My wife and I spent 7 days here in early November. The rooms are large for the price and the hotel has a nice japanese bath on the top floor. The location is sousth of mych of the action but it is within a block of the major subway and bus lines so you can get anywhere. Staff was very helpful. I can highly recommend this hotel.

Rooms are spacious but decor is dated, need new sheets, carpet need cleaning.
One subway stop from Kyoto station. Staff are helpful.

I spent 7 nights at this hotel mid June, 2011, and was very pleased with my experience. The room was about the size I expected, and is comparable to what you will find in the area. The location is convenient if you are planning on seeing the many sights Kyoto has to offer, since you are within walking distance from Kyoto station, and are less than five minutes from the Gojo subway station. But what really made my stay at the Aranvert memorable was the hotel staff. They were courteous, cheerful, and provided service I was not expecting. From escorting me to the elevator after breakfast (a decent mix of Japanese and western foods), to also being happy to answer any questions I had at the main desk, the staff was great. I would definitely stay at this hotel again if I were in Kyoto.

The location of the hotel is close to the Metro and only one metro station from Kyoto Central Station. The area has some nice temples but it is in between downtown and the central station so there is not much happening there. We found ourselves gravitating towards downtown to find restaurants for breakfast and dinner.

The room was very average in size (for Japan, small everywhere else) but clean and our windows was towards the back street so it was very quiet. We unfortunately never visited the bath at the top floor. The staff was friendly and spoke good English. The room was expensive but in Kyoto terms it actually quite OK priced.

Please, install wifi. Free internet is great but if you travel with a smart phone or a tablet wired internet is useless.