We stayed at Hotel Gracery Kyoto for two nights and overall had a very comfortable stay. The hotel has two sections, and we stayed in the South building. The room was very clean, and the space was used efficiently, which is typical for Japan.
The bathroom layout was a bit unusual. The toilet and shower are separate, which is convenient, but the toilet cubicle itself is extremely small. The shower is positioned in an odd space between the bath and what seems to be the shower floor, and the shower head cannot be adjusted up or down. That said, the water pressure and temperature were excellent, which made up for the layout.
Bottled water was provided on the first day, which was appreciated. The TV, however, was very limited with only Japanese channels and no access to Netflix or other streaming services.
The location is excellent. The hotel is right by Nishiki Market and surrounded by shops and restaurants, with multiple subway lines nearby. There are also many fantastic local restaurants in the area, which we highly recommend, especially when the market gets overwhelmingly busy.
The hotel provides a wide range of amenities in the lobby, including face wash, toner, lotion, razors, combs and mouthwash. While convenient, the large amount of individually packaged items does not feel particularly environmentally friendly.
We checked out the breakfast one morning but decided not to purchase it as it was 2750 yen per person, and there are plenty of better and more affordable options nearby.
The staff were very friendly and welcoming, and we also appreciated that the hotel offers free umbrella use on rainy days, which was a thoughtful touch.
One downside was the room cleaning timing. We left early in the morning and only returned after 3pm, but the room was still being cleaned when we got back. We were asked to wait around 30 minutes, which was quite inconvenient after a long day when we wanted to rest, shower and freshen up before heading out again.
Overall, a clean and well-located hotel with a few minor design quirks and service timing issues, but still a very pleasant stay.
