Kiraku Inn Kyoto — Hotel in Kyoto

The ojisan managing the place was violent and beyond rude and inhospitable. About a week before our stay, I had tried to call and change the reservation from two nights to one (in Japanese). Ojisan was short with me on the phone and said he was UNABLE to change the reservation because it was made on Agoda, not through him. So I said ok and decided just to keep the reservation as it was. When we arrived to stay, he told us that I had called and cancelled one night, so our reservation was only for one night. Except we had never been refunded for the 2nd night, and our reservation on Agoda still reflected that we were staying TWO nights and had paid for both of them. When I tried to explain to him that our reservation was still for two nights, not one, and that we had in fact already PAID for TWO nights (and showed him the invoice on Agoda and our bank payment on my phone, he flipped his sh*t, flew off the handle, and full on started screaming in my face. He was forcefully poking at my phone, (cuz I was showing him proof of our reservation and payment on it) then poking at my chest several times as he screamed in my face. He also put his hands on my shoulders twice, and kept calling me a liar and stupid in Japanese. I thought he was either gonna throw my phone, or hit me, or both. Then I thought he was gonna keel over and die from a heart attack because he was so upset. He was seething and breathing raggedly, and he had that look in his eyes. He kept refusing to refund one night and said if we wanted to stay the second night, we’d have to pay AGAIN (essentially for a third night)! I was trying to calm him but was also insistent on either staying two nights or getting a refund for one night. He kept yelling (and scaring the other guests) and then went into his office and we could hear him typing away (and still swearing), and then he emerged having drafted a document saying we had cancelled and been refunded one night (except we hadn’t), AND, it was magically backdated. I told him if the room was available (which it was), we wanted to stay for both nights that we had paid for. He refused and said I’d cancelled and we’d have to pay again if we wanted to stay a second night…still cursing at me in Japanese. It was like a dreadful scene in a movie. We finally just said ok to get away from him. But both of us felt unsafe and traumatized from the interaction, and the energy of the place was so toxic that we just booked two nights at a different accommodation and left immediately. Thankfully he had stepped out and we didn’t have to see him as we left. We complained about the experience to Agoda and received a full refund for both nights. Dude was beyond tripping. It was just a miscommunication, but he couldn’t/wouldn’t meet me in the middle. I’d never experienced anything like it before, and def not in Japan (I live in Japan now). Not sure what was going on for him that night, but beware if you upset him…he’s likely to fly into a rage and cannot de-escalate. I only wish I had started recording cuz it was ludicrous. The cat...

This little inn was a great place to explore Kyoto from. It is in a small alley not very far away from Gion and also other forms of transportation. Taking public transport from the shinkansen station might be a little difficult, but I would recommend going via taxi. Can't remember exactly how much it was but it makes locating the inn a lot easier than going by bus.||||The inn itself was very comfortable, and the host, Kazuhiko, was very helpful with getting around. Amenities in the inn included wifi, cooking utensils, a small community seating area with a large screen tv, and a vending machine with drinks located right outside the front door. Down the street, about 2-3 min. away, is a liquor store with all kinds of sake and also a vending machine for beer that is available at any time of day.||||Inside, everything was very modern, even though from the outside the inn looked a little older. The bathrooms and showers were fantastic, although be aware that the showers are closed during the middle of the day due to cleaning. This wasn't a problem as the cleaning hours started around 9am or 10am, can't quite remember exactly, but we were already out and about by then. The rooms upstairs are more modern and the one room downstairs is a little older, but still comfortable.||||All in all, I think for the price, location, and cleanliness/modern decor, this was a great choice if you are planning to travel to Kyoto, need a place close to Gion, and don't want to have to...

He is the only Japanese people who is SUPER RUDE in my life||At the time its raining day i arrived at 2 pm and wonder if i could leave the bag there first and will come back to check in on time when they open at 4pm (its heavy rain outside). ||He was angry and yelling on us said 'DO YOU UNDERSTAND ENGLISH!!!! Its open at 4 pm and point the finger to the check-in time on the walL. He also saying other words that hardly understand||I and my boyfriend were shocked. We never expected this service from the host. ||He had many ways to say NO, not just yelling and pointing finger to the guest like this. Outside was heavy rain. we even happy to walk around the market first but just wonder to leave the bag there.||||Room is just fine, small, tinny wall and noisy. ||Toilet is super dirty, smelly, hair on floor and mould around the wall and even on Shampoo bottle that free for guest. I cant use the toilet at all cause I felt wanna vomit when saw the dark spot on the floor/wall and strong smelly||Only 1 thing i like in this guest house is the friendly cat, other thing is all negative experience||NOT...