely wood fire and bar area. Breakfast is available in the connected restaurant next door. 

Cosy and comfortable

I visited hotel cultured for around 4 days during a short holiday with my friends. We booked hotel cultured expecting to come to a well maintenanced hotel, clean rooms and good service. Sadly not much of either of these reached our expectations.

When we arrived into the room, it seemed pleasant at first but once we explored the room it was not. The shower head was cracked at the top, so water kept spraying everywhere, there were bugs in my room, the back of the tap kept leaking when you turned on the water and my window frame was falling apart. 

Also when it came to cleanliness and made rooms there was not much to say. There were some stains from feeces on the inside of the toilet, I found some trash hidden in the corner and the pillows had some stains and no pillow cover.

The service at the hotel was not what I expected. My main problem was that they did not make up your rooms throughout your whole stay, so if your trash bin got full, tough luck, or if you spilled a drink on your bed you would have to deal with that. For a 2 star hotel, there was still a lot to be desired and I really believe that this hotel is not worth the money and the effort to go all the way to hakuba to stay there. I really recommend other hotels.

Rundown hotel

I booked Hotel Cultured for 5 days after seeing their website and other guest reviews posted on trip advisor and other booking platforms, however, the experience proved to be extremely disappointing, unsatisfactory and at some instances thoroughly unprofessional. 

My first shock was when I entered the room that I had been given. The room did not match at all the pictures posted on trip advisor / the hotel’s website, rather it was extremely small, old and poorly maintained. The room had virtually no storage space except for a small plywood shelf and a coat hanger that was falling apart. The bigger issue however, came when all of our suitcases where on the ground (full of clothes due to very limited storage) as there was no, literally no more walking space. To get into our beds, we were forced to climb onto the suitcases and when trying to walk in the room, we had 15 cm in width of walking space making it extremely inconvenient and unpleasant to circulate. Furthermore, the twin beds were not side by side as in the pictures but rather placed perpendicularly as the room couldn’t fit two twin beds as showed on the website’s configuration. At first sight this might not seem like an issue, but in reality, the beds were arranged in such a way that my roommate’s feet were directly in my face (5 cm apart) each time he would sleep, making for very uncomfortable nights… Additionally, the bed mattress was extremely hard, the pillows of low quality and the blanket, used to the point where holes where starting to form in it. I was even more surprised by the fact that no duvets were used and that there were some sweat stains on both the pillow and blanket… making me wonder about the overall cleanliness and maintenance of this hotel…

I guess it however proved the point even at first sight because, my room was full of broken and uncleaned furniture / utensils. The window of the room probably hadn’t been opened in years and never greased in its lifetime. Even at full power, I struggled to open and close it, and when I actually did, it squeaked so loud that you could probably hear it inside the hotel’s lobby, 3 floors below… Furthermore, one of the lights in the room had a broken lightbulb and the room was infested by ladybugs. [ don’t get me wrong, I like ladybugs it’s just I’d rather not have them in my clothes and food ;) ]

Regarding the bathroom, it is my understanding that most budget hotel’s in Japan have “Boat or Airplane” style bathroom, however this one was particularly crammed and felt very old. I honestly, can’t help but wonder how taller people would fit in it… The bathroom had a water leak on top of the sink, the shower head did not work properly and the hair dryer, made out of low quality plastic was melted on the sides of the blower. Furthermore, on the ceiling of the bathroom was a fan to filter the air within the bathroom and it was filthy. It was black and hair was dropping from it.

However, now onto the more surprising / unforeseen part of my stay to say the least. I turned out to feel sick on the first day that I arrived and decided that I would rather rest alone in my room and get one of my friends (also staying in the same hotel) to bring me up food as I was feeling unwell. At first, the hotel staff seemed worried but helpful, however, it later turned out to be quite the opposite on my third night there, where I decided to go to the hotel’s only restaurant. I was feeling better and felt as if I wasn’t at risk of passing along my sickness. When I arrived into the lobby, the person at the front desk told me that I could not go to eat because I was sick, I replied that I was healed and asked her how I should eat, but suddenly the OWNER of the hotel BURSTED into the lobby and began YELLING at me to go back into my room and that I was not welcome in the restaurant and the lobby. He continued screaming “go away now! , Go back to your room! , I don’t want you there!” then adding a few words each time in Japanese, which I obviously did not understand (leaving room for interpretation as to what he was saying …) I was shocked and did not know how to react, but to think of how unprofessional, impolite and how unwelcoming this man’s actions where. The next day however, I decided to go and relax in the lobby and was also indirectly told to leave… which I did not do as I explained that I was healed. Resulting from this, I unfortunately wasn’t even able to checkout in advance as all nights had been paid as per the hotel’s policy. (Beware!)  One thing is for sure, I will definitely make sure not to do that in the future, as these people did not deserve my money as no apologizes were made and their attitude was completely disproportionate and disrespectful. 

This as a result shaped my stay in a very bad manner, making me feel unwelcomed each time I stepped into the lobby and proving that this hotel lacks the necessary skills that go with being hospitable and even reaching their 2 Star Ranking. (I wonder myself how they were evaluated and how they got it). Additionally, when taking into account all the other negative points cited above; the old / extremely small rooms that do not resemble the pictures advertised, the unfriendly staff, and the poorly maintained accommodations as well as common areas, I would 100% NOT RECOMMEND this hotel. I believe that throughout Hakuba, much better and newer hotels / lodges can be found in much better locations and at cheaper rates, as this hotel is also far from the key areas of the resort and everything needs to be done by bus or long walking distances in the freezing cold.

BEWARE: Rude Owner, Poorly Maintained / Tiny rooms, Bad Location

If you're after a place to lay your head, have a few pre drinks and is close to Echo land, this is the place. 

Has it's own bus stop for all the Shuttle buses to mountains along the Hakuba prefecture which REALLY helps. It's close enough for a 10 minute walk to Echo land where the majority of bars are. 

What really makes this place for our group though was the Renee on the front desk. She was an absolute star. She helped us book taxi's, reserve tables, show us bus time tables, translated Japanese etc. She was a credit to the business and if we went back to Hakuba, we would consider Cultured again solely because of her.

Breakfast OK - But has coffee and bacon.
Rooms - Basic. These are low end rooms, but they are Warm and have good showers.

Hotel Cultured

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