Kaikoan — Hotel in Kyoto

For context, we stayed in a total of three Machiya style properties in our one month travel in Japan. This place was by far the most disappointing. Many reviews mention aesthetics and this can be relative so I wont go into that but I want to warn other folks on the following 
(1) There is no private bath as the owner claims - the bath is shared and its an outdoor area that is barely 1.5m by 1.5m and requires sticking your hand into a drain to get the temp right
(2) the door to our property literally came off its hinges multiple times. This door marked the only exit from the property and it either locked and didnt open or came off hinges. The manager herself struggled with it but shrugged off any fixes. So we slept with an unlocked door so we didnt trap ourselves in an emergency. This is a basic safety requirement that was shrugged off. 
(3) We stayed for three nights and it’s shocking that no coffee was provided. Only two green teabags for the whole stay - SHOCKING for £200+ per night
(4) This place is form over function - things look pretty but dont actually work. The kettle was broken, the sink was too small and the toilet was more like a shed attached to the room.
(5) The pictures are misleading - pictures across all their properties have been jumbled up so you dont know what you are getting until you get there - older folk and people with children beware! The staircases are dangerous and rickety!!
(6) The downstairs gets super cold and upstairs is super warm. They offer gas heaters that come with warnings of poisonous gas so thats something!

Other Machiyas we stayed in provided proper toilets and baths (not a shed), tea and coffee each day and great ways to regulate temperature. Not to mention, a door that locks and staircases that does not pose a risk to children or elderly. This place is marketing itself as ”quaint” and using it as an excuse to not provide an honest and basic service to customers. 

We will never stay again and the lowest moment of our trip was when we checked into this property after a long day of sightseeing. Booking.com immediately compensated us for this horrendous experience when we...

I had to write a review as the last few are so negative (and misleading).

I’ve been here for 3 weeks and will be here a little longer. It’s a traditional Japanese town house (machiya). We are in the Ukon house (me and my 7 year old son), and it’s wonderful! The hosts are friendly and always ready to help - big shout out to Chiye!

The stairs are a little narrow but fine and sturdy when walking down (and this point is flagged when booking!). Kitchen works absolutely fine (kettle, coffee machine, stove, sink, fridge and freezer). And there’s a powerful shower in the bathroom (which is not a shed as per previous review). And there’s two AC units - one upstairs and one downstairs which cool and heat with no problem.

After three weeks I’m still under a magical spell with "living here". Ignore the negative reviews from people with expectations of a 5 star! That it is not. But a three star homely old school Japanese townhouse? Do not miss out, it’s wonderful, clean, in a great (central and quiet) neighbourhood, and will only add to your...

We stayed here for a week. It’s convenient to go everywhere from this location. We came in June, as the weather started to get hot and humid. The problems with mosquitoes and heat were major. There was a pot with still water outside our unit and we had to get in and out of the house very quickly and nimbly to prevent mosquitoes from coming in. The heat on the second floor was trapped inside the building. It took a long time for the air conditioner to cool down the second floor. We can’t open the windows to help with the ventilation because there was no screen windows and we didn’t want the mosquitoes to come inside. With the room being so small, the air conditioner’s air felt like constantly blowing on our faces, which made it hard to sleep. Besides, the Wi-Fi was very weak. Always on one bar, which made it hard for us to do research for the next day’s trip. Other than that, it was an experience of living in a 120-year-old Japanese house with its...