First snow trip at Rusutsu and it was amazing with high snowfall and seeing the transformation from almost nothing to 1 meter snow around. Skiing was excellent with kids enjoying the same.
Although there should be better options for lunch and dinner inside the hotel, it was manageable.
Next door Rusutsu resort also has limited options though it says many restaurants on its website, many used to be still closed and isolated.
We got upgraded to a high floor room and the view was beautiful. All are duplex rooms, clean and upto date but with only 1 bath/ toilet downstairs room. Restaurant service staff is very kind but a bit slow. May be there are still gearing up for the revived volume of guests after Covid. But no worries.
Fantastic winter stay ! Will visit again. Thankyou Westin & Mariott

Looking for JAPOW and having explored Niseko and Nagano before we decided to give it a try. The hotel is a big hotel rather than a lodge for those who may be used to smaller places. Customer service was great, rooms were spotless, well cleaned, and big. We had a great view of the slopes. Loved having a small kitchenette. Onsen was great, separate men’s and women’s sides. Gym was terrible (it’s only a tiny room maybe 1x6 metres with hardly any resistance equipment. See photo), no club lounge BUT they allow elite members to use a special section of the bar by the restaurant and provide a free menu of items (see photo) that you can order as many of as you want. The service was friendly and fast initially, but follow up service is a bit slower. Breakfast was great and lots of options. We had dinner at the buffet 3 nights and it was good, lots of nice seafood and great to have crab legs - well worth the price. Ski lockers downstairs are good, and having a Seven Eleven near the front of the hotel makes getting snacks convenient. You have to walk from here about 200m to a ski lift, but that only takes you to a slightly higher area, from there you have to walk to other lifts. Not a particularly snowboard friendly set up. Definitely not ski in/ski out. Other options are taking the monorail from inside the hotel across the road to the other side of the mountain which requires less walking but it’s REALLY slow. Once on the mountain the runs are small and over pretty quick but the runs through the trees and side-pisting in the deep pow are loads of fun.

Lots of good things which most people have already mentioned. Staff were great, and GM greeted us (we are newly Bonvoy Platinum). Nice lounge snacks. Upgraded to a top floor 5 bed room. Monorail a bit of a hassle with skis I imagine, but not essential. Access to nice new onsen in Resort side. Also a fun wave pool for kids. Westin fitness tiny. Golf is the main attraction outside the ski season. We had a good off-season/COVID rate, but gets pricey in winter.