The Next Door - Hostel

The location is great, with easy access to Kyoto Station via Toji Station and to popular places such as Kiyomizu-dear. The staff were friendly and spoke English, so check-in went smoothly for me, though I also speak a little Japanese and they mostly used Japanese. The bed was surprisingly comfortable. Still, I wouldn’t recommend staying here. It was dirty, with mold on the shower walls and a bug in the toilet room. The shared area is co-ed and sits in front of the women’s shower, toilet, and dorm room. Its entry door isn’t locked, so anyone could walk in. The women’s dorm itself is locked, but the door doesn’t shut all the way unless you push or pull it into place. Most people weren’t doing that while I was there. There’s no proper space for larger luggage. You have to leave it in the shared area or by your bed. My bag was 157 cm, and I had to put it in front of the ladder to the bunk above, which seemed inconvenient for everyone. This wasn’t made clear in the Agoda booking, and I think it should be. The stairs are also very narrow and steep, making it hard to carry luggage up and down. Maybe it would be okay for a night or two, but definitely not longer.

For this level of quality, the guesthouse isn’t worth the price. There are better ones in Kyoto. From a Japanese guest’s point of view, there were no tissues or towels in the bathroom, and the shower room was dirty and moldy. It’s okay for just one night, but I really wouldn’t recommend it for a stay of more than a week.

The bed was hard to trust: the blanket felt damp, and there were crumbs and debris under the sheets. The shared bathroom and shower were constantly covered in hair. At the front desk, staff spoke only Japanese, so communicating in English was almost impossible. The man there was arrogant and rude, acting like he was too good to even look at you.

The photos are very misleading. The whole place was filthy. It seemed like they only changed the sheets. There was spit and mucus on the walls around the sink, hair all over the shower and the supplied products, and fingernails, more hair, skin, and rubbish on the floor by my mattress in the capsule. There was almost no luggage storage. They woke me up and asked me to change beds because, as they put it, “they gave me the wrong bed.” I’d sprained my ankle and didn’t want to go farther up the stairs, but they wouldn’t budge. They barely apologized, and offered no refund or partial refund, nothing. I’ve worked in hospitality for 15 years, and I couldn’t believe they woke me to move without doing anything to make it right. You also have to buy a lousy drink to use the rooftop. They keep it locked, and most of the furniture is broken. Do not stay here.