Hotel Emion Kyoto

hotel quority is very good

Unfortunately it’s important that I make this review for the reality of what Americans can experience. For context we are three girls who are staying two weeks in Japan, we have stayed at multiple hotels with no complaints or issues or even moments of discrimination. I can’t say the same with this hotel. From the moment we arrived it was miscommunication after miscommunication. Despite translation apps, Staff who spoke English/ could communicate.. it’s one person who said one thing and then another will say the complete opposite and no regard is done. We were told three separate times, different staff including a manager we had breakfast included in our fare. At breakfast while already eating, then letting us know no that’s not true and we have to pay. Of course to avoid delay we paid but nothing was considered then. We decided or tried to use The laundry room amenity and walked down and entered the line that was about a total of 6-7 people waiting in the hallway. Children up and down running the halls. Me and my friend sat in the corner with our clothes because we didn’t feel comfortable leaving them. After an hour of waiting, we got one load in and after 45 minutes of it washing. Again just sitting in the smallest corner watching our clothes done as there was no seats. The manager comes and says “this is a hotel. You can’t wait here, maybe come back around 2-4AM when no one can see.” And that is the shorter version of the story just extremely discriminatory over and over.

I've traveled to thirteen prefectures in the last ten years and this is the worst hotel I have ever stayed at in Japan. The staff is incredibly rude, unkind, and unhelpful. This is the only Japanese hotel I have stayed at where I encountered such aloofness and hostility. The cleaning staff was lazy and did not vacuum our rooms. When asked for more towels, we were not given what we asked for. Every day we would have to argue with the staff to get anything we wanted. The pajamas gave us rashes. When we requested laundry service, the front desk staff refused to pick it up from our room. When laundry service was completed, they refused to bring it up and made us pick it up from them. The staff would not ship our luggage to the next hotel despite every other hotel across Japan doing so. They made us walk two blocks away to ship our luggage ourselves. The staff refused to attempt to communicate. Their English is horrible, but when trying to use translation tools, they would cut us off and talk over us. The clientele is terrible. The elevators reek of cigarette smoke. Breakfast is noisy and the guests are rude and disgusting. On top of everything, breakfast wasn't very good either. I hated this hotel. Unfortunately it was the longest I ever stayed at a hotel in Japan. Do not stay here unless you want to visit the only Japanese hotel where you can experience rudeness.

Hotel Emion is a clean, modern facility one stop away from Kyoto Station. The shared bathing facilities are quite nice, if that's your jam, with a sauna and a cold bath in addition to a pair of large hot baths. It's got an attached bridge across the street, straight to the nearby Umekoji-Kyotonishi Station, and there is of course a nearby convenience store. A particular positive is the absolutely lovely roof (open to guests until 10 pm), with seating, a wonderful breeze, and a beautiful view of most of Kyoto (the only view that's blocked is a narrow arc exactly in the direction of Kyoto Tower). The only real negative I can think of is the undersized laundry room - unless you get super lucky with your timing, expect to have to camp out to snag a machine when it empties. I'd say a better move would be to either do your laundry on a different leg of your trip, or walk a few blocks to a laundromat.

This is great hotel - one train stop from Kyoto train station - near the Railway Museum and Aquarium and good for buses. On the route to the Bamboo Forest (one train). Conveinience stores and starbucks nearby, good restaurant in the shopping area under the hotel. Nice rooms, good showers. Future train is a fun place to have a drink - few yards away.