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Reviews of Ben's Guesthouse Kyoto

3 out of 5
Ben's Guesthouse Kyoto
43-1 Higashimachi (Ichijodori), Kyoto, Kyoto

Reviews

9.6

Exceptional

Rating 10 - Excellent. 92 out of 121 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 24 out of 121 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 3 out of 121 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 2 out of 121 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 0 out of 121 reviews" "

9.8/10

Cleanliness

9.8/10

Staff & service

9.6/10

Amenities

9.6/10

Property conditions & facilities

9.6/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Jacqueline

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Good introduction by the host, had everything we needed. Would like toaster.
Stayed 4 nights in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Emmanuel

Traveled with group, Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Thanks Ben
Stayed 4 nights in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Kathy

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Host helped us with our luggage forwarding and there's issues after we left but they still promptly helped. Thanks so much. Would definitely recommend it
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Noemi, Salida

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Friendly, professional staff. Safe and secure site. Room 103 was large and very clean. The kitchen well equipped with a stove, sink, dishes, pots, pans, silverware and a table and chair. There's a washer. You dry your clothes in the entire shower area vs a traditional dryer. There's a very easy to follow instruction manual for how to use all remotes and appliances in the room. There are two comfortable queen size beds. The toilet is in a separate room near the entrance. Theres a booklet hanging on the wall near the kitchen table that serves as a menu of meals that are delivered to the room at very reasonable prices. The street has shops up and down both sides including a grocery store a short walk from the Ben's house. This was our favorite place to stay for the month we traveled around Japan. We'd stay there again in a hearbeat.
Stayed 8 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

Loretta

Traveled with family
Liked: Property conditions & facilities
We found our room quite adequate. It had a stovetop for cooking and a washing machine. It was very close to a grocery store and an amazing bakery. Great baguettes at the bakery. Really enjoyed our stay.
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2024

10/10 Excellent

THANAPON

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
All is good for tourist who want to sightseeing around Kyoto. But if you are a big luggage traveller. You have to transfer by taxi because there are no subway or train by walk around here. And bus is not allowed for big luggage.
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2024

8/10 Good

Kelly

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great place to stay if you want to stay in / cook a meal. Overall spacious and clean. It was a bit further from the city center although easy to get to. Many bus options to Kyoto tourist destinations only a 5 min walk away.
Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2024

10/10 Excellent

Felinia

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 5 nights in Mar 2024
Response from MASATO on Mar 29, 2024
御宿泊有難うございました。またのお越しをお待ちしております。

10/10 Excellent

Michelle

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
What a great place to stay. It was close to everything but not in the middle of it all. Very walkable to stores, bus stops, restaurants, we highly recommended it!
Stayed 5 nights in Mar 2024
Response from Ben on Mar 27, 2024
Thanks for the lovely review :)

10/10 Excellent

Benjie

Traveled with partner
Liked: Property conditions & facilities
Able to do our laundry. Nice and clean homey place
Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2024
Response from Ben on Mar 27, 2024
Thank you for staying with us!

10/10 Excellent

jacob

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Very quaint japanese style inn. Good price. Little out of the way in terms of location but the bus stop isn't too far away to get around. Great karaage place 3 min away, and clothes options too. Lobby has a hand drawn map of local stops for food and shopping
Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2024
Response from MASATO on Mar 18, 2024
Thank you for staying with us.Thank you for liking our guesthouse.I'm glad you enjoyed using the local map.

10/10 Excellent

Patricia, Toledo

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This was a clean and comfortable accommodation for 4 people. It was safe and in good walking distance to convenience stores. The check in process was smooth and seamless.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024
Response from MASATO on Mar 18, 2024
Thank you for staying with us.Thank you for liking our guesthouse.

10/10 Excellent

Andrzej

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Quiet, clean, very nice place. The place is spacious and very well prepared for a few nights or longer stay.
Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2024
Response from MASATO on Mar 18, 2024
Thank you for staying with us.Thank you for liking our guesthouse.

