Gion Elite Terrace — Hotel in Kyoto

Greedy corporate policies + aggressive and arrogant staff = the most unpleasant hotel stay in decades for us.

Our grown daughter got sick and had to leave Japan early, but the management refused to make any accommodation because we had purchased a non refundable room for her for two nights. Then when we asked at check in to be refunded for a third night which we had reserved for our own room, after consulting with their senior management the staff said they would only do so if we gave up one of our two prepaid rooms so they could sell it to other clients—when keeping our prepayment!

That would have meant that the hotel would have collected double revenue on a room, because of our daughter’s illness, in exchange for our being able to check out one day earlier than our original 3 day reservation.

This is clearly greedier than the hotel market norm. Ordinarily, when you tell a hotel at check in that you have to check out earlier than planned, they will accommodate you —especially if it is because of sickness or matters beyond your control. Here, the staff sought to exploit the situation and make a double profit on our daughter’s unused room, keeping our prepayment and selling it to another guest.

This is clearly a pattern for this hotel (and others who are owned by the same private management company), maximizing profit ahead of customer experience. For example, the hotel charges 800 yen for aroma bath tablets, and 1000 yen to rent utensils for the mini kitchen in the room if you stay less than 3 nights. They nickel and dime you for every little thing.

To make matters worse, the staff - Michael the front desk manager and Peter the front desk concierge — were arrogant and dismissive. Despite two years at the job, Peter clearly was incompetent as a concierge: we asked for a high quality noodle place and he couldn’t think of anything closer than an 18 minute walk away. But when we looked on Google maps we found a 4.7 rated homemade noodle place a block away (which turned out to be so good that we ate there twice), and a second one with a line out the door next to it. He also couldn’t recommend a good sushi place, here in the heart of Gion, steering us to a sushi conveyor belt place which he admitted was low quality.

Michael was completely unsympathetic and hard edged when we explained our plight and when pressed blamed unnamed management above him for refusing to let us check out early without the quid pro quo of selling our room to another guest and doubling their revenue.

As a top executive at four global Fortune 100 companies for 40 years, I was trained to understand that Brand and Customer Service stands above short term profit. You build great companies and make much more in the middle and long term by exercising discretion to help customers in need—not exploit their misfortune to make a quick buck. The $350 profit they made on our second room will quickly be overwhelmed by their loss if just one person reading this review decides not to stay at this hotel. The arrogant and short sighted staff and management here clearly have much to learn about putting the customer first.

Final insult to injury: my wife tripped on an unmarked step in their front entrance, fell and bloodied the area with a bloody nose. They need to mark the step edge with yellow tape like most places do when there is a small step which blends into the ground. (An older woman at the front desk did a great job of helping my wife and following up, to her credit.)

Bottom line: greedy management company policies, and a culture which has allowed both Michael and Peter to keep their jobs for two years despite being arrogant and dismissive of guests in trouble, equals a hotel where you don’t want to stay. There are plenty of other options with friendlier staff and at better prices in the area.

The worst hotel experience we have...

I meticulously planned 3 week trip to Japan, this hotel I found on Google and this was one of the highlights of my trip. I was really excited to stay here. Ultimately it was very disappointing and I hate to write a negative review but I think people should know that my experience was nowhere near five stars. I booked months in advance. These rooms are not cheap and are comparable in price to mainstream American brands like Wyndham, Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and Westin.

The staff is pretentious, holier than thou and generally unfriendly. I've worked in hospitality, it's important that people remember that hotels are a hospitality business. It's their job to be hospitable.

