Hotel Kuretakeso, Kyoto Kiyomizu Gojo — Hotel in Kyoto

Our first time staying at this Japanese business type hotel because the price was too good to turn down. We booked 2 rooms and both rooms were very clean, functional with extremely comfortable beds and very good duvet. I had asked for a buckwheat pillow ahead of time, and they provided it to us. ||Our room rate included daily buffet breakfast of any japanese dishes along with western items. For the Japanese selection, there was curry, chicken drumsticks, miso soup, rice, a variety of japanese side dishes like spinach gnome, sesame beans, spinach tofu salad, eggplant, and many more. My favourite japanese dessert they have is the warabimochi. They do rotate which is nice. As for Western selections, there were scrambled eggs, wieners, potato wedges, croissants, yogurt, canned fruit.|Plenty of beverages…hot and cold coffees, iced teas, juices, soda water, and water. ||To top it off, the hotel even provides a complimentary happy hour—one drink a person…from lots to choose…vodka, shochu, sake, white and red wine, beer, whiskey, gin, scotch, and of course non alcoholic beverages. ||From Wednesdays to Saturdays only, the hotel has a dinner option where the chef prepares a daily meal for you for about 1200 yen a person. One night the daily special was a fried fish and chicken karaage with side salad and dishes along with miso and rice. It was nice to be able to relax and eat at the hotel when happy hour is provided. ||Our room had 2 single beds while the other room had 2 double beds. I preferred the room with the single beds because the room was slightly larger. Washrooms in both rooms are functional with bathtub and shower, toilet and small sink. We stayed a total of 5 nights so every 2 days we had thorough housekeeping service while the other days we had to leave the soiled towels and garbage in the hallway and they replace it with clean towels and garbage bag. ||A few things we found inconvenient for us (non Japanese speaking) was that the air conditioning/heat system along with the air humidifier unit are all in japanese. We had difficulty getting AC in the room as it was only heat. Luckily we were able to open the window in our room and washroom for fresh cool air. ||As for the tv channels, they were all japanese speaking with no english channels. It would have been nice to have one English speaking news channel. ||For the most part, staff was helpful and try to accommodate but English sometimes was lacking. Front desk staff not too welcoming (at least that is how I felt every time I approached them) and I am not sure if that is because of the language barrier or is it a dislike for Chinese tourists. We are Chinese but we have lived in Canada all our life (over 60 years) so we consider ourselves Canadians and nothing like the Chinese from China. ||There was a male and female little onsen for guests to use and paid laundry…200 yen for a wash and 100 yen to dry for 30 minutes and 50 yen for detergent. The laundry facilities open during same hours as the onsen. ||Lastly, the location of this property is not too ideal for tourists, imho. It is a a good 7 to 8 minute walk to the Keihan rail line (Kiyomizu Gojo station) and after a long day of walking already, the 8 minutes can feel very long. The Keihan rail is not very convenient as we can only take the blue, orange, and black lines because these are the only 3 lines that stop at our station…Kiyomizu Gojo while the red line and other lines bypass our station. During our 6 day visit, we have never seen the local black line or orange line. It has always only been the blue line. ||There were really no shopping or any good restaurants nearby the hotel but there were 3 convenience stores close by the Kiyomizu station…Lawson, Family...

