Nicest Hyatt Place In The World – Hyatt Place Kyoto Review
Having been a Hyatt Diamond/Globalist member since 2014, I have experienced my fair share of Hyatt Place stays. In the early days I used to love pretty much all Hyatt Places, but over the years the brand has worn on me. Don’t get me wrong I still think Hyatt Place hotels can be great places to stay, especially for families, but some of the older properties just aren’t desirable anymore. With that said, in this Hyatt Place Kyoto review I’ll show you why I think it is the nicest Hyatt Place in the world.
Hyatt Place Kyoto – Unlike the Rest
While many of the new Hyatt Place builds are very nice, the Hyatt Place Kyoto seems to stand above the rest. One of the brand standards for Hyatt Place is to have a semi-large room with a sofabed and often if you’ve seen one then you have seen them all. This has changed with a number of urban and custom builds and the Hyatt Place Kyoto is one of those.
Hyatt Place Kyoto Review – The Rooms
Like some other unique Hyatt Place builds the rooms in Kyoto don’t resemble what you will find at your local Hyatt Place down the street. This is perhaps the biggest downside of the property considering the rooms are on the small side. Even with smaller rooms they do squeeze in a sofabed making this property decent for families. Here is a look at our twin room with sofabed at the Hyatt Place Kyoto.
The bathroom while also small stands out from out Hyatt Place locations in that it has the now expected Japanese toilet with bidet plus a shower room featuring a bathtub. These shower/bath combo rooms are common even in fancy hotels in Japan and the inclusion of more than a typical shower is appreciated and elevates this property just a bit.
Hyatt Place Kyoto – What Makes It Special
What makes Hyatt Place Kyoto special when compared to other properties is just how nice it is. In fact, it resembles some of the newer Hyatt Regency builds around Asia with material quality a step above what you find at many of their other locations. You won’t mistake this for a true luxury hotel, but it feels upscale, comfortable and in many ways beats brand expectations.
For example, the Hyatt Place Kyoto has a very well-equipped gym. It also has a counter with tons of free amenities for your room including a welcome kit for children. Perhaps the nicest perk of staying here are the two Nespresso machines in the lobby. Just pop a pod in and you are enjoying pretty good coffee 24 hours a day. Nespresso is not something you expect in a Hyatt Place and having it in the lobby means you can have as much as you want. A small thing, but just an example of how this property steps above its counterparts.
Hyatt Place Kyoto Breakfast – Very Good But One Huge Quirk
Another way this Hyatt Place goes above and beyond what you will find at other properties is with the breakfast. Hyatt Place includes breakfast for all World of Hyatt members booked directly through Hyatt, but their offerings are often uninspired. I have had some decent breakfasts at Hyatt Place locations, however this property has the most extensive breakfast offering I have seen with one quirk.
In place of powdered eggs and canned fruit, you have a full Japanese and Western breakfast buffet that is on par with many full service hotels we have stayed at in Japan. They have a wide selection of western offerings, Japanese curry, fish, a salad bar, juices and a lot more. The one thing they decided to cut out apparently due to cost is eggs. That is a first for me, but seems like a temporary deletion instead of a permanent one. Considering I never eat the powdered eggs at regular Hyatt Place locations it wasn’t a huge deal since I assume they used real eggs here. The rest of the food was great and the buffet was better than the paid one at Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay for example.
Kyoto Is Stacked With Hyatts & The Hyatt Place Location Is Good
One of the more interesting things about Kyoto is the range of Hyatt hotels here. We arrived late in the city and decided to stay at the Hyatt Place since it is a category 3 property costing 12K points per night on normal nights. After our stay we are moving to the Park Hyatt Kyoto which is a category 8 property costing 40K points per night! Add in the category 5 Hyatt Regency and you have a nice selection of properties that all look nice and come in at different price points for different expectations.
While I am not an expert on sightseeing in Kyoto, I think the location of the Hyatt Place is pretty good. We arrived on the Shinkansen and were able to quickly transfer to the subway which stops directly beneath the hotel. The Imperial Palace is only a 10 minute walk away as well, which made it convenient for us to stop there before it closed for the evening. There are also a lot of places to eat and drink around the hotel, but tourist spots in Kyoto are spread out so I am not sure there is one location that is perfect for everything.
Hyatt Place Kyoto Review – Bottom Line
While I have soured on the older Hyatt Place locations and often seek to avoid them, I have generally liked new Hyatt Place builds as the brand has become more splintered. That said, I think the Hyatt Place Kyoto stands above all of the rest and while it may or may not be the best Hyatt Place in the world, it is the nicest one I have stayed at in my almost 10 years of being a top-tier Hyatt member.
What is the nicest Hyatt Place location you have stayed in? Let me know in the comments!
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The Hyatt Place East London is very nice, but no free breakfast unless you are a Globalist. I had a great six night stay there last year.
That’s strange. I wonder how they get away with that since the breakfast is supposed to be free for all World of Hyatt members booked on an eligible rate.
I read or heard somewhere that Hyatt Places outside the US do not have to give breakfast to non-elites if you stay on points. They did offer breakfast if you prebooked it special at 10 pounds a day which I did. It was a decent buffet. Sorry I cannot give the source.
breakfast is not free for everyone at LHR hyatt place either
Hyatt Place in the EU and the UK are not complementary
The new Hyatt Place on Panama City Beach, FL is really nice and the breakfast is the best HP breakfast I’ve ever had. They serve it at their beach bar/restaurant Hurricane Charlie’s.
Always nice to discover a property that exceeds expectations and brand standards!
I stayed at the Hyatt Place Kyoto in early February. I have to agree with your review. This was the best Hyatt Place I’ve ever stayed at. All around amazing. The only thing it is missing – an onsen. If it had an onsen on site, I would never leave.
Yeah an onsen would be really nice.
We booked 2 days at the HP Kyoto last December, super cheap when compared with the HR and in a better location. Decent stay but nothing special. We then tried the Hilton Garden Inn Kyoto – Shijo Karasuma, which is priced roughly the same, for 3 days. IMO, the Hilton is a better value. It has arguably a sweeter location, breakfast is more or less the same as the HP, there are rooms for 4 people, and the room aesthetics are far more attractive than the standard cookie cutter HP (you won’t feel like you are in a HP in Texas) .
Always a good reminder to get out of the Hyatt bubble and good to know about the Hilton for future stays. I have had very mixed experiences with the HGI brand, but sounds like their newer builds are nicer.
I stayed at the Hyatt Place Krakow last month and it was pretty great. The rooms were a bit small but very well designed. The place is only Six months old.
Oh, and it’s a category 1. Breakfast is not included unless you’re a globalist or Guest Of Honor though.
This is a category 3. If this were a CAT1, it would be an absolute steal.
I see category one. Some days 3500 points
As a Kyoto native, I think the new Hyatt Place is in the better location than the other two Hyatt properties in town.
Good to hear that. It seemed that way to me as well, but I wasn’t going to pretend to be an expert. The immediate area around the Park Hyatt is interesting with the temples, but it seemed hard to get anywhere else plus the streets outside are overrun with tourists. I liked that the Hyatt Place is right on top of the subway.