The Greatest AIRPORT Hotel I Have Ever Been to – Portom International Hokkaido

Airport hotels usually serve a utilitarian purpose. However, on a recent trip to Sapporo, Hokkaido, I stayed one night at the Portom International Hotel located at New Chitose airport, and I was blown away. This was the only time time I wished I stayed more than overnight at an airport hotel. First, the hotel itself is impressive. A blend of modern and Japanese minimalist, it feels luxurious, and it is! I could tell whoever built the place put a lot of money into it. I am no expert on the hotel business, but I would imagine that it is unnecessary to invest so much in an airport hotel, most guests are in and out overnight. Here is a vid of the lobby and hallway of the floor we stayed on.

The place felt like a private retreat. The whole time I was there, I encountered maybe 1 or 2 guests. The room we had was again, a good mix of modern and Japanese, and spotless. It also had a great view of the runway.

Here is a gorgeous pic of the sunrise over the runway from our room in the morning:

One of the first things I did was get a massage. The massage itself was just ok. It was weird because the entire massage happened through a blanket without oil or direct skin contact. Thinking back, this was one of the only parts of the stay that were a bit off, but just a bit.

After my massage, it was time for dinner. The restaurant on site was amazing. I had the seafood rice bowl.

Upon arrival at the restaurant, there were two ladies in traditional Japanese dress waiting to welcome us.

Just like the rest of the hotel, the restaurant was Japanese themed. We were shown to a private room:

The food was delicious:

The restaurant itself is from Kyoto, and called SHIMOGAMO-SARYO KITANOHANARE. The Kyoto location has a Michelin star. After dinner, I had to make use of the Sky Bar, and Cigar Bar with amazing views of the runway.

Another thing they have which I did not experience, because it was closed, was the Japanese tea garden:

Lastly, I ended the night with a trip to the Onsen which is almost open 24 hours! In case you are not familiar, a Japanese onsen is a spa. This one had a sauna, large hot water plunge pool (I believe it was filled with local spring water), and cold plunge. It was the perfect way to end the night. I was also delighted because I wanted to experience a Japanese onsen during our time in Hokkaido, but it didn’t fit our schedule so this was a perfect way to squeeze it in.

Overall, I had an amazing time at the Portom hotel. Although my stay was less than 24 hours, I enjoyed it, and did more than many hotels where I have stayed longer, and were destination hotels. The only hiccup occurred in the morning. We had an early domestic flight, and the hotel elevators are labelled for departures. However, the departures are for international flights. We could not figure it out for about 30 minutes as it was so early there was no one in the airport to ask. Eventually, we figured out that we had to walk to another terminal to catch our domestic flight. The elevator should be labelled “international departures”. Then one can find the domestic, or ask the hotel. Aside from that, the stay was near perfect and I highly recommend this hotel if you need to stay close to (or actually at) the airport. Its so good, I might actually recommend this as somewhere to stay in Hokkaido period (although its about an hour from Sapporo, the main city).