Our first time staying at this Japanese business type hotel because the price was too good to turn down. We booked 2 rooms and both rooms were very clean, functional with extremely comfortable beds and very good duvet. I had asked for a buckwheat pillow ahead of time, and they provided it to us. ||Our room rate included daily buffet breakfast of any japanese dishes along with western items. For the Japanese selection, there was curry, chicken drumsticks, miso soup, rice, a variety of japanese side dishes like spinach gnome, sesame beans, spinach tofu salad, eggplant, and many more. My favourite japanese dessert they have is the warabimochi. They do rotate which is nice. As for Western selections, there were scrambled eggs, wieners, potato wedges, croissants, yogurt, canned fruit.|Plenty of beverages…hot and cold coffees, iced teas, juices, soda water, and water. ||To top it off, the hotel even provides a complimentary happy hour—one drink a person…from lots to choose…vodka, shochu, sake, white and red wine, beer, whiskey, gin, scotch, and of course non alcoholic beverages. ||From Wednesdays to Saturdays only, the hotel has a dinner option where the chef prepares a daily meal for you for about 1200 yen a person. One night the daily special was a fried fish and chicken karaage with side salad and dishes along with miso and rice. It was nice to be able to relax and eat at the hotel when happy hour is provided. ||Our room had 2 single beds while the other room had 2 double beds. I preferred the room with the single beds because the room was slightly larger. Washrooms in both rooms are functional with bathtub and shower, toilet and small sink. We stayed a total of 5 nights so every 2 days we had thorough housekeeping service while the other days we had to leave the soiled towels and garbage in the hallway and they replace it with clean towels and garbage bag. ||A few things we found inconvenient for us (non Japanese speaking) was that the air conditioning/heat system along with the air humidifier unit are all in japanese. We had difficulty getting AC in the room as it was only heat. Luckily we were able to open the window in our room and washroom for fresh cool air. ||As for the tv channels, they were all japanese speaking with no english channels. It would have been nice to have one English speaking news channel. ||For the most part, staff was helpful and try to accommodate but English sometimes was lacking. Front desk staff not too welcoming (at least that is how I felt every time I approached them) and I am not sure if that is because of the language barrier or is it a dislike for Chinese tourists. We are Chinese but we have lived in Canada all our life (over 60 years) so we consider ourselves Canadians and nothing like the Chinese from China. ||There was a male and female little onsen for guests to use and paid laundry…200 yen for a wash and 100 yen to dry for 30 minutes and 50 yen for detergent. The laundry facilities open during same hours as the onsen. ||Lastly, the location of this property is not too ideal for tourists, imho. It is a a good 7 to 8 minute walk to the Keihan rail line (Kiyomizu Gojo station) and after a long day of walking already, the 8 minutes can feel very long. The Keihan rail is not very convenient as we can only take the blue, orange, and black lines because these are the only 3 lines that stop at our station…Kiyomizu Gojo while the red line and other lines bypass our station. During our 6 day visit, we have never seen the local black line or orange line. It has always only been the blue line. ||There were really no shopping or any good restaurants nearby the hotel but there were 3 convenience stores close by the Kiyomizu station…Lawson, Family...

I literally cannot praise this place enough. For the cost of this hotel, it totally exceeded my expecations and blew me away. I would 100% recommend this to anyone that visits Kyoto and is looking for a place. I stayed at 5-star hotels, and places that cost hundreds a night, and they couldn't compare to the service I received here. ||First off, I would like to praise Iijima-san in who had made be dinner for 2 of my 3 nights there. It was some of the best food I had in Japan during my 2 weeks there! Granted I ate a lot of mcdonald's/fast food due to allergies. Dinner was an 11/10. I enjoyed talking to him for a little even though he didn't speak much English and I don't speak much Japanese. He really reminded me of my grandpa if anything. Anywho, if you see this, I hope you don't mind that I put your name here! I just wanted to specifically praise you, because you helped make my stay in Kyoto/Japan even better than I expected. It was almost like eating a home-cooked meal!||Secondly the breakfast was also amazing. It was a breakfast buffet! There was a small assortment of American-esque breakfast foods. Being Asian myself, I enjoyed the LARGE and I mean LARGE assortments of side-dishes/Japanese/Asian food they served for breakfast. I literally left every morning with a full stomach after eating delicious food. I would book/pay for the breakfast/dinner if I were you. 100% recommend it. Oh and did I mention the 1 free drink for happy hour during 6pm-8pm?||Next up is the location. The location is pretty good. There is a station probably not even 5 minutes away that's easy to find. You literally walk less than 5 minutes down/up the hill to reach the Keihan main line. Also this hotel is a 10-15 minute walk from Kiyomizu-Dera which is a must see in Kyoto, so very convenient location wise. ||The amenities are amazing too! First off, they have an actual sauna! I didn't exactly use it, because I was busy exploring Kyoto. Then, in the same area in the basement they also had coin laundry! I spent 12 days in Japan so I really needed a cheap place to wash laundry. It was like 300 yen to use the washer, 100 yen to dry, and 50 yen for detergent which you can buy at the front desk. ||The staff where all very great. They were all so nice. Some spoke better English than others, but it was more than enough to get what I needed during my stay there. ||I typically stay at Hilton's/Hyatt's/Marriott's/IHG etc during my many trips. Boy, this place sure blew those hotel chains out of the water. Again, especially for the price I paid. I was expecting the bare minimum. This place is so much more than that. I'm almost afraid to write this review, because then they might get more business, and then they might raise the prices for rooms!||All in all, I would absolutely recommend this place to everyone. I will definitely stay here again the next time I'm in Kyoto. I'm glad to be the first English review on Tripadvisor. I hope more people see this and choose to stay here, because they absolutely deserve the business! I'm going to go leave a review on site I booked this stay at too, because again,...