Meldia Stay Nijojo — Hotel in Kyoto

This accommodation is unmanned and fully run by pass codes, automated security doors, tablets and apps, without a single staff member or guest in sight, making the place seem quite uninviting and barren to me upon reaching. It is hidden along a small alley that branches out from an arterial road near Nijo Station, but it is by no means within a short walking distance to it. I had to take a bus, i.e. bus 9 at berth B3 from Kyoto Station, before arriving at a bus stop near the accommodation and then having to walk under the rain to it. Thankfully, it's near Nakau, a fast food restaurant that serves casual Japanese cooked meals 24 hours a day, a Lawson convenience store, and within a reasonably short walk's distance, a shopping alley/arcade full of shops and restaurants lined along its both sides.

Checking into the accommodation was a rather harrowing and vexing affair. My travel party and I had to scan our passports using the app, but it insisted on crashing when multiple passports had to be scanned in succession. We had to make a call to the accommodation's office to get our room's access code, and we even had to manually email copies of our passports to their email.

The greatest caveat of the accommodation, however, lies with how ridiculously small the room that I was provided was. The photos shown online on most accommodation booking sites differ quite a bit from the reality of the rooms' sizes. I had booked a triple room with three single beds, and while the beds are quite comfortable, I had to literally sidestep, akin to how a crab would move, my way along the narrow "walkway" formed from the ends of the three single beds since I was sleeping on the bed furthest away from the toilet and nearest to the wall. The fact that I had often bumped my shoulder onto the edges of the wall-mounted television placed less than a short forearm's length away from the beds' ends is enough of a testament of how cramped the space is. My mother, aunt and I had to constantly give way to each other and take turns moving while in the room, and there was not much room to lie even one standard-sized luggage down open on the carpeted floor.

Design-wise, the rooms appear earthy, plain, and quite dull, but at least the bed sheets and amenities are clean and appear hygienic, something which we all too often take for granted. Adequate supplies of consumables and toiletries are provided, such as tooth brush sets, fresh towels, etc., and I was pleasantly surprised that they have managed to squeeze in a small refrigerator under a very small desk with some green tea bags provided complimentarily. The smartphone provided in the room is more of a gimmick than a practical utility, for no local or international calls can be made from it - at least in my experience - despite having a tab labelled for calls. I was also amused at how they had tried to cut costs by providing only a pair of slippers when the room was clearly meant for three people.

The staff there are also uncompromising, unrelenting, somewhat indifferent, and impersonal to a fault. I made phone calls to ask for an extension past my check out timing because my mother had fallen quite ill that morning, but they flatly turned me down. Simply put, there isn't any heart or soul to this accommodation, and it certainly doesn't seem like it's making much of an effort to make their guests' stay a memorable experience. Sadly, all of that only serves to make it very forgettable.

Stay away from this place if you are looking to stay for more than a day or two, travelling in a group, or just claustrophic - the cramped interiors of the accommodation's rooms and the absence of a human concierge on-site could be a deal-breaker for you. Otherwise, you may consider giving this place a try for how different an experience, i.e. entirely unmanned, it would offer you from a communal hostel, hosted lodging (airbnb), or a conventional hotel. There are, however, other equally inaccessible accommodations under the JAPANING brand that I have stayed that are not only cheaper and prettier, but a lot...

Booked this hotel online after reading it had everything we needed in a hotel. |On the booking it says nothing about being self check in. You get emailed codes when your room is ready. No good if your phone doesn’t work over there and you have no access to wifi until AFTER you check in. There are 3 grand Japanning hotels all in the same vacinity. Be careful you don’t get the wrong one. Taxi drivers don’t understand the English address so we ended up at 2 wrong hotels before getting it on the 3rd attempt.|On our booking it also states luggage storage available. Check in isn’t until 4 so we wanted to store our bags and head out not to waste the day. Storage isn’t actually available at the hotel but at their main office back near Kyoto station. Definitely wasn’t going to drag all our luggage back on the subway to store it so wasted a whole day.|Asked at the front desk about getting the shuttle to the station after we had checked out only to be told they only take you to the hotel from the station not from the hotel to the station. Be aware if you want to use the shuttle from the station you need to book in advance. We weren’t even aware their was a shuttle as this wasn’t mentioned on the booking.|Good points... rooms were spacious and close to the castle and...

Check in was fast, the receptionist was there to help us even as we checked in at 10pm. We were supposed to be able to check in ourselves with instructions sent to us via email, but since the receptionist was there, he helped us with the process.

We got a triple room for 3 nights- the room and washroom is very small. The shower area might be a little too low for taller guests to fit in. But it was clean and comfortable enough for us. The room was not cleaned for our 3 nights there, but we could request for a change of towels at the reception.

Location of the hotel is pretty good for visitors going to the main tourist attractions. Even though the hotel is not very near any train station, there are bus stops all around that makes it very convenient once you figure out where to take the buses from. There are also convenience stores nearby and a 24 hour eatery right beside the hotel.

When searching on maps, this hotel could be easily mixed up with Grand Japaning Hotel Nijo. Walking from Nijo station to Grand Japaning Hotel Meldia Nijojo is very far especially when you’re travelling with huge luggages.

Overall this hotel is good value for money- it is a small hotel, clean and convenient enough...