Great stay, great location, friendly staff!
We had a great stay at Otaru Yado. Easy, 5 minute walk from the Otaru JR terminal, partially under the covered street. If you’re skiing Kiroro while you’re in town, the Hokkaido Resort Liner has a stop directly across the street at a neighbouring hotel making it easy to get to the hill if you book through them! (Otherwise you can book through the Kiroro resort website and catch a bus right at the Otaru Station). Location was great, really good restaurants nearby and the canal within walking distance. Staff was extremely friendly and helpful and stored our ski bag behind reception so we had more space in our bedroom. The shared bathrooms were insanely clean! Coin laundry machines were available for use as well. Cozy common area and kitchen beside the reception. We’re not usually ones to complain about the beds, but the bed in our double private room was extremely hard. This was our only complaint for our stay. We stayed for 4 nights, and I wouldn’t let the hard beds stop you from staying here (after all, most beds we’ve stayed in in Japan seem to be pretty hard overall)!