Hotel Sugicho

I didn’t see any value for the money we paid

room was quiet.

beware, they do not offer a traditional Japanese breakfast at all. unlike advertised (and the pictures clearly showing such feature), and despite the many reviews mentioning that. nor do they offer the possibility of a traditional dinner, and all the restaurants around were fully booked, thus I had to end up buying food a 7/11! so much for a Kyoto special trip... also no massage service, again, unlike advertised. breakfast consisted of eggs, sausages, rice, curry, yogurt and pastries. not even miso soup! seriously one of the worst breakfast I ever had in Japan... even at modern hotels offering western style breakfast it was much better. the eggs and sausages were not properly kept warm, and made me sick. >_< as for the futon, it's one of the hardest I ever slept on! and I'm a tiny light person (40kg). it was not ideal... as for the public bath downstairs, a bit moldy and at some point the hot water from the shower heads would be cold for a long time, I check all of them, at another time it was warm alright. never experienced that either in any sento/onsen. and I've been living in Japan for 2 years. be also aware that Booking refuses to give me a partial refund even though I specifically booked this hotel to have a traditional breakfast and dinner! bad customer service. not going to use Booking again. their excuse is "you didn't book a meal plan", well not meal plan was available at booking, nor at the hotel itself. so if you have a bad experience, don't expect Booking help! P.S. funny enough the traditional bit doesn't appear on the Booking page since I made a complaint with Booking (and they use that as an argument!), but it still appears on the mobile site! see screenshots... taken on February 5th 2019.

The New year breakfast was a nice treat, although for over $300 that night, or a $200 nightly average, most places included breakfast for the rate and age of facility.

Unchecked smokers stank up the entire hotel, from lobby up to hallways, elevator and under the doors into our room all night. We got sick and asthmatic during our stay, even clothes and bedding were carrying second hand smoke so it was hard to rest. We had to stuff wet towels under the door to keep the smoke out. Public baths allowed crying babies in there, with many fussy women on top made for a stressful setting. For such a clean and subdued society the stink and noise were not managed well by hotel.