10/10 Excellent

Lee

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Loved this place. The small apartment was perfect in every way. WiFi was brilliant. The place was spotless. Everything was perfect; we loved going back to this place every evening. Thanks guys!
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024
Response from MASATO on Mar 18, 2024
Thank you for staying with us.Thank you for liking our guesthouse.Please come again.

10/10 Excellent

Terence

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very nice guesthouse felt very homey! Was also nice and clean. The breakfast options were nice and affordable as well! The staff were very accommodating to requests involving luggage delivery too :)
Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2024
Response from MASATO on Feb 20, 2024
Thank you for staying with us.Also, thank you for your high evaluation.I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Kyoto to the fullest.I would be happy if we could meet again someday.

10/10 Excellent

Michal

Traveled with family
Liked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities
We had an absolutely amazing stay at Ben's. Ben himself is incredibly helpful and gave us some recommendations for some amazing local cuisine! The property itself is very cozy and feels more down to earth than just a hotel. If youre planning a trip to Kyoto I definitely recommend staying at Ben's. Thank you so much for a lovely experience!!!
Stayed 4 nights in Jan 2024
Response from MASATO on Jan 27, 2024
Thank you for staying with us.I'm glad that you enjoyed Kyoto.See you again someday!

10/10 Excellent

Rishabh

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Great and cheap
Very cheap for such a high quality hotel. Has all the comforts. We got sick during our stay and the many tissue boxes that were provided was great. Our only complaint was the dryer wasnt the best as it didnt fully dry out all the clothes even when putting it overnight.
Stayed 6 nights in Jan 2024
Response from Ben on Jan 11, 2024
Thank you for staying with us and enjoying our place. We hope you enjoyed your time in Kyoto.Most clothes should dry in the shower room in 1-2 hours as long at Dry mode is turned on with the timer and the door is closed. The button is labeled with an English translation as well.

10/10 Excellent

BRIJESH

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2024
Response from Ben on Jan 11, 2024
Thank you for staying with us :)

10/10 Excellent

Eliza

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great location with easy access to local buses. Dining options nearby as well as a local supermarket. Washing machine and drying room made our lives so much easier!
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2023
Response from MASATO on Dec 6, 2023
御宿泊有難うございました。またのお越しをお待ちしております。

8/10 Good

Benoit

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It's a good place if you want to cook your own food. A little small, but OK overall.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2023
Response from MASATO on Nov 21, 2023
御宿泊有難うございました。またのお越しをお待ちしております。

10/10 Excellent

Austin

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Ben’s Guesthouse was great! It was so nice having a washer in unit.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2023
Response from MASATO on Oct 30, 2023
Thank you for staying with us.looking forward to seeing you coming again.

10/10 Excellent

Karlee

Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023
Response from MASATO on Oct 11, 2023
ご宿泊有難うございました。またのお越しをお待ちしております。

10/10 Excellent

Edwin

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Spacious
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023
Response from Ben on Sep 27, 2023
Thank you for staying with us :)

8/10 Good

Miyuki

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Very clean
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2023
Response from MASATO on Sep 4, 2023
ご宿泊有難うございました。またのお越しをお待ちしております。

10/10 Excellent

Thavamalar

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2023
Response from MASATO on Jul 25, 2023
Thank you for staying with us.looking forward to seeing you coming again.

10/10 Excellent

Jennifer

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Cultural Experience
Stayed 3 nights in Jul 2023
Response from MASATO on Jul 25, 2023
Thank you for staying with us.Thank you for your high evaluation.looking forward to seeing you coming again.

8/10 Good

maria, san diego

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
For the price is a good option, I did not liked the location, little improvements can make a difference like change the carpet
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2023
Response from MASATO on Jul 21, 2023
Thank you for staying with us.

8/10 Good

Patrick

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Nice host
Friendly and nice host. Allowed us to check in early and was accommodating all the way
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2023
Response from MASATO on Jun 29, 2023
Thank you for staying with us.looking forward to seeing you coming again.

10/10 Excellent

Victoria

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It was a very comfortable and spacious room! Fully enjoyed our stay stay there!
Stayed 7 nights in Jun 2023
Response from MASATO on Jun 28, 2023
Thank you for staying with us.Please come again.We'll be expecting you.

