Ben’s Guesthouse Kyoto — Hotel in Kyoto

This apartment is located on a street as part of an outdoor mall like area with all sorts of shopping, markets, and restaurants/fastfood nearby (Sukiya =D and McDonalds was within walking distance lol). A walk down the street there's even a Pachinko Hall to play to your hearts content.||||When my friend referred me to this place I had average expectations as I've stayed in Airbnbs in Otskua, Osaka, Asakusa, and more and have come to an understanding what Airbnbs provide and such.||||My stay was in First week of Dec of 2018, it was rainy but walking into the lobby was just great as I was freezing. Checking in was pretty quick and easy. There's a cubby where you store your shoes in, and get slippers for your stay after you check in. (You can use this freely, doesn't require interactions with someone)||||First impression OMG THIS PLACE IS SO CLEAN!!!! Don't get me wrong lots of airbnbs are clean, but not at this level of maintenance. ||||The rooms were average sized not very big, but not small at all. The room my wife and I stayed in had three beds in it. I sorta wanted to throw one of the beds out for more room, but it quickly became apparent how nice it was to have a third bed lol. I put all my UFO Catcher toys all over it lol.||||There was a small TV about the size of a 25" monitor (that we never turned on), with a wifi hotspot nearby on the table that had excellent speeds (except there was a nationwide outage one day that was actually in the news).||||The washing machine was quiet and they provide you with Tide Pod thingies in the cabinet above it. Don't worry about drying ur clothes outside it has that excellent dryer thing in the shower that blow drys your clothes. There was a drying rack for you to put your towels on (I don't understand why other airbnbs never have this...)||||Plenty of toilet paper for you to TP someone's room (probably get arrested don't do this). The fridge for you to store your left overs or to hit a market near closing for their OMG close out prices meals marked from 30% to 90% off.||||A remote controlled (standard in most of Japan's airbnbs) heater kept he room exactly the temp I needed it to be. Plenty of outlets btw (Yes i brought a projector to watch movies on random walls, ipads, iphones, laptop, and more -.-)||||All in all I love this place to death and I'm sure my wife will tell you the same. The staff here was awesome, my apologies for not getting the name of the lady that called a cab for us, she was so sweet. And Monsato, nice guy smart and extremely helpful (checkin and maintenance)? The staff speaks some english and you will get by fine.||||The best part is price! The price we paid during our stay was much lower then I expected for such...

This apartment is located on a street as part of an outdoor mall like area with all sorts of shopping, markets, and restaurants/fastfood nearby (Sukiya =D and McDonalds was within walking distance lol). A walk down the street there's even a Pachinko Hall to play to your hearts content.||||When my friend referred me to this place I had average expectations as I've stayed in Airbnbs in Otskua, Osaka, Asakusa, and more and have come to an understanding what Airbnbs provide and such.||||My stay was in First week of Dec of 2018, it was rainy but walking into the lobby was just great as I was freezing. Checking in was pretty quick and easy. There's a cubby where you store your shoes in, and get slippers for your stay after you check in. (You can use this freely, doesn't require interactions with someone)||||First impression OMG THIS PLACE IS SO CLEAN!!!! Don't get me wrong lots of airbnbs are clean, but not at this level of maintenance. ||||The rooms were average sized not very big, but not small at all. The room my wife and I stayed in had three beds in it. I sorta wanted to throw one of the beds out for more room, but it quickly became apparent how nice it was to have a third bed lol. I put all my UFO Catcher toys all over it lol.||||There was a small TV about the size of a 25" monitor (that we never turned on), with a wifi hotspot nearby on the table that had excellent speeds (except there was a nationwide outage one day that was actually in the news).||||The washing machine was quiet and they provide you with Tide Pod thingies in the cabinet above it. Don't worry about drying ur clothes outside it has that excellent dryer thing in the shower that blow drys your clothes. There was a drying rack for you to put your towels on (I don't understand why other airbnbs never have this...)||||Plenty of toilet paper for you to TP someone's room (probably get arrested don't do this). The fridge for you to store your left overs or to hit a market near closing for their OMG close out prices meals marked from 30% to 90% off.||||A remote controlled (standard in most of Japan's airbnbs) heater kept he room exactly the temp I needed it to be. Plenty of outlets btw (Yes i brought a projector to watch movies on random walls, ipads, iphones, laptop, and more -.-)||||All in all I love this place to death and I'm sure my wife will tell you the same. The staff here was awesome, my apologies for not getting the name of the lady that called a cab for us, she was so sweet. And Monsato, nice guy smart and extremely helpful (checkin and maintenance)? The staff speaks some english and you will get by fine.||||The best part is price! The price we paid during our stay was much lower then I expected for such...

I travel a lot and Ben's Guesthouse is quite possibly one of the best places I've ever stayed at. We booked a room for three people and all of us have such positive things to say that I'll break it down by category.

Communication and Check-in Ben is easily reachable via LINE and was so helpful and friendly both before and during our stay. He was quick to respond to any questions we had, and even sent us a list of recommended restaurants and convenience stores in the neighborhood. There was a receptionist there to greet us at check-in who gave us a mini tour of our room and showed us where to find and how to use all the amenities. The establishment itself is stocked with maps and guide books so it's always easy to find something in the area to see or do.

Location The guesthouse is situated in a cozy neighborhood along a shopping street, which meant that it was fairly easy to get to and there were many interesting shops and restaurants within walking distance. Kitano Tenmangu shrine is right around the corner as well. There's an overhead sign for the location, which makes it easy to find.

Lodgings Despite three people sharing a room, we felt like there was plenty of space. The beds are comfortable and the room was clean and organized. The room we booked had a kitchen/foyer area separated from the bedroom with a sliding door, so people were able to have privacy when needed. Also, the bathroom is spacious! Especially by Japanese standards.

Amenities The in-unit laundry machine was a lifesaver for us and we really appreciated the receptionist giving us a walkthrough on how to use it. The kitchen is well stocked, though we didn't end up using it because all the restaurants around were so appealing. The remote controls came with instructions/translations for all the buttons, which is incredibly thoughtful. The bathroom is well stocked.

Hospitality This is where Ben's Guesthouse really shines. There is so much love and care put into making sure guests have a good time. Everything from the helpful communication to the charming handmade map of the neighborhood in the hall to the booklet in the room with instructions on how to use everything. Also there were communal board games in the hall, and complementary sparkling wine in our fridge. We had researched the area pretty thoroughly before our trip, but Ben was able to give us recommendations not yet on our list, and we loved every one of his recommendations that we tried.

In short, we really enjoyed our stay and would love to book this place again for a longer duration some time...