InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, the world’s first and largest luxury hotel brand, continues its legacy of pioneering luxury travel in emerging destinations with the opening of ANA InterContinental Appi Kogen Resort. As the first luxury resort in Tohoku, Japan, the all-Club InterContinental resort marks a new era of world-class travel in the region. The Appi Kogen precinct is now complete with three IHG Hotels & Resorts properties following the rebrand of ANA Crowne Plaza Resort Appi Kogen and ANA Holiday Inn Resort Appi Kogen in December 2021.
Set upon stunning snowscapes, renowned by locals as ‘miracle silky snow’, Appi Kogen is the largest-scale ski resort in Japan’s northeastern Tohoku region and accessible in just over two hours from Tokyo on the Shinkansen bullet train. Guests will immerse in the rich beauty of Appi and the nearby Hachimantai region, offering picturesque snowscapes in Winter and lush greenery and white birch forests in the Summer.
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Introducing Japan’s newest all-Club InterContinental stay experience
With 75 years of pioneering luxury travel globally, the InterContinental brand will bring an elevated stay experience with high-valued service to the all-Club InterContinental resort, including a public space viewing terrace. Each touchpoint, from arrival to departure, has been thoughtfully curated to evoke a sense of place and a connection to the surrounding nature, including a design-led darkened hallway, which represents the start of a journey through an abundant forest and leading to the ‘Dragon Eye’ – a stunning art piece, based on how the snow melts at Kagami pond, near the summit of Mount Hachimantai. The image illustrates the raw beauty created by nature as it leads you to the Club Lounge.
Inside the Club Lounge, an impressive artwork displays a 400-year-old Japanese beech tree – called a mother tree from the Tsugaru Toge area and basalt columns which are characteristic of the Matsukawa gorge that overlap one another and cover the Club Lounge wall. A small fire is lit in the evenings and sits at the centre of the Lounge to welcome guests for the evening drink ritual.
The resort offers 38 all-Club InterContinental rooms and suites, each with show stopping views of the Appi ski slopes and landscape of Hachimantai. The Memorable design features include Japanese traditional paper – called Washi – used to adorn the bedheads to represent the pillowy elements of cloud or snow, as well as large floor rugs with various designs to represent clouds, morning glow and the dragon eye motif. Inside the guest bathrooms, rock and white wood evoke a sense of tranquil nature while large bathroom windows overlook the ski slopes, giving guests the sense of soaking in an outdoor hot spring. On the ground floors, an outdoor space gives a sense of freedom to sit and relax with a refreshing beverage, while in the Winter, make a snow Angel and dream of skiing in the perfect powder snow the following day.
The Presidential Suite offers the height of luxury, covering more than 300 square metres and boasts a floor-to-ceiling corner window facing the ski slopes. The suite also includes specialty sake, kitchen, large dining area that can also be used as meeting space, private office and a viewing terrace.
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World-class gourmet experiences and relaxation facilities
Guests will continue their journey through art into the SHIRATSUYU restaurant, with impressive pieces throughout the interiors. Traditional local craftwork are on display throughout SHIRATSUYU as well as a wall-art of fine woodwork (called Nanbu Sazamekumi Monyouzaiku) produced by Japanese artisans, Nagayama Kogei.
The nature-rich qualities of Appi underpin the restaurant and bars experience inside the resort. SHIRATSUYU is the signature restaurant with a Japanese/French cuisine and with a philosophy of focusing on the ingredients. We take the ‘farm to table’ idea and enhance it, by telling the guest what is fresh, whether it seafood caught off the coast of Iwate or Japanese wagyu beef, then asking how they would like their ingredients to be prepared, in a Japanese or French style.  The restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, highlighting specialty food from the Iwate and Tohoku region.
Japanese bar, MOCCO, located up on the 3rd floor has been designed to evoke a secret hideaway above the mountains and is the ideal place to relax with a wide selection of Japanese whisky and other Japanese spirits. Warm yourself up with an exotic Japanese beverage at bar MOCCO.
If you haven’t had enough exercise, hiking in Summer or skiing/snowboarding in Winter, the hotel has a 24-hour fitness centre to work up a sweat.
The resort is also home to two traditional Onsen Japanese baths, the IWA and HINOKI. The baths are made from rock and cypress, offering a modern bathing ritual exclusively for guests. The onsen baths are located on the 3rd floor, where you have the option to soak outside while snow lightly falls around you as you sit in the revitalizing onsen minerals. In Summer take in the surrounding views as you appreciate nature. For the ultimate in relaxation, the luxury spa LAVILLA SPA APPI, is available to guests from traditional shiatsu massage to facial treatments using Elemis products.
For more information, visit the resort website here.
