Saka Hotel Kyoto

The hotel and staff were absolutely amazing! We were surprised the hotel was only a 3 star and not at least a 4 star hotel.

Location was 10/10. So quiet and peaceful. A quick 10 min walk to all the beautiful historical areas of Kyoto, Gion, etc. They had a beautiful cozy lounge with 24/7 tea, coffee, snacks and sparkling wine around 4-6 pm. Our room was spacious, so clean and comfortable. All the guests were respectful and quiet as well.

I read somewhere that they can’t won’t call for dinner reservations for you, so I didn’t try asking. It would be great if they could.

The food was excellent. All of the staff were super friendly and lovely people. The private bath was fantastic.

Location is a little away from the major shopping, but is within walking distance.

This hotel is outstanding. From the check-in process, to the room itself, to the daily breakfasts - everything was phenomenal.The hotel is beautifully designed and serene. It is well situated on a quiet road right off of a busy tourist path.The moderate double room had a tranquil Japanese design, and was bright, large, and clean. The wet room contained a shower and wooden bath which was delightful to use after long days of sightseeing. The robes, slippers, and complimentary toiletries were nice extra touches. You can also select one of three cleaning schedules to best suit your needs. The guest lounge was well stocked and a calm place to relax in. The staff are kind and attentive. They surprised us with sparkling wine in our room for our anniversary.Thank you so much!

Nothing!

The meals (dinner & breakfast) we had that were included were phenomenal! The room itself was spacious, clean and i loved the private onsen. The staff were very kind and accommodating. This stay was only a 10 minute walk from the Kiyomizu-dera area which was convenient.

That i could not spend more time here! The pacing of the dinner was a little slow.

The hotel was beautiful and the staff were friendly, helpful and wondeful. The hotel was a great experience and would highly recommend it.

The breakfaat an experience but would have liked more fruit and bread

Attention to detail, cleanliness, spacious, central location, and value for money!

The hotel itself is really nice, with an excellent breakfast, fantastic amenities and in a great location. However, it is too bad that the English spoken by the Reception is so poor that it creates such an unpleasant situation, from the beginning to the end.I would rate it a 10/10 if the Reception staff could speak a decent enough English to avoid confusion and, in our situation, quite a small "crisis" which was totally needless.

The English proficiency of the staff is so unbelievably low that our stay there ended up with us being checkout out one day earlier simply because the person at the Reception, who confirmed that we could extend out stay by one day, was nowhere near understanding what we actually asked for, even though she consistently seemed to confirm that it was all good and we could keep the same room for one more day. On the last day we were to find out that she did not understand anything, or she forgot to extend the stay in the booking system. Needless to say that we were "greeted" outside of the hotel, in a steaming heat by a young guy with a piece of printed paper, all in Japanese, basically asking us to recognize our names on it and asking us to confirm the hotel reservation. I mean... what is this practice?!! We were with our children in front of the hotel, just out of the taxi, sweating in a full August heat and the person would not let us in the Reception area because we could not recognize our names in Japanese on a printed piece of paper. He could speak only Japanese. If there are cameras, I am sure the staff can check that this are the exact events. My husband took charge and he simply entered the Reception area, despite the protests of the guy with the paper in hand. At the Reception, they could not find our booking (which was already paid for), however, after several calls and conversations, they finally found it and checked us in. All good for the rest of the day, until we decided to extend our stay by one more day, if the same room or a similar room would be available (we had a nice room with onsen at 500 Eur/day). Unfortunately, despite repeatedly saying "yes, no problem", on day 3 we were simply check-out. 2 hrs later of us growing grey at the Reception insisting for a solution, the only solution found was to book us in a sister hotel where we ended up paying +800 eur/night.

About 2 years ago, I decided to stay at Saka hotel for celebrating my mum’s 60th birthday. So with much joyful memory, I came back to celebrate my 35th birthday this time. I know the quality of your service I must say.

All staff from restaurants were gentle and very well-educated professionals; however, the Kyoto lady in maybe her 40s at the reception really messed up my stay. Very disappointing manner she has who should be considered to get a vocational training for sure. If someone truly wishes to experience “Kyoto Language”, the lady is the perfect example.I am an advanced English speaking person, I used Japanese at the hotel for your staff’s convenience with good heart even though my Japanese is quite basic. This lady in 40s constantly asking stuffs in Japanese although she already noticed my Japanese level cannot reach yet and so thankly (am here speaking like Kyoto Language, if you can get it) reconfirming what she said again in English. With very much patronising smile on her face.The old gentleman, who is the master of this hotel was by her side. I am sure, you will know whom I am mentioning here.In the future, if I ever get any chance to come back to Kyoto, I am not coming to Saka hotel if you are keeping this lady at the reception. I advise you to keep her at the back office. Thank you.

Beautiful hotel with spacious Japanese-style rooms, well located to Kiyomizu Temple and Yasaka Shrine area. Excellent service in moderately sized facility; thoughtful amenities, including quiet, relaxing refreshment room; additional Japanese breakfast was nicely prepared.

Hotel was located within a residential area, so a short walk was required to reach the commercial area. When checking in and out, taxi service is recommended if traveling with luggage.

I liked how the facilities looked.

The ceiling looked like it had previous leaks so I was worried about mold. It also was not the most convenient location. The breakfast was absolutely terrible, so I would highly recommend against that.

We love the traditional japanese design. It is clean, and it pays attention to details, even the breakfast.

The only thing I would recommend is to have vegetarian japanese breakfast option. Since we are vegetarian, we were served western style breakfast. Of course, we were informed of this when we checked in.

Beautifully furnished and decorated.

Too many strict rules about where we could go and not go and hours when certain things were restricted. Open up coffee earlier in the day or leave lounge open all hours.

Location was great. Staff was great

I got two rooms. our 2nd room smelled really bad, sorta of moldy. I said something. We saw spots on the walls, etc. They said it was condensation, no way was my opinion. We did not pre-buy Breakfast. But in the morning I figured let's just go in and we will pay. But you could not eat with out a reservation. I peeked inside and they were not even half full so I was not sure what the issue was. But I did find a great local coffee shop that was great.I would also say I was probably not their demograph. I was traveling with my son, hence the two rooms. This place seemed like it was meant for a romantic get away perhaps.

The property was nice and clean. We booked a room with private onsen at the balcony and it was very nice.

We had course dinner at the restaurant. The amount of the food was just far too little and the quality of the dishes were not great.

This hotel is as close to perfection as I experienced in japan where I stayed at six different hotels. The location is excellent and the hotel staff are helpful, warm, and accommodating. The hotel itself is quiet, serene and zen. The room is large and well appointed. The lounge was a great touch and the restaurant was excellent.

Very clean, quiet, spacious, aesthetically pleasing, traditional vibes, respectful and helpful staff

Beautiful, clean and excellent beds! The staff were lovely. We also had breakfast onsite every morning. It’s was tasty and beautiful set (Japanese brekkie was excellent). And the staff were beyond wonderful and attentive:)

Location and the 12 dish Japanese breakfast And best of all the wooden soaking tub

Staff was extremely polite, nice, and professional. Having the open-air bath in the room was truly an amazing experience. Excellent facilities.

It would have been great to have sunlight-blocking screens as an option, as well as open-close automation on the toilet seat which is common in Japan high-end hotels & ryokans we have stayed in.It would have been good to know the Japanese name of the hotel, Saka No Hotel Kyoto as it says on the lamp post in front of the hotel. The taxi driver from the airport did not understand when I showed a printout with Saka Hotel Kyoto, the address, even the map. After a while, he figured it out and told us "Saka NO"!