The first time Aman Resorts publicly mentioned Niseko was in a 2018 investor briefing in Hong Kong. Several years, two architects, and one global pandemic later, the property’s opening target has slipped from 2023 to 2026 and now to 2027, with construction continuing on the Mount Moiwa site through the 2026 winter.
I walked the under-construction property on 16 July 2026 with senior project staff and the design team from Kerry Hill Architects. The vital statistics as briefed: a hotel building with suite-grade inventory plus 31 branded residences set within a nature reserve on the slopes of Mount Moiwa (Niseko’s quietest of the four major ski areas), a 35-metre indoor onsen, two restaurants, and a ski-room concierge operation planned to open with the property.
The architecture
The Kerry Hill design is uncharacteristically restrained for the brand — even by Aman standards. The exterior cladding is yakisugi (charred Japanese cedar); the interiors lean heavily on Hokkaido oak, kuromoji branchwood and washi paper, on the early visuals released by the project.
The 35-metre onsen is the property’s defining gesture. Drawing on a sodium-bicarbonate spring, it is planned to run the length of the basement level and look out, through a single sheet of laminated glass, onto a snowed-in cedar grove.
Rates and access
Suite rates and the suite-tier ladder have not been finalised; the property has indicated that the rate card will be published closer to the opening window. All rates are expected to include breakfast, daily activities, and ski lift access on the Niseko United pass.
Access to the property is by road from New Chitose Airport (CTS), a transfer of roughly 100 kilometres that takes 2 hours and 10 minutes in clear conditions and considerably longer in active snowfall. Premium-vehicle transfer is the operational standard for the area, with helicopter transfer from CTS likely to be available subject to weather and operator availability at the time of opening.
The competitive picture
Aman Niseko enters a market that has matured considerably since the project was conceived. Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono opened in 2020; Setsu Niseko, a Hyatt Unbound property, opened in December 2022; the Ritz-Carlton Reserve Higashiyama remains the price leader at the top of the market. The new arrival’s most obvious differentiator is the onsen, which will dwarf anything else on the mountain.
Reservation timing has not been confirmed; the Aman team is guiding to a 2027 first-season window.
