Ranzan Hotel — Hotel in Kyoto

Average hotel in a beautiful area. Room was fine, typical Japanese hotel, bed was very comfy. Loved the mattress. My number one pet peeve at hotels is a lack of good functioning wifi. This hotel has no dedicated wifi, however the city of Kyoto does, as does Arashiyama, and they are free and work well. So what's the problem? You get knocked offline every half hour or so, seemingly randomly, and need to reset. Now let's get to the lack of guest relations. Most hotels in Japan feature top notch care and concern for the customer, the only exception being when a hotel mostly caters to tourists, as this one does. Having gotten to sleep late, I was really hoping to sleep in and enjoy the blooming sakura the next afternoon. BUT, breakfast stops at 8:30AM! You MUST be seated no later than 8:30AM. That's just insane. Ever heard of jet lag?? Turns out it wouldn't matter because bright and early at 6AM I was shocked out of my sleep by the TV coming on, loud and obnoxious! Obviously the previous guest had set the TV timer to start up at 6AM. Most hotels check alarms and turn them off for this very reason, apparently this hotel doesn't, and that really messed up my entire day. Getting back to breakfast, there really isn't a buffet, it's a set meal each day, which was a major problem if you don't eat certain things. There is ZERO fruit. None. The first day the waitress said they couldn't get me any fruit, but after huffing and puffing a bit, a nice bowl of fresh fruit arrived at my table. Was that REALLY so difficult, Ranzan? The next morning, I figured I could have the same bowl of fruit at my table since the dead fish on my plate with its eye staring back at me wasn't really appealing to me. Different waitress on this morning, and she was very adamant and rude -- NO FRUIT! I asked again, to other staff. "No, so sorry. No fruit" Really? In the entire hotel? Not a banana? I pushed the plate away and gave up on the very disappointing breakfast. It all feels very controlling. You can't control the room temperature common in Japan hotels -- they very annoyingly go by the calendar and NOT the weather. When April 18th or so rolls around, finally they turn on the AC, before that date, it's only heat. So frustrating and uncomfortable. I went to the front desk to complain, but zero English was spoken. Tourist hotel, zero English. And I mean ZERO. I used my phone app translator and it didn't really help much. I gave up. As I was leaving the manager who had subsequently come on duty and must've heard of the one guy who pushed his food away without eating any of it because he simply wanted some fresh fruit, came up to me to apologize. I asked him why he was apologizing, suspecting he didn't really care but wanted credit for saying sorry. He had no idea why he was apologizing. Over a bowl of fruit you've lost a customer and lowered your online ratings. A banana would've meant an entirely different review. Think about...

I stayed in a western-style double room. The hotel is in a beautiful area convenient to Arashiyama Park and the bamboo way. It’s a short walk to Arashiyama station. ||On check in most of the front end staff spoke English and explained the hotel with some hotel literature in English. If meals are included they are served at the in house restaurant. The front end staff will provide a ticket and reservation window for you to show up and you claim new tickets each day you are entitled to a meal. Unfortunately most of the restaurant staff did not speak any English and the menus are in Japanese so those with limited Japanese may have some difficulty. Meals are kaiseki-style and I really enjoyed dinner on both nights I stayed. Breakfast consists of a combination of Japanese served dishes and buffet. ||The room was a good size for Japan and includes a private shower for those who don’t wish to venture to the onsen. The public bath was standard to most public baths I’ve been to. What was strange was I couldn’t find a thermostat of any sort so my only options were warm a/c or open window. ||There’s a small garden in the middle of the hotel however it’s nothing special when compared to the surrounding areas which are definitely worth a stroll through. ||Note that they have large size yukata if the standard does not fit. I am 183cm/6 ft tall and I appreciated the staff being proactive about offering the large size. ||Considering the price I paid for the room and half board I had a good time. Arashiyama is definitely worth a night or 2 for visitors and I would definitely consider Ranzan for the budget-minded traveler looking for a ryokan experience...

I stayed in a western-style double room. The hotel is in a beautiful area convenient to Arashiyama Park and the bamboo way. It’s a short walk to Arashiyama station. ||On check in most of the front end staff spoke English and explained the hotel with some hotel literature in English. If meals are included they are served at the in house restaurant. The front end staff will provide a ticket and reservation window for you to show up and you claim new tickets each day you are entitled to a meal. Unfortunately most of the restaurant staff did not speak any English and the menus are in Japanese so those with limited Japanese may have some difficulty. Meals are kaiseki-style and I really enjoyed dinner on both nights I stayed. Breakfast consists of a combination of Japanese served dishes and buffet. ||The room was a good size for Japan and includes a private shower for those who don’t wish to venture to the onsen. The public bath was standard to most public baths I’ve been to. What was strange was I couldn’t find a thermostat of any sort so my only options were warm a/c or open window. ||There’s a small garden in the middle of the hotel however it’s nothing special when compared to the surrounding areas which are definitely worth a stroll through. ||Note that they have large size yukata if the standard does not fit. I am 183cm/6 ft tall and I appreciated the staff being proactive about offering the large size. ||Considering the price I paid for the room and half board I had a good time. Arashiyama is definitely worth a night or 2 for visitors and I would definitely consider Ranzan for the budget-minded traveler looking for a ryokan experience...