The location is mediocre. Everything is a walk and I've stayed at other properties in Kyoto that were vastly more affordable and in better locations. The rooms are not clean. There are scuff marks on all of the walls. The bathrooms are excellent but in the king room with sauna it is just too beds pushed together. They give you two towels regardless of the length of your stay. There are no flat sheets on the bed, it is just a duvet. There are stains and spills in the common areas. The laundry facilities are poor. The walls are so thin it's unbelievable. This is the most important point I have to make, we came here expecting a good night's sleep but there were people in the room not directly above us but above and one unit over that kept us up all night. I really don't think they were doing anything that unusual, we could just hear them walking around, They probably had kids. On the second night there were other guests in the rooms adjacent to ours. When they opened and closed their front doors leading into the lobby, it was extremely loud. It may sound like an exaggeration but if you choose to stay here please remember this warning, if you're staying downstairs and other rooms are occupied you will not be able to sleep when people come and go.

Right after we checked in we alerted the front desk staff to the noise, I want to be clear that our expectations were not unreasonable, we are early forties having worked previously in hospitality and currently owning airbnbs, we are the last people that would complain about something. They told us to let them know if it continued. Unfortunately there were no staff available overnight and the next morning when we informed the front desk that we had had a sleepless night due to the noise coming from upstairs they simply told us again to let them know if it continued. We already told you, it continued. No apology was made, no offer of services, rebate or anything whatsoever was made. I worked at a front desk in a hotel as and I was really disappointed that they were not more understanding or willing to make any accommodation. We were literally woken up at 4:00 a.m. by the sound of people above us. This hotel has rooms with incredible bathrooms. The air conditioning also works well. You should know that the walls are thin, the beds are twin mattresses pushed together, the walls and common areas may be dirty, the staff is generally unfriendly and the cleaning during your stay will be minimal. At this price point, it may be worth considering...

Greedy corporate policies + aggressive and arrogant staff = the most unpleasant hotel stay in decades for us. ||||Our grown daughter got sick and had to leave Japan early, but the management refused to make any accommodation because we had purchased a non refundable room for her for two nights. Then when we asked at check in to be refunded for a third night which we had reserved for our own room, after consulting with their senior management the staff said they would only do so if we gave up one of our two prepaid rooms so they could sell it to other clients—when keeping our prepayment!||||That would have meant that the hotel would have collected double revenue on a room, because of our daughter’s illness, in exchange for our being able to check out one day earlier than our original 3 day reservation. ||||This is clearly greedier than the hotel market norm. Ordinarily, when you tell a hotel at check in that you have to check out earlier than planned, they will accommodate you —especially if it is because of sickness or matters beyond your control. Here, the staff sought to exploit the situation and make a double profit on our daughter’s unused room, keeping our prepayment and selling it to another guest.||||This is clearly a pattern for this hotel (and others who are owned by the same private management company), maximizing profit ahead of customer experience. For example, the hotel charges 800 yen for aroma bath tablets, and 1000 yen to rent utensils for the mini kitchen in the room if you stay less than 3 nights. They nickel and dime you for every little thing. ||||To make matters worse, the staff - Michael the front desk manager and Peter the front desk concierge — were arrogant and dismissive. Despite two years at the job, Peter clearly was incompetent as a concierge: we asked for a high quality noodle place and he couldn’t think of anything closer than a 18 minute walk away. But when we looked on Google maps we found a 4.7 rated homemade noodle place a block away (which turned out to be so good that we ate there twice), and a second one with a line out the door next to it. He also couldn’t recommend a good sushi place, here in the heart of Gion, steering us to a sushi conveyor belt place which he admitted was low quality. ||||Michael was completely unsympathetic and hard edged when we explained our plight and when pressed blamed unnamed management above him for refusing to let us check out early without the quid pro quo of selling our room to another guest and doubling their revenue.||||Final insult to injury: my wife tripped on an unmarked step in their front entrance, fell and bloodied the area with a bloody nose. They need to mark the step edge with yellow tape like most places do when there is a small step which blends into the ground.||||Bottom line: greedy management company policies, and a culture which has allowed both Michael and Peter to keep their jobs for two years despite being arrogant and dismissive of guests in trouble, equals a hotel where you don’t want to stay. There are plenty of other options with friendlier staff and at better prices in the area. ||||The worst hotel experience we have...