APA Hotel Kyoto Ekikita

The bed was comfortable, the shower had great water pressure, and the location is very close to Kyoto station, on the side with the bigger shops. My partner and I stayed at the APA HOTEL Kyōto Eki-kita for five (5) nights in late March of 2025. The room was quite cramped for two people with medium or large suitcases. On your own, there's probably just enough space to be comfortable. Temperature control was another compromise: the HVAC is centralized, so when it's cold outside but warm in your room, you can't switch to cool air. We also had the WiFi go down and couldn't cast from our phones. The staff restarted things after we went to the lobby, which fixed it, but I'd never had to deal with that at a hotel before. The washers and dryers weren't terrible, but they're on the first floor, so getting to them means walking past the front counter and everything else, which felt awkward. I'd recommend this place if being close to Kyoto station is your priority, you're fine with a small room, don't need control over the temperature, and don't plan on using the TV. Otherwise, you may want to look around.

The staff were kind enough to show me how to arrange a Suitcase transfer. The hotel is pretty close to kyoto station, and the room was cheap but small. One suitcase is enough to block the entrance.

The location made things easy, about a 5 minute walk from the train station, with 2-3 convenience stores around and a small mall area with eateries upstairs. The restaurant next door serves a really good breakfast. I enjoyed my short stay and would recommend the hotel. The rooms are small, but very clean, with no strange smells. Service was great too. We arrived early and they held our bags while we explored the city. When we checked out, we had large luggage and couldn't use 1 day delivery because of the snow, so they kindly stored it again while we took care of some last-minute things. (Breakfast pic below)

The staff were nice, the location is great, and the hotel was fairly clean. That's about all I liked. I was supposed to stay five nights, but after three I switched hotels. I've never done that before, and I don't understand the 4 star reviews. The rooms are so small I couldn't unpack. Opening my suitcase took up the whole floor, so I couldn't even get to the mini fridge. I knew I booked a small room, but it was still worse than I expected. The bed and pillows were the most uncomfortable I've had in a hotel. I slept better on the train, and three nights of bad sleep while traveling just wasn't worth it. My room STINKS of curry (?) from the restaurant below. It was very hot, but the aircon is centralized, so I couldn't turn it on. There was also weird right wing /alt right propaganda in Japanese in my room, so I googled it. You may want to look up what APA hotels and owner stand for before booking. Some smaller problems: you have to specifically request cleaning for environmental reasons, but every day they leave bags of tat outside your room with toiletries and cups wrapped in plastic, plus more towels. To me that looks like staff savings, not something that helps the environment. Breakfast wasn't nice either. I've stayed in lots of hotels in Japan without a breakfast issue, and I wish I hadn't paid extra. I ate it the first day and then stopped. The breakfast waiting staff were rude, the first poor service I've had in Japan. Guests can't use the stairs, so from level 2 it's a frustrating wait for the one lift serving eight floors. The minibar smells, but I didn't use it. There's nothing inside anyway, so it's really just a fridge.