AB Hotel Kyoto Shijo Horikawa in Kyoto

A Deeply Unsettling Experience of Discrimination

My husband and I were guests at your hotel, and I am writing to share a deeply unsettling experience that has compelled me to leave this review.

The issues began at checkout. A staff member was notably rude and condescending while instructing us where to place our luggage. This unpleasantness, however, escalated into something far more serious.

A front desk employee made discriminatory comments toward us under the clear assumption that we were Chinese. The issue is not merely that she was mistaken about our nationality (we are Indonesian); the core problem is that she felt it was acceptable to mistreat someone she believed to be Chinese. This reveals a specific prejudice that is absolutely unacceptable in hospitality.

Even more disappointing was the hotel's response when we tried to report this. Staff actively refused to provide any management contact information—no email address, no office details—effectively blocking any formal complaint. This attempt to silence guests only compounds the initial offense.

We share this not only as a warning to fellow travelers but as a direct appeal to ownership or senior management. This incident points to a need for serious staff training on anti-discrimination and the establishment of a transparent, accessible complaint process. The treatment we experienced should not happen to any guest, ever.

Worst hotel bed and pillows I can remember sleeping on. I felt like I was sleeping on a jagged rock. They clearly got their pillows from the bargain bin (one was stuffed with weird plastic beads and both were hard and lumpy). Walmart pillows you can get for $3 put them to shame. I barely slept and woke up in pain. There was a strong language barrier with one member of the staff as well. It’s a tourist town. I expect enough English to communicate decently with guests and couldn’t understand a word the woman who checked me in said (and she seemed to feel her English was dandy). The place is clean but not spotless. The check in time of 3pm is very firm but they did let me store my bags and the guy who helped me with that was nice and spoke English well enough. A second man also helped me. There is a spa I didn’t use; the sign has several conduct warnings. The room has nice little amenities, such as q-tips

The cleaning staff displaced my deep sleep eye mask, presumably when changing bed sheets. It was a good quality mask that is the only thing that helps my sleep issues. The hotel staff said they couldn’t find it and then refused to reimburse me. The hotel is not cheap, they charge 10,000 yen for “late” check out (their check out time is 10 am), but they can’t be bothered to pay 8,000 yen to compensate for their negligence. The rest of the services (public bath, breakfast) were mediocre too and there’s no concern for sustainability. Definitely not staying here again.

The location of the hotel was pretty decent for what I was looking for and the price rather cheap when booking online. Unfortunately, the service from the male staff I experienced as very poor. They gave me a lower grade room than I initially booked and were not open to talk about it due to language barrier, so I complained online as I paid for a lot expensive room and got some money back. Also I experienced that local guest were preferred when needing something even though I was waiting in line before them. So overall poor experience with the male staff, only a female that worked there tried to support and be helpful. Also the room I slept in was not isolated very well and I could hear outside noise from louder neighbors. My room was not too clean. There were stains all over the walls. The bathroom was very tiny, but I was okay with that.
The hotel offers luggage sending service, however provided me several time wrong information (regarding price and payment method), which was very inconvenient when I had to sent the luggage and leave soon to catch my train.
Due to the poor service, I would not choose this hotel again.