The Moxy Kyoto is without doubt one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in across the globe and is most definitely not a 4 star hotel. The one positive about it is that it is very close to Nijo station making access to other areas very simple (buy an Icoca Card to get around on public transport - easy to use and top up and it can be used across Japan). Stay was booked for 5 nights, 2 double rooms - one for husband and I and one for our adult daughter.
Check in provided the first nightmare at this hotel. The young girl who was checking us in was clearly unwell and should not have been at work as she proceeded to cough, splutter and sneeze all over our passports, documentation and then our room keys. Most unpleasant and unhygienic! We were given our keys and went to our 2 rooms, which were supposed to be double rooms. We were horrified to discover that our rooms were 2 twin rooms in the Basement, beside the Laundry and Gym, with a brick wall, little light and we have seen bigger and better student accommodation! Marriott Bonvoy should not be offering these rooms to any guests. They are totally unacceptable and we immediately returned to Reception to tell them we would not be accepting these rooms. Keep in mind that Japanese hotel rooms are already small. The same young lady responded with a simple "No" and much eye rolling and huffing. If she had rolled her eyes any more, they would have been permanently facing out the back of her head. We told her repeatedly that we would not be accepting the rooms and that this was a one off special trip, costing a lot of money and these rooms had cost a lot, so we would not accept them. She told us it was "not possible" and "busy days", to which I responded that this was a hotel problem and not mine and I would still not be accepting the rooms. Continued eye rolling and huffing ensued along with paper throwing and shuffling. I asked to speak to someone else and she said *not possible", with a ridiculous fixed grin. I stood my ground and she stormed off. Came back offering 2 nights in the Basement then we could move to another room for 3 nights. We declined this and asked repeatedly to speak to a Manager and were told it wasn't possible. After around 10 minutes and much drama and posturing she stormed off and returned with the offer of a room on floor 4 and a Basement room. No thank you. Much amateur dramatics ensued. She then stormed off and returned with a gentleman with blonde hair, whom I presume is the Manager. He offered a Queen Room (remember that isn't big by Western standards) and we asked what about the other room. He laughed and said this was for the 3 of us! I told him this was totally unacceptable to even consider putting our adult daughter in a room with us. More dramatics and finally a room on floor 4 and floor 7 became available. This took about an hour. It was stressful, tiring and ate into our time for exploring Kyoto. We were given keys and little slips of paper for our breakfasts.
The design of this hotel is definitely aimed at younger travellers, and yet it is not priced at their level and was mainly full of people post 50 and lots of organised tours using it as a base for a few days. This meant a lot of unhappy people. The rooms are cramped and had the most disgusting stained rug in both rooms, and we spoke to others on the tours we had met in Osaka beforehand who were unhappy with the cleanliness, the disgusting rugs and showers which flooded out onto the floors.
On to breakfast. This is a buffet style, which is typical, and you eat around the bar (which is also reception), a couple of tables for 6 - 8 people, benches at the windows and low down tables in the "lounge area" which is filled with soft toys and neon lights. The breakfast set up is not fit for purpose, especially when you have tour groups requiring to leave for a specified time, resulting in overcrowding and no access to the food. The "buffet" itself was dreadful, cheap and nasty quality, was frequently empty and lacked choice. A typical day was meatballs in a sauce, noodles, bacon, small salad bowl, pineapple (always empty), orange segment or grapefruit segments, tiny hard muffins, nasty tiny croissants, bread to cut and toast if the toaster didn't burn everything, tiny sugary dense doughnuts, limited cereals, choice of fruit juice, tea/coffee but only regular ones until after 11am, and spreads like jam and nutella which were also empty 3 out of 5 days. Absolutely disgusting. You tidy up after yourself too. They could learn a thing or two from the Mercure in Osaka in terms of food choice, organisation and presentation .To add insult to injury, on the last morning they refused to give my daughter breakfast as they said it hadn't been booked/paid for, which is odd since it clearly states breakfast was paid for on our booking information and hotel voucher we handed over at check in. When challenged the tall young gentleman magnanimously decided to let her have her dreadful breakfast "because they had given her the vouchers in error on the first day so it was their mistake". How very kind of them to give her the overpriced breakfast that was all already paid for before we left the UK. They do give you a voucher for a welcome drink, but don't get too excited by the choice.
The hotel has 4 washer driers but they were always all in use when we went to check.
I notice that some people reviewing have said they requested rooms at the rear of the hotel because of the noise. Both our rooms were at the front and we did not find them noisy at all.
Kyoto is a lovely place to visit and this hotel being near the station means you can explore lots of places but the Moxy is absolutely shocking.
