Kyoto Brighton Hotel | Review | Japan Travels

Photo by Kyoto Brighton

Of all the hotels in Japan we stayed in, this was my favourite. I was aware that the Kyoto Brighton was a five star hotel but because we snagged the room at such an unbelievably good value, I didn't really expect much. There's always a catch when something good comes cheap. When we eventually arrived, we immediately thought we struck gold.

Photo by Kyoto Brighton

Location and Vicinity

My first thought to why the hotel had such an affordable price (for a luxury hotel) was the location. I suspect not many travellers would choose to stay here because it was quite out-of-the-way from any central tourist hotspots. It would suit businessmen or conferences better. My friends and I weren’t bothered by the location at all. We were gone most of the day so finding cheaper restaurants nearby was not our concern. We were also satisfied walking to the bus stops and train stations as we actually enjoyed going through the small streets of the neighbourhood and saw how the local Japanese lived. But if walking is not your thing, then there is a shuttle that runs between the hotel and Karasuma Oike subway station for your convenience.

Photo by Kyoto Brighton

Staff

The hotel staffs were very understanding! When we met up with our Japanese friend, we impulsively asked her to stay with us during our stay in Kyoto. She agreed and suddenly we were faced with the problem of fitting her in the room. Thankfully the hotel staff didn’t mind and even offered to put a smaller bed in the room but the twin beds were already big enough to fit two people each.

There was one particular concierge who spoke very fluent English which was something the other hotels lacked. A lobby man also looked after us well, telling us the weather was going to be horrible that day and had prepared umbrellas for us. Sure enough, that afternoon it poured down heavily but we were kept dry thanks to him. Overall, we were very pleased with the staff and found them to be very friendly and helpful.

Photo by Kyoto Brighton

Room

One step into the room and I had no doubt it was a five star hotel. It was spacious, clean and very luxurious. The bathroom was big, well lit, had marble tiling, there was an electronic bidet and lots of amenities (like individually wrapped hairbrushes).

Photo by Kyoto Brighton

I would describe the hotel building to be wide rather than tall, so we didn’t really have a view to look at. Still, looking out into a typical Japanese neighbourhood was a fascinating experience. The one setback this hotel had was the fact they provided no free wi-fi.  

To sum it all up, the Kyoto Brighton Hotel was amazing and easily my favourite during our trip in Japan. It had a classy and yet simplistic feel to it. The interior design in the lobby was so simple but it really was the highlight of the whole building. I loved it. The hotel staffs weren’t snobby as some can get, and overall, I loved the smiles and greetings they returned to us.

Peaces x :)

Hotel Lobby