Smack in the middle of all the action, Hotel Unizo Kyoto was an excellent base camp from which to explore kyoto. Smallest room of our japan trip, but had all the amenities we needed. Beds were very comfortable, coffee shop downstairs for breakfast. One block up and two blocks over from the river and pontocho alley for great restaurants and outdoor seating.

Pros
- Friendly staff
- Nice rooms, well equiped and comfortable
- No minibar, but there is a mini-fridge and reasonable priced vending machines serving drinks and hot meals
- Free internet via ethernet cable

Cons
- Breakfast is not included but an optional Japanese style is available, there is a cafe below the hotel that does nice and reasonable weston style breakfasts.

We stayed at this hotel for 3 nights in December 2008. It is a business type hotel so not much of a Japanese feel, but it was very clean and convenient. Not all staff spoke English – but they did try to assist and had a good collection of tourist information in English in the lobby. We really liked the location as we were right in the middle of everything after staying in a quiet neighbourhood in Tokyo (see New Izu Hotel, Tokyo). There were lots of shops and restaurants, and a couple of convenience stores very close by. There was even a 100 Yen shop across the road which was great for cheap souvenirs.

We caught a Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto. The taxi ride from the station was about 10 mins to Unizo Hotel. We found that we walked most of the time or caught taxis. The train stations were as far away as the sights! For example you could walk to Gion, the famous food market and the Kyoto Museum from the hotel.

We had three rooms: 2 Twins and a Double. The Twin rooms seemed much bigger than the Double which was small. There were lots of options for food including Western options for our 6 year old. Please contact me if you would like more information.

Stayed end of Oct and booked through their website. Location is near shops and 10min walk to a choice of 3 railway stations. Buses go past hotel though stops are not much closer than train station. Staff were friendly and most could speak enough English to answer questions. Rooms are small and the bathroom was the smallest one we'd had in Japan. Breakfast is only Japanese. The hotel is above a Family mart. We carried our bags up the stairs on the first day then discovered on the last day the door on ground level that led to the lift. No interenet available unless you have your own laptop.
We didn't have a bad stay though it really is much more suited for Japanese guests, so wouln't stay again.