10/10 Excellent

virginia

Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2023
Response from MASATO on May 24, 2023
ご宿泊有難うございました。

10/10 Excellent

Sangeeta

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Amazing place to live at and hospitality was amazing and the host was so helpful
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2023
Response from MASATO on May 4, 2023
Thank you for staying with us.looking forward to seeing you coming again.

10/10 Excellent

David

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Having the ability to walk to the grocery store and cook in was great.
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2023
Response from MASATO on May 1, 2023
御宿泊有難うございました。またのお越しをお待ちしております。

6/10 Okay

Noor

Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2023
Response from MASATO on Apr 29, 2023
御宿泊有難うございました。またのお越しをお待ちしております。

10/10 Excellent

Eric

Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2023
Response from Ben on Mar 30, 2023
Thank you very much for staying with us. We are glad to hear you enjoyed your stay.

10/10 Excellent

Harun

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Private room
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2023
Response from MASATO on Mar 7, 2023
ご宿泊有難うございます。またのお越しをお待ちしております。

10/10 Excellent

Tin

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Give this place a try!
The walls on the first floor have plenty of directions on supermarkets, restuarants, and other activities to do around this city and how to get there. The size of the rooms are fit for a family and comes with a kitchen, washing machine, shower/bath, etc. Good wifi in all rooms as well.
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2022
Response from Ben on Dec 1, 2022
Thank you for staying with us. We're happy you enjoyed our place!

8/10 Good

Leann

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Comfortable but not for large family.
Very comfortable bed and in an area where you could shop for any of your needs quickly. However, not the best for a larger family/young family. I would say it would be best for a young couple or a family with older children. There was no lift to the top floor. Kids had to help drag their luggage up. They asked we put on slippers at the entrance to the building which we didn’t mind but they are not safe shoes to climb the stairs. Parking was about $25 dollars a day and about 1-2 blocks from the apartment. The washer dryer combo didn’t dry the clothes so you had to line dry them.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2021
Response from Ben on Dec 29, 2021
Thank you very much for staying with us. We appreciate the detailed feedback. Our Standard rooms are generally more economical while we do have larger rooms for families that need more space. We provide parking information in our welcome message, however some of the parking lots charge a bit more on the 25th of each month (as mentioned in the message) due to the monthly flea market at Kitano Tenmangu shrine. Otherwise parking should be around 800-1200 yen per day. Unfortunately clothes dryers aren’t common in Japan but the shower room does have a dry feature where clothes can be hanged and dried in a fairly efficient manner. We look forward to hosting you again on your next visit to Kyoto. Kind regards

10/10 Excellent

Deidre, Malaysia

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
5 star for Ben's Guesthouse! The room condition is excellent! Staying at Ben's is a feel-at-home experience. We definitely enjoyed our stay here. Thanks Ben for the great hospitality! :)
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2019
Response from Ben on Jan 31, 2020
Thank you for staying with us! We are glad you enjoyed our place. We look forward to seeing you again.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Family trip
The hotel is super clean. Bathroom, kitchen, and beds are all very clean. The room is not luxury, but cozy and convenient. There is a supermarket nearby. The hotel representatives are very friendly. The owner Ben speaks English. Due to airplane delay, we arrived at midnight. Ben provided us with detailed instructions about how to check-in by ourselves. Easy to check-in and to get the key. My son dropped his airpod case on Taxi at the time when we came to the guesthouse. After we informed Ben about this accident. Ben asked office manager reviewed telephone records for that time frame and called those numbers one by one, eventually they contacted the taxi company successfully and was able to locate the airpod case. Then, Ben provided very thorough information about how to get the airpod case back. Small thing, but let us feel very warm. Appreciated it. When we checked out, the guesthouse manager allowed us to store our luggage at the office up to 3pm. Very considerate. Thanks so much! Love the place!
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2019
Response from Ben on Dec 8, 2019
Thank you for staying with us! We are excited to hear you enjoyed our place and we are glad to have been able to help you recover your lost item. I hope you will choose us again on your next visit to Kyoto. :)

