luna6

Arrived here and had an odd, slightly unpleasant experience at the Westin Kyoto satellite concierge office at Kyoto Station. But, after that blip everything went smoothly and got a great upgrade to a luxury suite without asking.

About the concierge satellite office. I read that they had a satellite office at Kyoto Station where you can leave your suitcases for the staff to take it to the hotel for a small charge of 360 Yen per suitcase. Anyways, we arrived on a train from Kobe with two suitcases and were ready to drop it off. The staff at the satellite office seemed determined for me to keep the suitcases and save me some money by taking the suitcases myself. Yup, I could have strolled to the hotel shuttle bus stop a few feet away with the suitcases and wait for the shuttle bus and have the driver take my suitcase and then a bell boy at the hotel take it to my hotel and save the 360 Yen charge, but I was tired and wanted to get rid of the suitcases as quick as possible. So after going back and forth with their staff about 3 times, they finally understood I wanted to pay the extra charge and have them take my suitcases.

Besides that blip everything else went smoothly. The upgrade to the luxury suite was awesome on their part and I didn't ask about an upgrade at all. The amenities like the Bvlgari bath products wowed me as well. Also, the suite has a balcony with two comfortable chairs to stare out into the city of Kyoto, nearby mountains and a temple (Nanzen-ji ?).

Hotel is gigantic in terms of width. The bird watching trail which is accessed from the 7th floor should not be missed. There is a convenience store on the basement level which you don't see if you don't know about it. Also a block away if go left once you exit the hotel, there's a Lawson convenience store. Lastly, Kyoto is an amazing city and I don't remember ever snapping so many pictures of a city before. Just wow!

qdmd

Anyone have the concierge email? I need their help for restaurant reservation but couldn't find it anywhere on their website.

mahasamatman

Just use their general address. https://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefe...ropertyID=1427

cohighcountry1k

So my Ambassador had secured an upgrade to a Japanese room for us. We wanted to stay in one to have a slightly more Japanese experience. When we arrived, the staff noticed that my sister was on crutches (she had re-injured her knee on our ski trip in Hokkaido). The front desk people said that our pre-arranged room would in unsuitable due to the stairs to get to it. They switched us to a half Japanese, half regular suite in the main tower. The suite had a living room with sofa, chairs, and a desk. The bedroom had three futons and a small Japanese sitting area with Japanese screens. It was awesome. The hotel is indeed very accommodating and will upgrade to Japanese and half Japanese suites. Great Platinum recognition, huge breakfast buffet, great executive lounge, great concierge, and super staff helped make for a lovely stay in enchanting Kyoto.

Plumber

Best of both worlds! Nice.

I have stayed in a Japanese Suite and found it difficult to get work done.

dek526

i stayed as a GO and supposively was upgraded to their club floor but just your normal room with a "better" view. I had a view of a courtyard with an empty pond. i get better upgrades as GO with Hilton and bfast for two. staying here again next month so will see if i'll be sticking with spg in the future

dc2005b

Just returned from a great stay in Kyoto and like you, I was upgraded to a Luxury Suite after they returned my SNA's. I received the email the day before saying they could not apply them but was greatly surprised upon checkin in to get a nice suite on the top corner of front building looking out over temples, and city. The bathroom was lacking in space but the views from balcony made up for it!

Boraxo

You know something is wrong when Mrs B says "this does not meet my standards" (to be fair we had just arrived from the best suite at the Hyatt Hakone and prior to that from the Park Hyatt Tokyo). But still we find here a rather tired pathetic property that does not even rise to Four Points level much less Westin. To be fair Checkin was fast and efficient and we were upgraded from the lowest ROH twin to a 5th floor king corner room in the old wing with city view. But that's where the good ends. The room itself needs a serious makeover starting with the dated furniture and soiled carpet. The bathroom was a bit better with heavenly shower and nice robes but marred by cheap shower curtain, thin towels and that awful green soap. If I look over the balcony i see I am facing HVAC (but can't hear it over the street noise). Time for earplugs. I went downstairs to register my displeasure but as predicted the staff, while polite, is unable to fix to move me to executive floor (even offered to pay) because hotel is full (and so it appears on website). "Sorry, we know you are Gold but this is best we can do."

