Nikko Style Niseko HANAZONO Wins “World’s Best New Ski Hotel” at the World Ski Awards 2025

NISEKO, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 19, 2025--

Nikko Style Niseko HANAZONO, part of Okura Nikko Hotels’ Nikko Style lifestyle-hotel brand, is pleased to announce that it won the “World’s Best New Ski Hotel” award at the World Ski Awards 2025, a global initiative that recognizes, rewards and celebrates excellence in the ski tourism industry.

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The World Ski Awards are regarded as one of the most prestigious international awards in the global ski tourism industry. Winners in each category are determined based on votes from ski industry professionals, skiers from around the world and the general traveling public, leading to highly credible assessments.

The “World’s Best New Ski Hotel” award is presented to a single hotel selected from among newly opened properties worldwide. This year, Nikko Style Niseko HANAZONO was nominated as a finalist alongside four other new hotels from Austria, France, Slovakia, and Italy, and was ultimately selected as the winner following approximately six months of voting.

Commenting on the award, General Manager Tomoyuki Yamanobe said, "It is a great honor for Nikko Style Niseko HANAZONO to receive the World’s Best New Ski Hotel award at the highly regarded World Ski Awards. This recognition comes at a very special time as we approach our first anniversary, making it an exceptionally proud moment for our hotel. We believe that this result, determined by votes from both professionals in the ski industry and our valued guests, reflects the appreciation of our hotel as a place that people will wish to visit again. We remain committed to meeting the needs of both domestic and international guests and will continue to strive for excellence."

Nikko Style Niseko HANAZONO will continue to cater to guests seeking the world’s finest powder snow, offering unforgettable experiences in harmony with the ever-changing natural beauty of Niseko throughout the seasons.

World Ski Awards official website: https://worldskiawards.com/winners/2025

About Nikko Style Niseko HANAZONO

Opened in December 2024, Nikko Style Niseko HANAZONO is the second hotel in Japan under the Nikko Style brand. With the message “Your Stay, Your Style,” it offers a variety of experiences that engage all five senses and encourage guests to enjoy their stay in complete freedom. The hotel faces the Niseko HANAZONO Resort, which offers winter sports enthusiasts a wide range of activities. The property features 234 guest rooms, along with a full range of facilities including restaurants, natural hot springs, a gym, a club lounge, a DJ booth, and banquet spaces.
For more details, please visit nisekohanazono.nikkostyle.jp/en.

World Ski Awards

Launched in 2013, the World Ski Awards recognize excellence in global ski tourism and aim to raise accommodation and service standards across the sector. The Awards were created in response to industry demands for fair, transparent benchmarks and now attract hundreds of thousands of votes from ski professionals and consumers worldwide.
Awards are presented across four key categories—Best Ski Resort, Best Ski Hotel, Best Ski Boutique Hotel and Best Ski Chalet—for each of the world’s top 25 ski nations, with country-level winners securing the most overall votes in a particular category also being awarded the respective global title. Additional world-only categories cover operators, travel agents, resort companies, and sustainability credentials.
Votes are submitted online by industry professionals and the public. World Ski Awards is the sister organization of World Travel Awards.
For more details, please visit worldskiawards.com/about.

Exterior of Nikko Style Niseko HANAZONO

NEW DELHI (AP) — India has begun the world’s largest national population count, which could reshape welfare programs and political representation across the country.

The previous census in 2011 recorded a population of 1.21 billion. It's now estimated to be more than 1.4 billion, making India the most populous nation.

The new census had been planned for 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and logistical challenges.

Here’s how India’s census works and why it is significant:

The first phase of the count started Wednesday and will roll out around the country through September. The workers will spend about a month in each area collecting information on homes and available facilities and will document housing stock and living conditions.

The exercise will blend in-person surveys with a digital option where residents can submit information through a multilingual smartphone application that integrates satellite-based mapping.

The second phase to be conducted from September to next April 1 will record more detailed information like people's social and economic characteristics, including religion and caste.

More than 3 million government workers are expected to be deployed over the course of the year. In 2011, nearly 2.7 million enumerators surveyed more than 240 million households nationwide.

The second phase of the census will attempt a broader accounting of caste beyond historically marginalized groups.

Caste is an ancient system of social hierarchy in India and is influential in defining social standing and deciding who gets access to resources, education and economic opportunity. There are hundreds of caste groups based on occupation and economic status across India, particularly among Hindus, but the country has limited or outdated data on how many people belong to them.

The last attempt to gather detailed caste information through a census dates to 1931, during British colonial rule. Since independent India’s first census in 1951, it counted only Dalits and Adivasis, members of marginalized groups known as scheduled castes and tribes.

Successive governments have resisted conducting a full caste count, arguing it could heighten social tensions and trigger unrest.

Population data collected through the census underpins the distribution of government welfare programs and a wide range of public policies.

It could also prompt a redrawing of India’s political map, as seats in the lower house of Parliament and state legislatures may be increased to reflect population growth. A 2023 law reserves one-third of legislative seats for women, so any expansion would raise the number of seats set aside for female representatives.

Irfan Ahmad checks census registration online at a registration center as the street is reflected on the glass in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A Muslim woman checks her census registration online at a registration center in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

FILE -Mahesh Shah, left, stands as his family members look while census worker Rumima Das, writes the information on a paper on the first day of the national census at Ramsingh Chapori village, east of Gauhati, India, April 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)

FILE - Indians crowd ticket counters at a railway station in Ahmadabad, India, Oct. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)