Kyoto Imperial Palace

The room was comfortable, well-appointed, and surprisingly spacious for Namba. The air conditioning and television were also very easy to use, which is a welcome touch for non-Japanese-speaking travellers, as hotel room controls in Japan can sometimes be difficult to navigate, even with AI translation tools. What let the hotel down, however, was the breakfast experience. There were lengthy queues each morning simply to be seated, as only one hostess was managing the process. Most guests do not want to begin their day by waiting in line for up to 15 minutes, particularly when there are plenty of vacant tables available in a large dining area. It seemed unnecessary for guests to have to wait to be formally seated. Once inside, there was further congestion due to there being only one coffee machine and one toaster, resulting in even more queuing in what is clearly a very busy hotel. Overall, the room itself was excellent, but the breakfast operation would benefit from some improvements to better accommodate the number of guests.

I read all the reviews before I booked this hotel yet I felt very disappointed. For so many English reviews, this hotel does not have a staff that speaks English well, if at all. Only one person could really help us and the rest barely understood our needs or questions. I asked for cream for my coffee. They didn’t have it and didn’t know what I was asking for. The front desk said they would look for some….never followed up. I asked for take away breakfast the morning we had to leave early. When we arrived at the front desk at 5:30am and inquired about our take away, the person at the front desk spoke zero English and hence, no take away was ready for us upon check out. We didn’t expect a 2 level hotel room. The bathroom is downstairs and the stairs are steep leading up to the bedroom. The pillows were uncomfortable. The private bath with salts was wonderful, everything was super clean, and overall the hotel is very pretty. I love coffee but mini creamers (doesn’t take like creamer whatsoever) they provide taste like heavy plastic and chemicals. If you’re used to morning coffee with cream, you will not get this here. All the other hotels we visited in Japan ( The 1 Hotel Tokyo and the W Osaka) brought up fresh real cream to our room with our coffee. The included breakfast was honestly not good at all. We decided to cancel the rest of our included breakfast at the hotel. For over $500 US per night I really felt this hotel could’ve been so much better.

Great location! We were able to walk to many areas we were interested in. So many options for restaurants and shopping. Hotel was clean, safe, wonderful team members and had many amenities.