Daiya Ryokan — Local services in Kyoto

I had reserved the place for 3 nights, six months prior to being there. It's is near to Kyoto station/tower which was convenient - 6/7 minutes’ walk. I showed the map to someone in tourist information in Kyoto station and she very nicely guided me.||||When I reached the main building/house - the reception was a big mess with trash bags and other stuff. There was no one at the reception. I kept on saying "hello" "hello" and finally a cleaning lady appeared. After I said I had reservation - she ran somewhere to get someone (so it seems cuz she did not speak English and I did not speak Japanese). Then I was lead to another building/house - a big guy asked if I had reservation, he showed me my name in the clip board and things were done! But it wasn't mentioned anywhere that I had to pay in cash - it was very inconvenient as I did not have that much cash right off - but he was nice enough to let me pay at my convenience.||The Room - It was on the 3rd floor - no escalator or elevator!! You had to carry your suitcase all the way up (hence, be careful to pack light if you are staying at this ryakon!). Stairs were long and steep - all the way to 3rd floor. Room, it had a funny smell. The smell did not go away until my last day there even though I opened window to air out. The room and the bed/mattress/sheets itself were clean though. It had flat screen tv (I never turned it on).||||Bathroom/Toilet - bathroom was all the way down on the first floor while toilet was on the same level. Not convenient for people who has to use sink frequently or if something is forgotten than u have to make a trip up and down a lot. The toilet on the 3rd floor was too tiny. It's a shared toilet on that level and its the only one. ||||There was washing machine available but the guy said the drier was broken. Not useful at all.||||Towels and tooth brush were there on the bed, in the room; but I had to ask for the "Yukata". Second day when I wanted toothbrush and paste - I couldn't find anyone at the reception! ||||I was shocked when I returned the second day, my room was rented out to someone else!!!!!!! I had paid - in full - in cash- the very first day!!!||||I was fortunate to find someone in reception that day otherwise I would have no place to live that night (maybe!). The guy at the reception called someone and hastily arranged another ryokan (Inn) for me - it was nearby but man it was annoying! Grrrr. I felt as though I have been cheated!!||||Another ryokan was bit weird - nothing on it was in English - hence, I don't know the name, but I will surely post the photo. The room itself was cleaner and nicer than the original ryokan I had booked. But the guy in the reception was flirting with another Japanese woman when I was summoned to him by the original reception guy - he very much wanted to ignore me (and did for full 5/6 minutes). Finally, he finished flirting, he opened the room for me! He started flirting -again- before he showed me the bathroom and toilets and the rules of the bathroom. One cannot take shower in the morning, only at night (but it was locked when I wanted to take shower at night!!). This guy was doing weird sexual posture to mention women and men's bathroom/toilets. Made me uncomfortable.||||I was just in the room, just entered - he even tried opening - as it was locked(fortunately) - he knocked (to show bathroom/toilets). Gally!!||||Yukata was nicer here than in the original one. ||||I wanted to buy something to eat but the main door was locked!! That "flirty" guy locked the bath/shower room and the main door and went off to sleep!!! Holly Molly!!!||||And above all, there was no Wifi in this ryokan. The original one had one but not this one.||||I cannot and do not want to recommend this (Daiya) ryokan to anyone. The two stars are for - one for location and another for the big guy at original (Daiya) ryokan. He was nice and friendly but very hard to find.||||In Daiya Ryokan, I could hear people talking in the next room. On my second night, people at the next room were very noise-y. They kept running up & down making whatever sounds they could - O gosh! I poped open my door and showed that I was there too.... finally, the noise subsided later.||||All-in-all - with the money I paid, it was NOT worth it. I would not suggest anyone to reserve this ryokan. I did not have a pleasant stay. I am sure there are plenty of other places to make your...

One of the worst stays I’ve ever been to. This place is by far one of the dirtiest parts of the earth I’ve ever visited.

Rooms are filled with mold & dust. I had difficulty breathing when I was waking up everyday, and had severe coughing early in the mornings due to all the dust and mold surrounding the walls.

Check-in: When we got there, no one was available. We had to wait a while for someone to show up and they didn’t even find our reservation until after a few minutes The place has 2 buildings: One which is a Ryokan, and the other which is a somewhat newer building but reeks of the smell of a cigarette. One of yhe building managers told us that he found our reservation and he took us to a completely different room than what we’ve booked (which was a Ryokan with a Garden view). After I told him that our booking wasn’t accurate, he changed his word and said that they’re cleaning the room instead, which was really an odd thing that he did. I noticed there are other reviews mentioning this as well on their visit.

Shower & Toilet: The entire toilets literally smell like urine. My partner and I would avoid using them as much as we could and ended up using convenience store toilets, as they were much cleaner given they were public toilets!

Shower floors have mold surrounding them, along with very dirty shower mats on the floor which is just a piece of plastic mold and nothing else.

Management: Absolute bizzare management (if there is any). There are basically two guys who seem to manage each building, which fail at it quite hard. First it was the guy from the new building who was trying to rip us off by giving us the wrong room, and then the guy in the Ryokan building who told us to knock on his door if we had questions or any issues. Guess what? He was never in his room too begin with. We were there for 3 nights and 4 days and the only time we saw him was on the first day. We even saw people checking in and waiting for a very long time just so someone could come and take them to their room.

I’d say the only nice thing about the place were the ladies who were doing the cleaning who were nice. Absolutely avoid this place as much as you can. I won’t even know how my health would be affected by the amount of spores I’ve breathed in during my time there, but I hope this helps you...

I visited Kyoto during the first week of November 2016. The Tourist Information desk at Kyoto Station made a hotel reservation for me. They said the hotel was within walking distance from their location but there was only one room left so I should hurry to get there. I got lost trying to find the place, so I stopped at a different 'hotel' to ask directions. A lady said she would accompany me to where I was supposed to go. When we got there, the owner said I am too late, another person had taken the room. The lady who accompanied me said her hotel had one room, at a lower price and I should consider staying with them. The area was quiet, seemed quite safe, with many backpacker types looking for rooms, and is a short walk to Kyoto Station with its abundance of shopping choices, including the fantastic 'JR Kyoto Isetan' food court. I was staying one or two nights only so 'comfort' was secondary to being at a central location. I decided to take the room. It was adequate, with the usual mattress on the floor and shared facilities. The big 'turn'off' was that the room smelled strongly of fish. Perhaps it was above a kitchen, had not been occupied for a while, and the windows were left closed. It wasn't easy to get rid of the smell, even with the windows open for extended time. The property has two buildings. Reception is in what is perhaps the main building. My 'fishy' room was in the other building. I encountered two Australian ladies in the main building who said they stay at that place on their yearly visit to Kyoto. In general, it is 'low-budget' accommodation, suitable for short stays, backpackers, etc. A male at the reception desk was quite helpful in allowing me to use his phone to make my ongoing travel arrangements, and refused my offer of payment for the calls. If I were to go to Kyoto again I would gladly stay at that place, except that I would avoid a 'fishy-smelling' room. The 3 rating is generous because the hosts were helpful. The 4 rating for service is because I was able to cook the batch of Shitake mushrooms I bought at...