Onyado Nono Kyotoshichijo — Hotel in Kyoto

Came here because of the social media hype and good reviews but severely disappointed. This hotel ruined my entire Kyoto experience. For anyone considering to book, I'd suggest you to check out the negative reviews on Google to get a real picture of the absolute nightmare of this place. ||||1. Poor hygiene and lack of communication||||They have a no shoes policy. This is extremely unsanitary given the sheer amount of people, plus luggages are wheeled around in the hotel carrying dirt and germs from the streets. What’s the difference between walking in the hotel and on the streets, then? And there are soo many guests walking barefoot. Imagine the viruses and fungus that can be transmitted.||||I asked a staff for slippers upon arrival, and she simply said “no slippers”. They don’t even have the courtesy to provide guests with disposable slippers or offer them an option when they ask.||||The onsen water doesn’t look clean, with shower foam and weird things floating in the water. There was a hair on the sink when I checked in.||||The toilet bowl got clogged and flooded over the tatami floor because it couldn’t handle the amount of toilet paper, it’s the first time I see this in a hotel lol.||||I saw many people’s yukata sleeves dipping into the buffet food at breakfast 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢||||2. Touristy and over crowded ||||Many of the above problems stem from the fact that this entire hotel is SOOOOOO crowded and packed with tourists, including families and their screaming kids. ||||From the moment you arrive this hits you in the face - The lobby is the messiest chaos I've ever seen in a hotel, with the reception area crowded with luggages and tourists and people scurrying around to change their shoes. ||||If you came here for a relaxing experience wanting to enjoy the breakfast, onsen and the perks they advertise so heavily, you can forget about it. Imagine the crowds at a peak tourist attraction except its IN THE HOTEL, the place you're supposed to relax and have rest and respite. ||||It's so packed you have to take a QUEUE NUMBER for breakfast and crowd is worst than a tourist hotspot on a weekend!! I had to wait 30min for my turn. Forget about enjoying your meal during breakfast, there are so many people and its so noisy you can't even eat in peace, with people coughing everywhere. ||||Onsen is always super crowded - despite having different pools there are at least 3 people in one pool at a time. Shower stalls are also crowded and someone bathing next to me splashed their water and soap on me.||||And good luck trying to get a massage chair for your ice cream/yakult - They are ALWAYS occupied and it's so packed with people that honestly, the whole place is a zoo. ||||3. Poor amenities and terrible customer service ||||Due to the over crowding issue, I even had to wait 15 min during check in despite there being 3 self-service kiosks. Even though some staff counters were empty, nobody offered to help me check in, and when I eventually waved to a staff, they sent me to someone else. ||||WIFI DOESNT WORK PROPERLY and the signal always goes on and off.||||Staff are so unhelpful which is not what I expect at this price point. And they are not fluent in English, which blows my mind given how touristy this place is.||||I was suffering from a bad skin rash, I first asked for antihistamines , the pill, and they thought I was asking for a pillow. Then they said they don’t have antihistamines but neglected to inform me there was a pharmacy literally right across the street, which I found out myself.||||Then I asked for body lotion to have some relief from my rashes, and the staff asked me to use the ones in the onsen, lol. I asked if there was a small bottle I can have instead and they said no. They're a hotel and you don’t even have lotion for customers even though there is lotion in the onsen?????? Moreover it was 2.30am and the onsen was already closed, and how does it even make sense that I should go to the onsen just to use a lotion when I don’t intend to take a bath?????||||During breakfast I was chased out of the hall at 10.05am despite having a full bowl of unfinished food. No alternatives were provided like allowing takeaways or giving a few more minutes.||||It’s this narrow mindedness and lack of empathy and consideration to customers that is extremely frustrating.||||I also emailed the hotel after my stay to express the extreme disappointment but they didn't bother replying. ||||5. Faulty air conditioning and cold room in winter ||||The air con doesn’t work, there is literally no air flow or circulation or heating in the room.||||When asked the staff about it, they said because the room temperature is already at the same temperature the aircon is set to, so it doesn’t work.||||Which makes no sense because what’s the point of having an air conditioner with heating mode if it just reflects the exact temperature of the room??????||||It was late at night at 3am, and they sent a male staff up to my room to check the air con. Though there wasn't any bad behavior, the staff's demeanour made me quite uncomfortable (he was shifty and strange when speaking). ||||I would have appreciated if they sent up a female staff instead. ||||They couldn't fix the air con, and they gave a portable heater but it was weak and had zero effectiveness, and turned off by itself in the middle of the night.||||In the end, I had to suffer through a cold room in the middle of winter when I was already having a dry skin rash outbreak. ||||Save yourself the trouble and look elsewhere. This hotel is absolutely not worth it for its obnoxious overcrowding of tourists, poor crowd control, disgusting hygiene and non-existent customer service. You will have absolutely no space or peace of mind to enjoy any of the so-called perks like the breakfast; and come on, you're in Japan and you can easily get even better quality sushi outside than whatever they're offering at this hotel, and at half the price. Nothing justifies the ridiculous price point this hotel...

My review got deleted, so posting it again. WORST hotel I've stayed in Japan - Do yourself a favour and check out the negative reviews on Google for an accurate picture.

Poor hygiene and lack of communication

They have a no shoes policy. This is extremely unsanitary given the sheer amount of people, plus luggages are wheeled around in the hotel carrying dirt and germs from the streets. What’s the difference between walking in the hotel and on the streets, then? And there are soo many guests walking barefoot. Imagine the viruses and fungus that can be transmitted.

I asked a staff for slippers upon arrival, and she simply said “no slippers”. They don’t even have the courtesy to provide guests with disposable slippers or offer them an option when they ask.

The onsen water doesn’t look clean, with shower foam and weird things floating in the water. There was a hair on the sink when I checked in.

