CleoB

If you are planning to stay at the Westin Miyako in Kyoto, here are a few practical points that may make your stay more pleasant. First, the hotel has a satellite check-in desk at Kyoto Station. It's located on the Hachijo Exit side, just past the Asty Road food/restaurant hallway. They are open 9-6 pm. In addition, they have a free shuttle to/from the hotel which runs about every half hour during those hours. They will also store your luggage for you there after you check-in (no charge), or transport your bags to the hotel for 200 yen per piece. This way, you can arrive and explore Kyoto without having to go up to the hotel first. We also used the baggage storage after check-out since we wanted to explore more of the city before taking an afternoon train out later in the day. No charge, but we did have to pick it up by 6 pm that day.

As for the rooms, if you reserve a "superior" room, you will end up in the old and very dated wing of the hotel. The rooms do have the Westin Heavenly Bed, but the bathroom reminded me of the all-in-one fiberglas units installed in economy lodgings. The bathroom door almost didn't clear the toilet, and the sealant was peeling off the joints on the wall and ceiling. I inquired about moving to the new wing, but this would have cost an additional $50 per day for a "deluxe" room. So, if the bathroom is a concern for you when you stay in a 21300 yen/night hotel, this info may help you decide what type of room to reserve. (What's interesting is that I tried to find out before leaving the US whether our room was in the old or new wing and they told me all the rooms had been renovated. Right.)

That said, the staff were very nice, and the location was ideal for getting to the subway (Keage stop) and Philosopher's Path. We also did the tea ceremony they offer (about $11 per person) and we were the only ones, so it was private and quite enjoyable.

emd

The hotel is also very well located for exploring all of Higashiyama, as you walk out of the hotel to the left, go one block and turn left and you encounter the first temple of Higashiyama (one more block on the left side). You can walk the streets of Higashiyama all the way up to Kiyomizudera, or cross over under the gate to Gion.

I had a room on the executive club level and it was wonderful, w/marble floors and walls, granite coutertop, two raised sink bowls, separate bathtub, shower and toilet (all 3 were completely separated from each other in the bathroom by frosted glass walls, so someone can shower and you can go in to use the toilet without disturbing anyone's privacy), and a great large room w/2 double sized beds and new modern furniture.

They clearly should not have told you that the rooms where you were had been renovated. 21300 yen is a low rate for that hotel. I am curious- how did they explain the fact that your superior room rate was lower than the deluxe rm rate, if they said that the rooms had all been upgraded? What was the difference justifying a higher rate for a deluxe rm over the superior when you called?

You might want to post your complaint on flyertalk.com's Starwood section. There is a famous Starwood E-communications dept specialist, William Sanders (whose online name is Starwood Lurker) and he monitors and participates on that board very frequently, and responds to these types of complaints online and rectifies the problem.

mjs

I should also note that the train station office is downstairs on the ground floor. I spent 10 minutes running around the floor above looking for the Westin office before I decided to ask someone. I also believe the shuttle runs later into the night than 6 pm to maybe 9pm but I could be wrong. No comment on the rooms as we stayed in the Japanese stye rooms in the back as we have four people.

emd

Shuttle definitely stopped at 6 pm while I was there. I recall timing our arrival into Kyoto so that we would not miss the last bus. If it had run later we would have used it to get to Kyoto Station to go to dinner at least once.

mjs, I am sorry you had to run around that big station...there is a map on the hotel website (not the Starwood version, but the hotel's own site) that shows exactly where the Westin's office is at Kyoto station. I recall printing it out and having it w/me, otherwise I would not have known either.

emd

For anyone else looking for the chekcin at the station and taking that shuttle (map of where shuttle is is on this page also):

http://www.westinmiyako-kyoto.com/english/index.html

Clcik on "maps information" at top of pg., and then scroll down the maps page and there is the map of the remote check in at the station.

CleoB

When I talked with Starwood to book the reservation, they explained our superior room was a garden view room (not city view), which was OK with me. Your bath, emd, was clearly better than what we had and sounds lovely! Oh well, live and learn!