Deer Guesthouse Nara ディアーゲストハウス(奈良) — Hotel in Nara

DO NOT COME HERE. IT IS NOT SAFE. We are two girls.||It doesn't open until 3pm, he does not tell you that. I was texting him on agoda and not once does he mention he is not open for our arrival at 11am. ||||We left our bags with a kind shop nearby. ||||During check in, he disappeared until we had to walk around and call him. He is not organised. ||||He is not welcoming.||||The kitchen is not clean. ||||The cooker doesn't work and he does not tell you, so when we bought fresh ingredients, we could not cook it.||||He ignored several requests to fix it. Replying with a full stop when asked on Agoda.||||The internet only works for twenty minutes then dies before you have to reconnect after 10 more minutes. ||||On our last night, he closed the showers for 10 til 3pm. A five hour cleaning time! Are you serious? He does not clean. He just leaves as he closes the place until 3pm. ||||We asked for a refund as we have had enough. He said no. Then HE TURNED OFF THE INTERNET so we could not contact Agoda. This displays dangerous behavior. ||We decided to just stay as it was our last night. We went for a walk. ||||We returned to find our bags outside on the street. He had gone through our stuff and packed them carelessly. My MP3 went missing.||||When questioned he got very suddenly violent and fought my friend (she obviously fought back). He bit her and we had to disinfect the would for three days||||Thankfully it was all caught on camera and the police helped us out. We got a partial refund (he lied about the nightly price). ||||Luckily our hotel in Osaka let us stay for an even cheaper price as we had a booking there the next day. We have also put it on our insurance as the police report helped us gain the money back.||||If you walk out of the station, there are much better guesthouses before arriving at this ugly place. There is no sound proofing whatsoever and the owner couldn't care less.||He is a disgrace to...

Stayed a night at Deer Guesthouse as a stopover before our trip to Kyoto, and it was nothing short of wonderful. Our well-travelled and amazingly multilingual host cum hostel owner, Yamamoto-san, was warm and interactive, and we had a great time engaging in a linguistic and cultural exchange with other guests in the main gathering hall. Japanese, Mandarin, English, Spanish, German etc, there were more languages than I could count being used, with guests translating for those who couldn't follow the conversation. |While small, the place was clean and hygienic, and toilets were gender-separated (much-appreciated!). The shoji doors might be a tad thin for light-sleepers, but other guests were very considerate while I was there, so no problems were encountered. Nothing a pair of earplugs won't fix. |Utensils were also provided in the communal kitchen should you like to cook instead of eating out. Free green tea is available too. A washing machine is available at 200yen a spin, so long-term dwellers seem adequately catered for as well. |As far as hostels go, this place hits all the right spots, especially in terms of promoting intercultural interaction with other travel-loving folks (which really, is the main point of hostels). I had a truly great experience there, and would definitely be back should I be lucky to drop by...

This was actually my first stay in a hostel, and neither the place nor the host disappointed. It was small but cozy and clean and fully functional. There are two main rooms, a toilet room, and a shower and sink area. My friend and I stayed for one night, and there happened to be only three other guests with us who all stayed in the other room, so we got lucky and had one room to ourselves. Their room was separated by divider only, however, so they did have to go through our room to access the rest of the house. The place itself is in a prime location right off of Naramachi, so you're right in the middle of the action with plenty of places to grab food. From the time we checked in around 3:30 pm, the host was present and amicable, and we ended up talking with him for an hour while we ate the food we brought, and he offered us tea. He was extremely helpful in showing us around the hostel and explaining how things worked, but he also didn't hover and left us to relax when we wanted. Overall, it was a great place to stay for an extremely favorable price and really topped off our weekend...