Check In

My wife and I stayed here for one night in January 2018, a little more than one year after the hotel opened. The outside entrance of the hotel is very impressive and expensive-looking, though the check-in area is more generic. When we checked in, there was no line, so we were quickly ushered to our room by a staff member who showed us the room and answered our questions all in excellent English.

Room

We had a Garden View room on the first floor with 570 sq. ft. The green garden view outside the window provided an attractive backdrop when relaxing in the room. The room was spacious with attractive furnishings, a very comfortable bed, and a really opulent bathroom made of stone (but apparently not marble). There was even a TV built into the bathroom mirror, but I could not get it to work, even with the instruction card that I found. This was not a big deal, since watching TV while standing in front of the bathroom mirror is not an important activity for me, and we didn’t use the bath either, so there was little need for it. The remote-controlled curtains and the iPad with hotel information and for ordering in-room were nice to have, but are pretty much standard at luxury hotels. The Wi-Fi speed was also exceptionally good. 

Service

Our contact with staff was somewhat limited, since we ate dinner in our room. Our only other contact was at the spa and when checking in and out. Overall, staff were polished and professional and spoke adequate (spa staff) to excellent (front desk staff) English and there was even native English speaking staff in the gym and pool area.

Dining

We had wanted to eat dinner in one of the restaurants, but after our spa treatment, we were overly relaxed and wanted to settle into our room, so we ordered from the in-room menu using the iPad. We ordered a small pizza and a wagyu hamburger with french fries. Unfortunately, the pizza was not authentic, but rather Japanese style, in other words, what you would get at a local kissaten or family restaurant. Generally speaking, Japan does not do pizza well, but many hotels do have their own pizza ovens and make an effort to produce an authentic pizza, so this was quite disappointing and not what I expected at a Four Seasons hotel. Even the Hyatt Regency Kyoto has an Italian restaurant that attempts to make an authentic pizza, but the taste is still lacking. The wagyu hamburger was also very disappointing as it had many hard gristly bits in it that were tough to chew. Overall, it was probably one of the least tender hamburgers I had ever eaten, wagyu or not, and the french fries were soggy. Aside from that, the person providing the room service was just fine and the presentation was good. It’s not lost on me that some may ask, “Why are you ordering such mundane western food on a visit to the center of Japanese culture?” and say, “Don’t be an ugly American, go out and experience Japanese cuisine!” My reply is that I live and work in Japan and have lots of time to eat Japanese cuisine, therefore, I sometimes like to eat food from my own culture, so please cut me some slack.  

A few days after checking out, I received an email from the General Manager of Four Seasons Kyoto asking me to rate my stay experience. In my rating, I mentioned my disappointment with in-room dining. A few days later I received an email from the Director of Food and Beverage at the hotel apologizing for failing to meet my expectations. I was certainly pleased that my complaint had reached the relevant people and to see how personally they took it, and that they were investigating the meat quality and other issues. This left a very good impression. It’s rare to get an instant response like this from a hotel, though this was my first stay at a Four Seasons hotel, so perhaps this is their standard operating procedure for dealing with customer complaints. Because we ordered late and the food was heavy, we had no appetite for breakfast, which was too bad, since I had really wanted to try their extensive breakfast buffet, which I have heard is really good.

Pool

The pool area is truly incredible. First, there’s a shower area outside the pool where you can clean up, bathe, soak in a hot bath, and take a sauna. This area is all beautifully constructed in opulent stone. Next to this is the entrance to the pool area, where there’s a heated indoor pool with in-water reclining seats surrounded by cabanas and a couple of large whirlpool/jacuzzi baths off to the side. The pool is quite large and the whole space is almost Romanesque in its opulence. It’s very impressive, especially when you have it all to yourself, which I did for a while.

Gym

The gym is large and very well equipped. When I went in, no one was there. There’s of course bottled water and even pitchers of juice to drink during your workout. This may be one of the most attractive and best-equipped hotel gyms that I’ve seen in Japan, and it too is impressive. It’s open 24/7 and accessed with the room key. I only used the treadmill and a few weight stations, with the room all to myself.  

Spa

The spa is another very luxuriously designed part of the hotel. Before treatment, we went to our respective men’s and women’s bathing areas to shower and bathe before our massages. No one was there in the men’s area, so I had the entire bath to myself. This bath, too, was exquisitely constructed of solid stone and it was a pleasure just to sit and soak in the bath in such a beautifully designed space. We received our massages together in the same treatment room, and as usual, I fell asleep during the massage and have little recollection of the treatment, except that I felt very relaxed and refreshed afterward.

Hot and cold baths

Garden

There is an extensive 800-year-old garden with pond and teahouse behind the hotel that can be viewed from the Brasserie restaurant and some of the rooms. There’s a pathway you can walk that takes you across a short footbridge over a stream and on to a beautifully constructed teahouse. Although you can order tea, sake, and food there, we contented ourselves with a tour of the place. I think the teahouse would be more fun to use in the summertime when chairs and tables are set up along an open outside deck and you can enjoy the outdoors and the view while sipping tea or sake. It’s really very beautifully done.

Location

The hotel is on the eastern side of the Kamo River and can be walked to in about 25 minutes from Kyoto Station, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you have luggage, since it’s a very quick taxi ride. It’s also only a few minutes’ walk from the Hyatt Regency Kyoto. The nearest tourist site would probably be Sanjusangen-do, an old Buddhist temple, which is virtually next door to the Hyatt Regency. Other tourist sites are either within walking distance or by bus or taxi ride. There may be more conveniently located hotels in Kyoto for sightseeing, but the location is convenient enough, and not far from Kyoto Station.    

Overall

Four Seasons Kyoto is an opulent and luxurious hotel that undoubtedly cost mucho dinero to build. It offers both Japanese and Western design and construction so that you can stay in western comfort while also surrounded by Japanese culture and aesthetics. In that sense, it is kind of an eclectic experience that tries to satisfy both Asian and Western guests, but to some extent, at least to me, it kind of resembles a high-class cultural theme park, though I’m not sure most people will see it that way.

If you have seen little of Kyoto, then you should consider staying at least one week (or 5-days minimum) so that you have time to sightsee and also enjoy all that the hotel has to offer. If you’ve already seen much of Kyoto, as I have, then you may want to spend more time in the hotel, especially if your stay is short. In Kyoto, some may prefer an all-Japanese experience that a Ryokan provides, but for those who want the best of East and West in a luxury setting, then the Four Seasons is an excellent choice.