Econo Inn Kyoto

Excellent for the price
I stayed at Econo Inn Kyoto for two months -- a long stay which brought the price down from the already cheap 37 euros to approximately 20 euros per night, including free twenty-four-hour internet and free coffee and tea at the lobby! The people at the reception are very nice, although their English is very (very) basic, so it requires patience. Once they understand what you ask, they will do their best to please you. My room was on sixth floor and had a fantastic view on the Eastern mountains and city roofs, including one of the most famous temples. About fifteen square meters plus a small private bathroom, it was similar to other rooms (with no view) I had paid 80 euros in pretentious mediocre hotels (the ones travel agents sell as "cheap") in previous trips. The difference in price is due to furniture -- far from new (but in ok using conditions), the lack of a refrigerator (but there is a large one for common use in the lobby), and the fact that cleaning and service (towels and sheets) is done only once a week (but one can request more for a modest extra sum). Initially I chose it for the location, which is almost perfect -- on a main avenue (with plenty of transportation nearby) but in a portion not too noisy and not too modern (there are three temples closer than one hundred meters), at only ten to twelve minutes' walk from the station, five minutes' walk to Kyoto's main activity knob (the crossing of Kawaramachi and Shijo), and three minutes' walk to the Kamo river and its ultra-chic dining area. I will definitely stay there in future trips.

While my immediate impression was this place would have been new and cool in the 1970s My week long stay was quite enjoyable. I probaby have to admit that because I was with great people on my tour and with a fluent Japanese speaker. Yes, the hotel was a tad run down, but I found the staff helpful and nice. The bathrooms were quite small though and that was one of the only annoyances I found. As long as you didnt touch the handrails on the balconies you were fine. Getting there wasn't much trouble, just a short pleasant walk from Kyoto Station or a short trip on the local bus a couple of metres down the road from the entrance. Overall, it was not somewhere you would stay if you were intending to spend all your time in a hotel room instead of seeing the beautiful Kyoto, and you wanted a lovely cosy relaxed feeling, and your wallet is tight, it's all you need.

This is definitely the most disgusting hotel I have walked into. Finding the hotel was a nightmare. Twelve-minute walk is a joke. It was more like thirty to forty minutes brisk walk. When I walked into the inn the lady said already two people is in the room which I booked, said that there is a third bed in the room and kept on asking me to pay the price for the twin room. I said no, I booked a twin room not a three person room. It was hard to talk with her. She doesn’t speak much English. Her only sentence “go see room, pay now, ok." I went into there and it was like a jail. With metal doors, dust gathered windows, and was pretty run down. I was led by a bent old man who doesn’t speak a word of English. It was more like a place out of a horror story than a hotel. I was really tired and recognised my friends' stuff in there. So I said I will keep my stuff in the lobby and will return after eating something. I was hoping by the time I came back my friend would be there (whom I booked the twin room with) and we can talk about why the third person and if he had paid. I came back in a couple of hours and still no one. The woman started getting abusive, shouted at me, pay twin room, pay twin room. I couldn’t stand this and left the hotel at around eight in the night not knowing a word in Japanese and not having a place to stay the night. Econo Inn is an absolutely dreadful place. I felt cheated by the Hostel World even advertising it.