MichaelJapan

The shuttle runs every 20 minutes and departs from Hachijo Exit, which is the back side of the station (the front exit, facing downtown is called Karasuma).

Kyoto has plenty to offer, however it's probably gonna be crazy busy during this time of the year, especially if you're there on weekend. Google Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, Kiyomizudera,Higashiyama, Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle, Nishiki Market as well as Fushimi Inari and Arashiyama (the last two a short train ride out of Kyoto, but in opposite directions). This is just a small percentage of things to see and do and if you need more info, I suggest you visit Japan Forum.

chuck1

Just returned from a 3 night stay as a Platinum using points.
Asked to be upgraded and received a junior suite with 2 beds and a sitting area all in one room. Bathroom and entire room very dated.

The next day I asked to be moved to a room with a separate living area. When were returned to the hotel after touring, they moved us to a large room with a living area and two double beds plus another tiny bedroom with 2 double beds. It fit our needs to have a separate sleeping area and was quite spacious but again odd and dated.

We received a choice of buffet breakfast in Aquablu or the Executive Club. Each morning we had the buffet in Aquablu and it was adequate though not fancy or over the top or even especially good. I never tried the Executive Club for breakfast. We did stop by for a snack one evening. There were nuts and pretzels available and they served you with 3 or 4 plated appetizers that were a bit strange.

Because we had a child who was a bit worn out, we did eat at the hotel some of the nights including the chinese, Aquablu and one night room service. Again it was all just okay. Nothing wonderful but I get the impression it was normal for a hotel in Kyoto unless you go to the Hyatt or Ritz.

We did go the Ritz one night and it was just lovely. A beautiful hotel in a lovely setting for an urban area.

I also had issues with some of the English of some of the staff at the hotel. Yes - I was in Japan - but I was also in the western restaurant of the Westin Hotel. Where else would expect English to be understood such as, "no cheese"? The waiter had to get out his iPhone to do a translation.

On a positive note, everyone was very friendly and helpful. The concierge found us a wonderful private guide during a busy season.

I would recommend this hotel for points. It's a good deal when rates are high in Kyoto.

mintcilantro

looks like everybody is saying the rooms here are very dated. There are soem positive reviews. Maybe they have renovated some rooms? Any recommendations on what to request when booking with points? They don't have to honor the request but I'd liek to try and stay in one of the better rooms

mintcilantro

oh BTW, oyster has a bunch of photos from this hotel. Wonder why it looks decent in the photos. Those who have stayed here, can you comment?

http://www.oyster.com/kyoto/hotels/t...tos/the-hotel/

lcpteck

Here's my photos.

I think it's decent.

mintcilantro

Thanks for posting.. I'm going to add it to wiki

lcpteck

Okay, it's a Deluxe room. I will edit the photos once I'm able to login to my Flickr account.

adschnei

I recently returned from a stay at the Westin Miyako and the hotel was very nice. These pictures are accurate of what we encountered. Decent decor, nothing modern, but not too old and out of date IMO. Large room and the 2 twins, easily combine to make a King. We had a nice garden view.

We enjoyed our stay and this location was certainly very convenient to all the shrines, temples and Gion.

The only negative was that I didn't do my research on the shuttle. We paid for a taxi each time we went to/from Kyoto Station (cost about 10-12k yen). I can only blame myself for not looking into the shuttle. Besides that, it was a pleasant stay!

JordanYVR

I was looking to book a stay here in July for 4 nights (2 rooms) and the only rates I could find on SPG.com were RACK rates (around 45000 JPY per night). There was next to no availability on any other OTA.

I contacted the hotel directly and they quoted me a room rate about 60% off RACK rate for most nights, but I could not book through spg.com. I confirmed with them and they gave me confirmation numbers that don't appear on my SPG account, the BRG site, etc.

Is this standard practice anywhere? The hotel seems to have only RACK rates loaded for most nights. Is it possible to use SNAs when booking directly with the hotel? (I assume not)

lcpteck

Althought not in a similar situation like yours, I did have 1 reservation recently (in Japan) that was not viewable at all on my SPG account even after keying in the reservation number. It was a BRG rate and the hotel had to internally book it and provided the reservation number to me. I did receive Starpoints/stay/night credit after the stay though (they did confirm I will receive the credit).

Do check with the hotel to see if the rate you booked is eligible for starpoints/stay/night credit (if you need it) as some rates are not eligible.

JordanYVR

Good point. I e-mailed the hotel to confirm this and at the same time searching SPG.com to see if rates had changed. Low and behold, lower rates were available for all nights, so I rebooked on spg.com and managed to BRG the reservation

lcpteck

^

aa4ever

What is the relationship between Westin and Miyako chain (i.e. is this a true Westin)? Is there any reason not to book via Miyako's website?

Also, anyone stayed in the Japanese style rooms recently, and if so how are they?

mintcilantro

nice. I also found the hotel on miyako.com. It's sold out for my dates now. I originally booked on spg.com for 50k JPY per night for April 3 to 8. I guess that's peak sakura season so it's sold out.

drron

Even a year out the rates were very high at the time we wanted to stay-3/28-4/2.But was able to get room for 8000 points per night.