APA Hotel Kyoto Gion EXCELLENT

We enjoyed our stay here with no issues. They are very nice and accommodating tomorrow stays. They leave a bag on your door every day with a fresh bath towel, coffee and cup for the coffee maker; and you can use that bag to leave your used towel items to put outside your door for them to pick up. I think that is a great system. The room was cozy and just enjoy for my husband and I. He especially loved that you can adjust and turn the lights off/on directly from the headboard - very convenient!

One of the better APA hotels we have stayed at. We were originally in a smoking room. But they were able to switch us to a non-smoking room. We were very pleased with the rest of our stay there. Great location all in all and close to everything in the area.

Parking is not included with the hotel . location is great for sightseeing. look to spend 2000 yen a day for parking. Air conditioning in the room is not very cold, I had it set to 18 all night and woke up sweating , i am not overweight. Pillows are traditional Japanese style. Depending on your preference, you might want to bring a pillow. Rooms are small, and that's normal in Japan. I opted out of breakfast here look to pay additional 2000 to 2500 . It's a traditional Japanese brekfast. Not my preference if you're not used to eggs being cooked all the way. The best part is that it is centralized for a lot to see and do around this area here.

The staff were nice and the hotel is in a nice location but that is about it. The rooms have mold in it, carpets have stains, bathrooms have mold on the walls and there is no sound proofing at all. I even asked if they could switch my room and even with the new room it was still really bad. There are actual holes in the wall next to the bed and also the ceiling along with food smears next to the trash cans.

Likes: - Excellent location in Gion; right by the Gion bus stop; lots of places to eat/shop; a few steps away from the Yasaka Shrine and other landmarks - They give cute little things like a foldable comb and a nice wash towel (which I never got in any other hotel) - There's a press for pants on every floor - Water is replenished daily - Coffee is Starbucks Dolce pods - Comfy beds and nice pillows (the one for the head has an unusual shape but really works - good sleep) - There is a Starbucks on the ground floor Cons: - Tight space, which is common in Japan

I have stayed at this hotel many times and I really like it. Every time my family and friends come to Japan, we always choose this hotel. However, my family recently had a terrible experience when checking in. They forced each one of us to stand separately and fill out information, and required every person to have a personal email address and phone number. I live in Japan and I provided my phone number for the whole family, but they refused and said that if each person didn’t have an email or phone number, they would deny our stay. I asked them to provide a written document stating the reason for refusal, but they wouldn’t write anything. I explained that elderly people and small children might not have email or mobile numbers, and that overseas phone numbers cannot be used in Japan. When I asked why they needed that information for each person, they said it was for emergency contact. But they still refused to accept my Japanese phone number as the emergency contact for the whole family, even though I was staying with them in the hotel. When I tried to discuss this with them, they called the police. Several police cars arrived with sirens, and six officers surrounded me in the lobby. It was shocking and terrifying. They claimed they called the police because I was talking loudly. My whole family was extremely surprised and frightened. Isn’t a passport usually enough for foreign guests to register at a hotel?

I loves this hotel. Rooms are big. There is dolce vita coffee machine and Starbucks coffe. Location is best. Thanks for everything. When I come back again to Kyoto, I will select it again.

The first thing we noticed is that the building was under construction, surrounded by scaffold and meshed all around the perimeter, every floor, resulting in no windows to see out of, ignoring the lack of a view, which I expected in a large city. We simply could not see if it was raining out, so we had to take an elevator or stairs and judge, then return to dress accordingly. The second black mark, was how VERY filthy the room was, I'm talking red/orange stains on pillows, wet garbage smears on the wall above the garbage can in our room, stains on the curtains, scuffs and smears on the walls in the room entryway leading all the way to the bed, water damage and possible mold on the ceiling above the bed, and finally more food streaks on the wall by the refrigerator. When we finally mustered up the courage to say something, having never had to make a fuss about a room anywhere before this, also considering that is where we would be spending the next 4 days, and not wanting to seem like entitled foreigners, the staff were very courteous and seemingly understanding even with the language barrier, they offered us another room, to which we reviewed it with the concierge, it smelled of stale water and possible urine, making our guilt for fussing kick up to 11, we nearly just agreed, but couldn't do it, so we asked to just cancel and we would try to find a last minute switch or an AirB&B. The manager then suggested one of the renovated rooms instead, which was similar in size, and much cleaner, to which we accepted. The only remaining issue was that the shower curtain was clearly not washed, the base was yellow, and it smelled awful, we decided to leave the bathroom fan on and let it be. As well as finding a bottle cap behind the bed when my phone charger fell back there. So, it's not a great impression of the cleanliness. I rated the location low simply due to preference. We personally did not like waking up and immediately having to zipper ourselves into the gaggle of tourists on the sidewalk. Perhaps some guests would like not having to go to any lengths to get to the primary strip of tourist shops. But it wasn't for us, and that is no fault of the hotel. We were just unfamiliar with the area upon booking.

DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL! If there is a lower rating than 1 star I would have picked that. We travelled to Kyoto with our 12 year old son & they put us in a smoking room which we did not picked during booking. We even asked them at the check in counter to find us a non smoking room & they would not even change our room, if they overbooked rooms we were willing to take refund since they can't accommodate our request which in the first place is our original booking. We notified the hotel staff that our son has asthma & it could trigger with the smoke in the hallway & room but to no avail.. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE PLACE, and here I thought Japan takes pride in their service.. APA HOTEL GION IS NOT AN EXCELLENT PLACE to stay SO DO NOT BOOK AT THIS HOTEL WHEN IN KYOTO.

This hotel is moderately priced for location in Kyoto. It has a great breakfast buffet with lots of options. Starbucks is on the bottom floor. We highly recommend this hotel if you are looking for a good price. Only drawback is thw rooms can be tight.