I guess you get what you pay for @ $134/nt or 11k points (we are paying for 2 of 4) but seriously tempting to switch properties tomorrow. I travel overseas a great deal for work and this is probably the worst property I've seen in a year. Embarrassing to see Westin name on the door. Sorry that I did not read the Tripadvisor reviews more closely on this pit.

Positives:

• Heavenly bath and bed
• Free water bottles restocked daily
• In room refrig
• Generally good in-room wifi
• Laundry prices are not absurd
• Shuttle every 1/2 hour to Gion and main JR train station
• Very close to subway stop
• PJs/turndown service
• Excellent concierge

Negatives:

• Cigarette smoke in hallways (not a single non-smoking floor)
• Bars unusable due to heavy smoke
• Wifi requires daily login
• Dated furniture and carpets
• Traffic noise in rooms facing street
• No bus service
• Thin towels
• No convenient coffee (e.g. starbucks) or convenience store nearby (e.g. 7/11)
• Mediocre staff attitude across-the-board (exc. Concierge)

Practice pointer (for Wiki?!): For free shuttle to hotel from train station, exit towards Hachijo Central. When you get to curb turn right until you are in front of Harves store, then walk to center island. You will see Ibis hotel across street to left. About 5m before shuttle arrives a chick appears with a Westin sign.

lcpteck

Planning to do a 3 night stay here in February next year during the Chinese New Year period. It seems they do not have non-smoking basic rooms. I could only find non-smoking club rooms. Wonder how bad the smoke smell will be.

3 nights should be fine for a leisure trip to Kyoto right? Unfortunately will be traveling alone...

Would I have to choose breakfast as my Platinum amenity? Or does the lounge serve breakfast?

jdawg

This property offers the breakfast buffet in addition to the 500 point platinum amenity (I believe there's an option for a continental breakfast in the lounge, but I could be wrong, I ate in the buffet each day during my stay).

lcpteck

Cool, thanks for the info.

luna6

Anybody stayed here in the luxury suite with King Bed?

I asked for a luxury suite with King Bed + balcony for an upcoming stay, but was informed the luxury suites with king beds do not have the balcony. So I opted for the luxury suite + twin beds pushed together + balcony which I had back in March. Enjoyed that room enough that I booked it straight up this time rather than hoping & praying for an upgrade to that room. With that said, I'm curious if the luxury suite with king bed might offer something else since it lacks the balcony?

MSPGabe

Stayed here back in June as a Preferred member on points. Paid a bit more to get a room with a King Bed on the Lounge level.

Arrived late after stopping for ramen in Narita, and the front desk was very apologetic that happy hour was over, and gave me and my friend each a drink voucher for use at the bar on the top floor.

Room was great, as was breakfast in the lounge the following morning.

slawecki

we just returned from 10 days at the weston kyoto. would like to add my comments TO THOSE OF borax and wife. will use caps:
Cigarette smoke in hallways (not a single non-smoking floor)8th FLOOR HAD NO SMOKE
Bars unusable due to heavy smoke . DON'T USE THE HOTEL BAR\
Wifi requires daily login POOR BABY. WIFI WAS FAIR.
Dated furniture and carpets YEP.
Traffic noise in rooms facing street STAY ON THE INSIDE. WE HAD A TYPHOON GO OVERHEAD. DID NOT HEAR IT.
No bus service NOT ALL THAT BIG A REQUIREMENT. TAXI SERVICE WAS WONDERFUL
Thin towels NOT IN MY ROOM
No convenient coffee (e.g. starbucks) or convenience store nearby (e.g. 7/11) YEP
Mediocre staff attitude across-the-board (exc. Concierge) I FOUND THE ENTIRE STAFF TO BE OF EXTREMELY HIGH QUALITY, WELL TRAINED, AND COMPETENT. HOW YOU RATE THE WASH DC AND NYC STAFF?

Finkface

I'll agree with the above. Just spent 6 nights there (on points), also on the 8th floor. No smoking or smell at all. I'm sure I saw signs saying there was no smoking on that floor. We faced the Garden of Philosophy and it was dead quiet, and we had the window open the entire time. Staff was great, towels were nice and thick and the #5 bus stopped just a block (or maybe 2?) away. And the subway station is just steps away to the right. There is a convenience store in the basement and a Lawson Station a block away to the left. We had a great stay and would go back in a heartbeat.

Slawecki, I wonder if we passed you in the hallway or lobby?