The toilet bowl got clogged and flooded over the tatami floor because it couldn’t handle the amount of toilet paper. It’s the first time I see this in a hotel lol.

I saw many people’s yukata sleeves dipping into the buffet food at breakfast 🤢🤢🤢

Touristy and over crowded

Many of the above problems stem from the fact that this entire hotel is SOOOOOO crowded and packed with tourists, including families and their screaming kids.

From the moment you arrive this hits you in the face - The lobby is the messiest chaos I've ever seen in a hotel, crowded with luggages and tourists scurrying around to change their shoes.

If you came here for a relaxing experience wanting to enjoy the breakfast, onsen and the perks they advertise so heavily, you can forget about it. Imagine the crowds at a peak tourist attraction except its IN THE HOTEL, the place you're supposed to relax and have rest and respite. The whole place actually looks like a zoo, no kidding.

You actually have to take a QUEUE NUMBER for breakfast - I had to wait 30min for my turn. There are so many people and its so noisy you can't even eat in peace, with people coughing everywhere. Onsen is always crowded - despite having different pools there are at least 3 people in one pool at a time. And good luck trying to get a massage chair - They are ALWAYS occupied.

Poor amenities and terrible customer service

I had to wait 15 min during check in despite there being 3 self-service kiosks. Even though some staff counters were empty, nobody offered to help me.

WIFI DOESNT WORK PROPERLY and the signal always goes on and off.

Staff are so unhelpful and they are not fluent in English, which blows my mind given how touristy this place is.

I was suffering from a bad skin rash, I first asked for antihistamines , the pill, and they thought I was asking for a pillow. Then they said they don’t have antihistamines but neglected to inform me there was a pharmacy literally right across the street, which I found out myself.

I asked for body lotion, and the staff asked me to use the one in the onsen as they cannot provide me with any. They're a hotel and they don't even have lotion?????? Moreover the onsen was already closed, & how does it even make sense that I should go to the onsen just to use lotion when I don’t intend to take a bath?????

During breakfast I was chased out of the hall at 10am on the dot despite having a full bowl of unfinished food. No alternatives were provided like allowing takeaways or giving a few more minutes.

Faulty air conditioning and cold room in winter

The air con doesn’t work, there is literally no air flow or circulation or heating in the room.

The staff said because the room temperature is already at the same temperature the aircon is set to, so it doesn’t work. Which makes no sense because what’s the point of having an air conditioner with heating mode if it just reflects the exact temperature of the room???

It was late at night at 3am, and they sent a male staff up to my room to check the air con. Though there wasn't any bad behavior, the staff made me quite uncomfortable (he was shifty and strange...

BEWARE! My wife and I stayed here for 3 nights. We very much looked forward to this stay and were left utterly disappointed. FIRST: When you arrive, you have to remove your shoes and wash the wheels of your suitcase. However, it is utter disarray in the lobby with people taking off, putting on, etc. Then you have to weasel through narrow halls to find a place to put your shoes. Our first morning, my wife was getting her shoes on. A delivery man came in with boxes of fish and swung the cart into her nearly knocking her over. He did not even apologize. She was there first getting her shoes on.

The flooring is filthy and like other reviews, Id be aware of how you want to walk around. I thought it to be a requirement to wear socks, however I saw countless people not wearing any socks at breakfast, in the massage chairs and around the hotel. Its disgusting.

SECOND: There are far too many children in this hotel with no one enforcing rules and no mention of quiet time. we have stayed at Disneyworld and had far less exposure to children. Don’t take this the wrong way, we are parents and understand the difficulties traveling with children, however rules must be followed. Children running up and down the hallways all hours of the night. Children running around the hallways eating popsicles and dripping everywhere with garbage on floor. This also occurred in the spa with children throwing the buckets, yelling and running around. Onyado has all these rules such as no talking, eye contact, no tattoos etc. yet children can run around and treat this like a waterpark and they do nothing to enforce comfort for guests. I was relaxing in the cold tub when out of nowhere I struck in the head with a pouring bucket. Some children had decided to have a water fight. The parent did nothing and let the behavior continue for the rest of the guests. Similar to other complaints, my wife used her spa, and much to her surprise, she was naked in front of 8-10 year boys who were using the facility with their mothers. For women that are uncomfortable regarding this, be aware. We overheard multiple people talk about this and lodge complaints at the front desk when we were asking questions on the area/luggage. Good luck getting a massage chair. Families would have their children go into the massage chair and they would rotate the massage chair for their family only. I tried to use a massage chair several times and one evening rotated over the course of four hours with one family and their 6 year old child holding the fort down.

The tik tok/social media breakfast at this hotel is ok. Don’t expect anything great. We stayed at Dormy Inn Osaka (same as Onyado) and the breakfast was exactly the same without the premium pricing. The breakfast is another storey in terms of children and disorder in the hotel. You have people approaching food from every angle. I watched multiple people using their fingers to grab food or taste it. I even observed a person not rotate or cover their mouth and cough into the sukiyaki beef pot. For the price of food in Japan, your are better off going to find something away from the hotel to be honest. Once again, comparison to Dormy Inn Osaka, when luggage service arrived at the lower end version, they brought our bags to our room. Much to our delight. However, at Onyado, this did not occur when they arrived and in fact, they could not locate our bags when we went to the lobby to ask for their location. If I am paying a premium price to use the amenities at this hotel, id expect the staff to do their job. This hotel definitely destroyed my experience for Kyoto. I did not look forward to the circus I had to return to in between our sightseeing and eating. If you are looking for a relaxed vacation, don’t go here. If you’re looking for a never ending daycare experience that lacks cleanliness, this is your place. Beyond disappointed! Will never recommend this...