Before arrival - we were a bit concerened at the location across the street from Kyoto Rail Station but what a bonus !
Absolutely no noise from station and the station itself is a tourist attraction. You have to see to believe it.
Also a main pick up point for Sunrise tours - so no "double shuffle" when you go out on tour.
Excellent room (in south wing) - service is excellent and had no problem getting message across in english. All facilities first class - free internet (to confirm onwards flight / seats etc) in business centre .
Location is the key issue. Hotel is on Shinkansen tracks side of station - literally a 5 minute walk to platforms. Major bus station also across road so very easy to get any form of transport on those " free and easy days" .

Location is close to the Shinkansen train station which is an advantage, also in the train station are a number of restaurants (fast food –by way of service). The room is of reasonable size, but what lets the hotel down is the bathroom, this seems to be a box bolted into each room ( we saw 2 like this). The bath has a shower over and a reasonable supply of hot water and pressure. The bathroom is also quite small as is the bath. The service in the restaurant for breakfast at least was very poor.

I think that there could be 2 ways to experience this hotel: standard room and superior room. There are some 756 standard rooms in the original hotel and 228 superior rooms in the new block. We were booked into a standard room. Oh dear! If you have a booking, make sure it is for a superior room in the new block. The hotel is located within walking distance across the road from Kyoto railway station so the road outside is very busy. Whether the proximity to the station is an advantage is questionable. Taxis are cheap. There is also little in the way of restaurants etc in the area, other than in the mall in the station. Initial impressions from the outside are good, but quickly deteriorate. The lobby is moderate and the bell boys (and girls) are eager, but it is always crowded. However, you can see from the state of the lifts in the old block that the hotel needs renovating. The bedroom floors corridors are dirty and tired. The first bedroom had a window that would not close and overlooked the main street, so was very noisy. It also smelt and not only of cigarettes. The second was on a side and had a window that closed. It also smelt better. Although they say there are no-smoking rooms there are not many and the Japanese seem to smoke in them anyway. These 2 examples of bedrooms were poor and disappointing. The bathrooms are dark and worn. The decor and furniture seem to be 1970s, they need a major renovation. The beds were hard by western standards. The TV was an old style with limited channels in english. We tried to change to a superior room but none were available. It seems that the hotel is usually overbooked and caters for organised tours from all over the world, hence the crowded lobby, with visitors waiting for city tours etc.
We had a meal in the Ronde restaurant. What a mistake! The service was very poor and the meal, 'noveau' style, was miniscule portions and expensive.

Pro
- great location, just opposite the Kyoto Station and very near a convenience store and a yoshinoya

Cons
- ugly rooms
- non smoking rooms smelled strongly of cigarette smoke
- no temperature control in rooms (the front desk told us that the entire hotel is in "winter mode" and that only heat is available for the guest rooms. thank goodness the windows could open so that we could let in a breeze)
- staff knows limited english

i'd rather not stay here next time (we stayed at the old building, which may be why we got such bad rooms). we'll be reprimanding our travel agent because he dumped us here. although the location is very convenient, try the other hotels or request for a room in the newly renovated south building near the station before going to this one.