Lovely, quiet hotel, beautiful room and bathroom. It was in close proximity to many shrines, temples, and the Gion District. Best surprise was the Italian restaurant in the hotel, very good. It was a short taxi ride from the Kyoto station. We enjoyed walking the rest of our visit. The only negative is that internet was not free, and should have been given the room rate.

The hotel's decor is minimalistic and relaxing, although when we initially pulled into the driveway I was concerned that it resembled a motor lodge. That wasn't the case though. The room was clean, the view of the garden was lovely, the bed was comfortable, but I could hear noise from adjoining rooms and the water in the shower shifted from warm to cool. Other than that, I was okay.

Internet access is complimentary if used in the hotel's public areas, otherwise I believe the room charge is an additional 1,550 JPY/day. Taxi service is readily available and several buses stop in front of the hotel as well. If you plan on sightseeing or shopping, a bus day pass is the way to go.

I'd recommend this hotel and possibly return, but I'd also consider looking at options if I make it back to Kyoto as I wasn't able to completely relax here due to the couple of issues that I mentioned. Perhaps they were isolated incidents and I suppose I should have said something, but I was busy being a tourist and too tired to do anything about it when I returned at night.

It had been almost 15 years since my wife and I last visited Kyoto, and we were debating between a ryokan or a western hotel, and given we were staying only 2 nights and didn't want to bust the bank, settled on the Hyatt Regency. It was splendid in every way, from the staff, the room, the hotel bar (definitely worth a drink -- I was tempted by the Habano cigars but mindful of our budget). Only downside, unlike many Japanese hotels, there was no in-hotel convenience store, nor one seemingly near by, from which we tend to buy breakfast breads, juice, instant coffee, milk for fast and cheap in room breakfasts. But a minor quibble. I am hopeful our next trip to Kyoto is much sooner, and I definitely would return to this property.

Kyoto is a peaceful place and the Hyatt fits in it well. The style and design is nice and clean minimal and very japanese. THe hotel is very new and the room size is not bad, though the room I stayed is a bit of a walk really from the elevator. The place must have been converted from some other building type as there are a few strange planning along the way. It is not at the middle of the action, thus you will need to get on the bus or taxi plenty of time. I paid about 300USD for the normal room type but there was not so many other options around anyway.

All in all, still quite a pleasant stay, if I will need to come back to Kyoto again, Hyatt will be among the top three choces.