Hilton Garden Inn Kyoto Shijo Karasuma — Hotel in Kyoto

I am having an extremely wonderful experience staying in this hotel. The room, facility, restaurant at breakfast and stuffs are all perfect. Especially, Miz Doi, guest relations leader, is outstanding, extremely sophisticated in talking with us, noble and extremely friendly being very easy to talk to. She instantly understood our problem related to house keeping and proposed a perfect solution taking a note in her memo paper. I have never met such a prominent staff in my life. I and my wife eagerly hope a wonderful and great future of her and the Hilton group who hired her. I am very sure that I will stay in this hotel and other Hilton hotels repeatedly and frequently for the rest of my life. P.S. Mr. Minato, duty manager, Mr. Kitazawa, food & bevarage shift leader, Miz Toda, are also absolutely perfect, prominent and the nicest staffs. Although Mr. Minato is such a high-ranked staff, he himself brought me necessary things for our room. He is extremely friendly and charming, so he reminds me of the nicest general manager in the Japanese TV drama named ”Hotel” which depicted the real situation of Bay Hilton in Tokyo. He is such a nice staff that he did farewell greeting at last night of our stay in the hotel although he was very busy. His talk is full of wit and Hilton information that enjoyed us a lot and made us feel that we were treated special. When I asked him about the meaning of his badge on his suit, he explained with very humble attitude that it shows that he is a member of volunteers that contribute to the social understanding of LGBTQ people. I think the badge obviously symbolizes and proves that his personality is admirable, respectful, prominent and outstanding. I am extremely looking forward to meeting him at next visit at the hotel. Mr. Kitazawa, talked to us so nicely and friendly with the longest time among the staffs although he was very busy. He is quite good at tactics, and quite flexible. I mistakingly picked up a glass for drinking water from the bar counter without staff permission. But he just showed a great smile and poured a delicious cold water for me. I found the mess later and apologized for the mess later to him. He told me quite generously that I did not have to apologize at all and to my surprise, he apologized for the delay of serving me a glass of water. Also, he answered to all my questions related to exploring the city of Kyoto.His explanation was quite easy to understand and well summarized. This clearly indicated his astonishing intelligence. He was born in Kyoto and has lived in Kyoto, so he knows everything in Kyoto. And his information really helps me a lot to explore Kyoto especially Kiyomizu temple. I really appreciate him. Miz Toda, who served me twice at breakfasts, was so friendly and genius about memorizing. She remembered my exact name although we talked quite shortly once before at first breakfast at the reception. And when I was alone sitting at restaurant chair waiting for my wife to finish smoking, she came up to me and started talking to me assuming that I was bored. Her talk was filled with caring and made me be aware of her outstanding and prominent intelligence.

These staffs are extremely outstanding and I believe that their perfect personalities and abilities should be known to every visitor, so I wrote this review with P.S. I strongly insist that Hilton group is the best hotel of course including this hotel and I surely recommend every tourist to select Hilton for his or her unforgettable and...

2023 Review: Came back to Kyoto and of course I had to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn again. And nothing has changed since my last stay. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY is so welcoming and attentive. Special shoutout to Hanae-Sama who managed to exceed expectations and made sure I had everything I need so my stay was as comfortable as can be.

Rooms were still as clean and comfortable as the first time I stayed here and the breakfast was still every bit as tasty and filling.

Seriously do yourself a favour and stay here during your trip in Kyoto. It’s convenient, friendly and comfortable!

The only thing I noticed was that the Green tea bags in the room weren’t the same as the ones I had when I first stayed here (which were really good). Turns out, it was a limited time partnership. But that’s an easy fix since there’s a shop that sell them around the corner.

Original 2022 Review: This Garden Inn opened its doors just a month or so ago but you couldn’t really tell except for the smell of new paint and wood. They run like a well oiled machine and my stay here has been incredible. The rooms are on the cozier side (but still very generous considering this is a hotel in Japan). Since this is an all-new hotel, all the equipment inside the room was up to date. I was happy that the TV had Netflix and Disney+ built in, in addition to Youtube.

The location is excellent - It’s located between two major subway stations (Shijo/Karasuma and Gojo). It’s just one stop away from Kyoto station from the Goto subway station. There is a Family Mart literally across the street for all your late night snack cravings.

Everybody here was super attentive and friendly. I checked in quite late (7:50PM) because I drove from Tokyo. When I got out of my taxi, I realized that I left my water bottle in the rental car that I already returned. Once I told the front desk staff what happened, they immediately googled the phone number for Toyota Rent A Car and jumped on the phone with them. Keep in mind that this was around 7:55PM and the Rental Car office closes at 8 so the garage itself was closed already. Toyota Rent A Car had to reopen the garage to check the car. I was already super exhausted from the long drive and the instead of keeping me waiting, they checked me in and told me they will call my room when they hear back from Toyota. They’re so attentive and caring, it’s unreal!

The breakfast is also quite good, considering this is a Garden Inn only. In Tokyo, I stayed at the Hilton in Shinjuku and their breakfast buffet is next level stuff but I wasn’t disappointed here at all. They have freshly cooked Somen and Soba and a nice spread of Japanese breakfast items. The coffee machine was also really tasty. I had at least 2 Iced Lattes every morning because of how good it was.

If I ever find myself going to Kyoto again (which is highly likely because of the Rilakkuma Sabo in Arashiyama), I will definitely...

Stayed recently. If taking a cab from Kyoto station make sure to tell the driver it is the Shijo Karasuma/near Matsubara Hilton. There is a newer (maybe bigger) Hilton in Kyoto that opened in 2023 and all the drivers know of that one rather than this one. The staff we encountered here were wonderful and really kind and helpful! We also provided feedback through their survey email and this is the first hotel where the manager actually replied to thank us for our review. The good service didn't end with us leaving. Gym was large and nicely equipped. Even at busier times there was still enough space. Used the laundry room once. Bring 100 yen coins, otherwise you'll have to make another trip up to exchange cash. There are 4 machines but a wash/dry takes 2 hours, and most people then do a further 30 mins dry, so in the evenings it gets really crazy in there. There were guests that unfortunately hogged the machines as well. The status can be seen from the in-room TV but isn't always accurate due to that reason. Room itself was nice and clean. Not the most spacious if you're used to the more upmarket Hilton hotels but decent. The toilet is unfortunately not in a separate room, and opened and close its lid automatically. That got a little amusing as time went by as it inevitably closed when you wanted to use it and opened when you didn't. The hotel had an eco policy so used Brita jugs instead of providing bottles, though the check in agent emphasised that we were welcome to ask for bottles. To be fair the filters are a nice idea, since who only drinks 2 small bottles a day right? In reality the jug was a bit too small, but yet didn't quite fit in the sink so it was a faff. In the end we filled our own bottles with the water machines on the ground and basement floor. The filters were new per stay so not sure if that generated unneccessary waste though? Few minor gripes - noise from other guests in the corridor, and the free standard wifi. Totally unusable during our entire stay. Hopefully they are able to improve these. Will likely stay again the next time...