10/10 Excellent

Roland, Melbourne

Traveled with family and small children, Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very nice and quiet place. A lot of amenities provided not limited to Netflix. Local shops and food are just beside it. Communication with them is Excellent. They are very helpful.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2019
Response from Ben on Oct 8, 2019
Thank you for staying with us. We are glad you enjoyed your stay at our guesthouse and within the surrounding neighborhood. We try to ensure that all our guests can have the best experience possible. Please do visit us again if you have another chance to visit Kyoto.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Air conditioning, kitchetnette and washing machine all added to a great stay at Ben's & yes, we met Ben. Staff were helpful and polite. We'd stay here again.
Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2019
Response from Ben on Sep 18, 2019
Thank you very much for staying with us! We are glad you enjoyed our facilities. Your feedback means a lot to us. We look forward to seeing you again in the future.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Good room good service good senario good time good view
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019
Response from Ben on Sep 3, 2019
Thank you very much for staying with us. We appreciate your review and are glad you enjoyed everything about our place!

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I liked portable WiFi. Didn't like heat and humidity.
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2019
Response from Ben on Aug 18, 2019
Thank you very much for staying with us. We’re glad you liked the WiFi. We look forward to hosting you again.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great place to stay with lol all shops and places to eat. Very friendly. Could do with an elevator but Ben helps with bags.
Stayed 1 night in Aug 2019
Response from Ben on Aug 11, 2019
Thank you for staying with us. We are glad you could enjoy your short stay with us. We invite you to stay longer with us on your next visit to Kyoto!

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
What a wonderful hotel/apartment. We were VERY IMPRESSED with the fantastic communication of the owner, as our flight arrived late in Osaka so we arrived in Kyoto outside of check in time. Detailed instructions emailed were perfect and easily followed. Our little apartment was spacious, very clean and had lots of amenities - little kitchenett, washing machine, fridge freezer, bathroom and a little dining area.
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2019
Response from Ben on Aug 8, 2019
Thank you for staying with us. We hope you enjoyed your time in Kyoto. We are delighted by your positive and wonderful. We hope all guests will have a similar guests that you did. We look forward to hosting you again in the future.

10/10 Excellent

Danielle

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Best stay of our entire trip
Would stay here again and again. Super clean and comfortable apartment. Customer service was amazing too, they gave us recommendations for local places to eat, including sushi Kura, a fried chicken place down the road, and amazing vegan Japanese, just check their board in the hallway next to reception. Location is a little way from the station / centre but it didn’t matter for us. Great value for the price, it felt home away from home.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2019
Response from Ben on Jul 14, 2019
We are very excited you took advantage of our recommendation list in our pre-arrival email! The restaurants on the list were hand-picked after having tried all of them myself personally. We hope for all our guests to be able to have the same local experience as you did. If you get another chance to visit Kyoto, we would love to host you again :)

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I liked it for it has an in-unit laundry. But it’s a bit far from the most of places we visited.
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2019
Response from Ben on Jul 14, 2019
Thank you for staying with us. Some of the major tourist spots may seem kind of far as Kyoto is more of a bus city rather than a train city. However there are many local gems nearby that are off the beaten path. We look forward to hosting you again :)

10/10 Excellent

Patrick

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
We received best service. Mr. Showmen gave us the best consideration for our needs. We stayed 28days. The best of the best service. Thank you.
Stayed 28 nights in Jun 2019
Response from Ben on Jul 14, 2019
Hi Patrick, Thank you very much for staying with us! It was a pleasure for us to get to know you over the course of your stay. We are glad to know that you enjoyed your stay. We look forward to seeing you again next summer :)

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great!
Everything was great. Clean, complete, high tech. Location just 5 minutes walk from bus stop, in the middle of a lively street. The only minus is no elevator. So be prepared to lift your lugagges upstairs 😊.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2019
Response from Ben on Jul 11, 2019
Thank you for staying with us. We appreciate the review and are glad you enjoyed your time here. Sorry about the stairs - if you arrive during reception hours our staff can help carry your luggage to your room for you. We look forward to hosting you again.

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2019
Response from Ben on Jun 25, 2019
Thank you for staying with us. We strive to improve our services and we look forward to hosting you again.