Kinkaku

very clean tatami style accommodation

It was not shared on the add that bathrooms would be shared. I have a daughter and don’t feel comfortable with other grown ups taking showers next to her. This should have been shared very clearly. If I knew this I would have not booked. With that being said the host was wonderful and welcoming. Room was clean. Bathrooms not always (other people staying in were not very clean). It was a bit of a walk to the train. With luggage’s and going uphill in summer was a killer. Would recommend taxi. Overall it was great value and we mostly enjoyed our stay.

Shared bathrooms. This was not mentioned anywhere in the property details.

The location and style

The property is a good value for the money and the host was amazing and very helpful, we even got an upgrade at no extra cost. I definitely recommend this property

The place advertised is not the one you end up staying at. AT ALL 5 minutes after we booked here, the lady owner who goes by the name Tammy contacted us saying that the place got overbooked and she will offer us another guesthouse nearby. She stressed that the new place is less traditional (no tatami bed) and different, send us pictures and all and did offer to accept the total refund if we wanted. we didn't pay much attention to it first because we booked it very last minute-ey and we were fine with a regular bed, so we were really fine with whatever. we staeyd there 3 nights no problem the place is not even that bad... The thing gets fishy when the last night there i talk to the other guests and I find out none of them have booked in this guesthouse in particular and ALL had been redirected from the original "Kinkaku" house to this new guesthouse. All of the people had received several calls or messages from Tammy in order to host them in this other place, all of them with different excuses from the owner such as "place is cold" or "is too loud for light sleepers" or "uncomfortable to sleep on the floor" etc etc Since these other guests have booked the place months ago and been redirected there I no longer believe was an occasional "we overbooked" situation and seems to be a well organized scam to make people believe that they are booking that particular traditional house I've reported the situation to Booking.com and im still awaiting for a resolution. I will take down this review if it comes up as a one-time thing but honestly i doubt it was...

Location is absolutely beautiful and convenient for traveling in Kyoto and nearby areas. The host was very warm and helpful for recommendations.