As part of a set of Hyatt Japan bookings, I booked the Hyatt Regency Kyoto for a 3 night stay in a standard room on points (pre-devaluation). The property is located fairly near the JR Kyoto Station. After arriving by train we walked across the street to the MK taxi office. At the time of this writing and for our June 2014 stay, the Hyatt Regency offered a free taxi ride with MK from the station to the property. Our room the first night was a standard room, but we were offered an upgrade for our next two nights. We were given a choice of a couple of options and I asked for the floor plans to make the decision and the front desk was quite helpful. We opted for the Deluxe corner room which is really more of a suite. I was pleased to be upgraded on an award stay even as a Diamond, and the room was terrific. It is really two rooms, attached by the entry way hall. To the left is the bedroom and a half bath and to the right is a full bathroom and large living room. It was an extremely comfortable set up and a great value for 18,000 points a night.
The service at the hotel at the front desk and concierge was excellent. The concierge service was particularly amazing. They gave us two days of itineraries which were incredibly detailed. We told them that we enjoyed using the local transportation and were skilled independent travelers and it was so fun what they provided to us. They even sold us the all day bus passes right at the desk. We were jumping on and off of trains and buses and subways for two days straight and covered a huge amount of ground. It would have been hard to have replicated what they had us do because we wouldn't have had the local knowledge. They also suggested which train to take back to Tokyo and even went to the train station and bought the tickets for us!
We sampled all of the restaurants on property. The Grill was great for breakfast and has a sumptuous daily buffet (free for Diamonds). A real highlight was the carved ham. We enjoyed Trattoria Sette, the Italian restaurant. We love Italian and so it was a nice break from the routine. Their salads were particularly good. We also went to the Japanese restaurant Touzan which gets good reviews. The night we happened to be there the service was a disaster. They had a large table for a private party in the back room and they clearly did not have it together that night. After waiting a really long time for everything, we spoke to our waiter about our concerns with the service. They comped our entire meal. The sushi was quite wonderful frankly, but it was hard to get a good feel for the place on that particular occasion. We really liked the Touzan bar and found it a cozy and relaxing place to unwind more than once.
I really like this property and would stay there again. The staff work hard and it is a solid choice in a city not to be missed.
The service at the hotel at the front desk and concierge was excellent. The concierge service was particularly amazing. They gave us two days of itineraries which were incredibly detailed. We told them that we enjoyed using the local transportation and were skilled independent travelers and it was so fun what they provided to us. They even sold us the all day bus passes right at the desk. We were jumping on and off of trains and buses and subways for two days straight and covered a huge amount of ground. It would have been hard to have replicated what they had us do because we wouldn't have had the local knowledge. They also suggested which train to take back to Tokyo and even went to the train station and bought the tickets for us!
We sampled all of the restaurants on property. The Grill was great for breakfast and has a sumptuous daily buffet (free for Diamonds). A real highlight was the carved ham. We enjoyed Trattoria Sette, the Italian restaurant. We love Italian and so it was a nice break from the routine. Their salads were particularly good. We also went to the Japanese restaurant Touzan which gets good reviews. The night we happened to be there the service was a disaster. They had a large table for a private party in the back room and they clearly did not have it together that night. After waiting a really long time for everything, we spoke to our waiter about our concerns with the service. They comped our entire meal. The sushi was quite wonderful frankly, but it was hard to get a good feel for the place on that particular occasion. We really liked the Touzan bar and found it a cozy and relaxing place to unwind more than once.
I really like this property and would stay there again. The staff work hard and it is a solid choice in a city not to be missed.
