Just back from an excellent 8-night stay at the ANA Hotel. Although its location next to Nijo castle is a little out of the way of things, this is more than compensated for by the proximity to the Nijojo-mae metro station and the FREE shuttle bus to Kyoto JR Station provided by the hotel, which runs every 15 minutes between 8am and 7:30pm.
As is invariably the case in Japanese hotels, we were warmly greeted on arrival and escorted personally to our room on the 6th floor. As other reviewers have noted, the guest rooms are significantly larger than is normally the case in Japanese hotels. Our room had a kingsize bed and a small coffee table with sofa and armchair. The decor was perhaps a little dated and bland but well maintained and spotlessly clean. A complementary English language newspaper was provided every day. Our only real criticism of the guestroom was that it was way too hot at times - up to 26 degrees C. Upon checking with the front desk, we learned that the aircon is centrally controlled and - at least at the time of year we stayed - is switched to heating only at night. Although switching off the a/c helped a little, it's impossible to open the windows, so please be aware if you prefer a cool environment in which to sleep.
The only meals we took in the hotel were breakfasts, which were of excellent quality and selection every day. All the usual western staples (bacon, eggs, croissant...) and local specialities (rice, miso soup, salmon...). We particularly liked the way the limited space outside the windows of the breakfast rooms had been utilised as a garden complete with waterfalls. The other restaurants on site looked good but were very pricey for evening meals. As we were on a limited budget, we preferred to use those in the Kyoto Station area.
The clientele of the hotel appears to be almost exclusively Japanese - mainly tourists from other parts of the country and wedding guests (the hotel apparently specialises in hosting weddings), but this presented no problems at all for us. In fact, all the staff at the hotel were very helpful and attentive at all times (although it helps to have at least some basic Japanese vocabulary).
