An amazing place to stay, the Granvia had beautiful rooms, the most comfy beds with the fluffiest doonas I had ever seen and fantastic views of Kyoto (we stayed in a room fairly high up).

Not only could you access a range of shops like Isetan and The Cube, (great for picking up a cheap but oh so yummy dinner to eat in-house!) you could not pick a more convenient place, being right on top of the train station.

I would love to stay there again!

Three of us stayed in two rooms for 3 nights in Dec. 07. The location of the hotel in the train station was ideal for us as we were planning to take day trips using our JR Pass. The rooms are a reasonable size with a decent bathroom. The shower/bath area is separately enclosed in glass doors and a good size. Check in/out was fast and easy as the staff were fluent in English.

Since the hotel is in Kyoto station, travel to the Kyoto sites by public transit is easy, but can be crowded. The Kyoto station is not central to the more popular sites, and at night you'll probably want to go elsewhere.

The hotel has a cafe in the lobby were you can get cakes, tea and drinks. However, the hotel bar appears to cater to stuffy whiskey business types. We wandered into this bar one night and were told it was "full" even though it clearly was not. I can only assume that we did not meet some unpublished standard - being jetlagged, we just wanted to quietly sit, chat and have a glass of wine. Most hotels will usually provide a place for their guests to have a drink and unwind in an unpretentious setting. This one does not. For this last reason alone, I would not go back to this hotel on vacation.

Hotel was ok, clean and well serviced rooms but I would have chosen Westin Miyako (room rates about the same). The hustle and bustle at the train station somewhat didn't jive with the peace and tranquility i expected in Kyoto.

If decide to stay in Granvia, please ask for rooms at higher floors as rooms at lower floors offer mainly view of the train station. Upside is that the hotel has 11 restaurants and Isetan right at your doorstep but it wasn't what i was looking for in Kyoto.

We stayed here 3 nights 4 Dec thru 6 Dec 2007 and enjoyed every minute! We were 3 adults to a room (with a rollaway) however the rollaway was almost same size as regular bed. The bedding was extremely comfortable. And due to the large size of the room - there was plenty of room for the 3 of us! Our room overlooked the train station and did not hear any noise. Staff was extremely efficient and courteous and spoke English well. Concierage was outstanding
and answered all our questions and even made some reservations for us. Front desk personnel - wonderful and we were able to exchange US travelers checks to yen. Location can not be beat - as stated in previous reviews plenty of eateries and shops in the station.
Lawson convenient store 5 min walk away.
We did not have any meals at the hotel so can not comment on the food
The amenities in the room were all first class, even the yukatas and the complimentary slippers.
Very clean, well run and very efficient. Loved this hotel and definitely would stay here again.
There were also plenty of taxis lined up in front of the hotel.