Stay SAKURA Kyoto Matsuri — Hotel in Kyoto

I'm on my final night stay and I was very impressed with the hotel when I first arrived. There are some minor things they can fix for the rating to go up in the future. The biggest of which shouldn't have been an issue during my stay. I needed change on two different occasions to use the laundry machines they provide on the ground floor. Mos places that have laundry machines that require coins to operate would have a change machine readily available. The first time I asked for change they were timid to give it to me but did after I explained it was for their laundry machines. The second time I needed to ask on the last day of my one week stay they flat out wouldn't give me change for 500 yen (the machines only take 100 yen coins. They said I'd need to go to family mart or somewhere to get change. My clothes were already in the washer and I was only 1 coin short. Fortunately as I was going back to my clothes to pull them out another guest was coming out and they were gracious enough to give me the change I needed so I wouldn't be wasting my valuable time running to the store for change, which would have taken ~30 mins and they might even want me to buy something.

Another issue is there's a motion light in the room that will turn on when you don't want it to (going to the bathroom in the middle of the night) and doesn't stay on when you do want it to (tying your shoes if it takes longer than 20 seconds). There just needs to be an override button but there isn't.

There's a balcony but you can't see out because they used frosted glass, and you can't open the door to go out onto the balcony other than just a crack to let air in from outside. I assume this is for security and safety reasons but it's still annoying. There was a meteor shower one night and it would have been really convenient. (This one doesn't go against the score above because it's understandable, this is more just information for others)

The location is good but not great. It's close to the train station but pretty much nothing else. Every day your commute is walk 10-15 mins to the train station as that will get you where you're going or the food places at the station or around the station are where you'll need to go. This is a negative because there's pretty much nothing in the 0-10 minute walking time for a quick bite, not even a family mart I don't think.

The staff is mostly friendly and helpful, they don't know much English. One of them spoke English fairly well, however still seemed to have a hard time understanding or comprehending what I was saying.

Finally I was awoken early in the morning a couple of times by banging sounds possibly from the neighboring rooms sliding bathroom door, aside from that it was mostly quite. The room itself was clean and the hotel cleaned the room every few days. The shower is nice with good water pressure and there's a control to heat the air in the shower and there's a dry setting as well. You'll need to use a camera translation app to read the controls if you can't...

First off, the location is about 700-800m walk from Kyoto Station. The easiest barrier free and fastest way is to walk in front of the station heading west, past Cafe Veloce until you see a big junction with a maze of bridges. Use the zebra crossing, continue ahead past the car park. Turn right at the 2nd side road and there you have it!

We arrived early and deposited our bags at the Customer Center. It is at the back (south) of Kyoto Station. We checked in there, got our room keys and they deliver the bags to our rooms by 4pm, free of charge. It left us with time to roam the city.

Room wise; it is spacious (280 sq ft) to open up 2 suitcases and leave it at that. We had 2 super single beds joined together, offering good sleep. 2 pillows per bed even!

The room has a AC/heater that you can control which we love. No central control nonsense. A very smart kitchen cabinet with everything we need to cut fruits, heat up a bun. Plenty of charging points, counter space. Shower has individual heater control so we were never cold after our shower. They have a cut stool so it prevents falls when you soap. There is a laundry rod under the dryer so semi wet clothes are bone dry by morning. No breakfast, no problem. There is a Family Mart just 5 minutes walk , at the junction of the big historic garden/Honganji. Has most snacks we need.

They deliver our bags to Kyoto Station customer center at 500 yen per bags. It gave us a full day of sightseeing without having to loop back to the hotel.

Love this place. Wished we had stayed longer. It is by far the best hotel experience under 100 USD.

Cleaning only on check out, which we...

The hotel has rooms resembling the classic japanese house rooms. It has good spaces, bed with a comfy matress, a pretty big couch where you can watch TV and last but not least a full featured bathroom with shower and a japanese style bathtub with tv so you can watch your favorite japanese "soap"opera while showering. You have to take off your shoes before stepping on the room floor so they provide slippers. The room is quiet and clean. You cannot open the sliding door on the balcony for safety reason. Of course the rooms are non smokers. You can smoke in the dedicated room at the entrance of the hotel. Speaking of the entrance you find the reception and a common space where you can have breakfast using the capsule coffee machine (Capsule provided by the hotel) and chat with your friends. The hotel features also a laundry room where for a small amount you can wash your clothes and let them dry. You can also choose to dry your clothes in your own room by placing them in the "bathroom" and setting the room in "dryer" mode. This won't prevent you from using the toilet since the two are...