Room 812 has seen better days. The hotplate is broken, and so there is an electric jug to boil the water for tea (green tea bags supplied), and the digital clock and radio between the two beds doesn't work, so there's an analogue alarm clock sitting on the bedside table.

But those really are peripheral and relatively unimportant things.

What's important is that the beds are clean, the bathroom is usable and the room is quiet enough at night to allow you to sleep.

The staff aren't fluent English speakers, but as this isn't a tourist-oriented hotel that really is neither surprising nor important.

The staff, however, are efficient, courteous and competent -- even when dealing with a foreigner who has mastered only about 500 words of their language - and patient.

And those things are done properly.

I booked my room on arrival in Kyoto, via the tourist centre at the station, resulting in a room for ¥4,200 per night (room only).

Considering the location of this business hotel, all of 500 metres' walk from the centre of Kyoto's CBD, it really is quite good.

It isn't a super-posh or super-trendy hotel, nor does it try to be.

But it is better in quality, I find, than some hotels that have charged me about seven times as much for a room.

I only meant to stay there for one night. That one night stretched to three.

We just finished our five-night stay at Court Hotel Shijo. What a relief! Our room was at the 10th floor and as we were leaving the room while the cleaning in progress, we saw that all other rooms in the same level are in similar condition. Our room is tiny, as in most Japanese hotels. We never enjoyed the bathroom since it is super tiny. We didnt even bother turning on the TV since its so little as well. The carpets are so old and full of dust which caused me some skin allergies. The elevator looked like they were left from the last centuries with the ancient worn-out carpets, which were yelling "replace us, replace us. Let us rest, please!!". Breakfast was okay but repetitive in five consecutive days. The hotel location is not bad as it is walkable from Shijo Subway station. But in general, its not worth it for the price. I am sure you can find a better deal in Kyoto.

When booking this hotel on Internet it was not possible to specify that you wanted a non smoking room (apparently because they have so few). When we checked in we asked if they had any such rooms but they were all taken already. We were told that if we would have called them in advance they could have tried to put us in a non smoking room.

The room was pretty nice and slightly bigger than the rooms in the hotels I've stayed at in Tokyo. It did however feel a bit old and worn. The clock and radio in the bed panel was broken so there were an additional analog alarm clock standing next to the bed. The faucet in the bathroom was also dripping.

The bed was big and very nice and I had a very good night sleep. The breakfast was pretty good with a japanese style buffet and some europeean items. It seams like the staff have some English knowledge and there seems to be many non Japanese customers staying here.