We, a group of 3 travellers, stayed at the hotel in March 2008 and were not impressed at all with its overall performance. Charging the price of a 5 star establishment, the hotel simply doesn't live up to these standards. The whole hotel seems worn and dated, from the stained carpets within rooms to a post-communist decor in its lobby and exterior areas. Even though the staff try their best to live up to the standards of such an establishment, the astonishing lack of foreign languages shows the missing preparation for international travellers.

Attending breakfast resulted in a queing process that I have not experienced in any hotel regardless of its standard - even though an additional charge was added to the bill. To be fair, the breakfast itself was fine and plentiful, offering a good choice of foods for all of our group members.

The hotel is located in a quiet neighborhood next to Nijo Castle, but there are no shopping, dining or entertainment possibilities within walking distance.

Overall, our group got the impression of staying in a hotel that was past its best before date. Be aware that you might stay in a hotel that lives to a large extent of its past reputation.

The ANA hotel is clearly quite old and one occasionally gets the feeling that more recent make-overs have attempted to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. However, the hotel's porcine past is generally well hidden, with the exception of the pool area which has a very retro (in a bad way) feel about it. The pool has one of those paint schemes where you're not quite sure whether its peeling or meant to look that way.....

That pretty much covers all of the limited downside - of much more importance is that our room was pleasant and spacious, with an excellent view of the artificial waterfall and Nijo-jo. The hotel's common and dining areas are dominated by the remarkably attractive and realistc waterfall (realistic if you ignore the plastic "Bambi" figures strategically placed around the falls). We only had breakfast at the hotel (which was excellent), as the restaurant prices were exorbitant compared to what was on offer in town.

The location of the hotel is good, being only a couple of hundred yards from the underground railway which in two stops takes you to the centre of things (you could walk the distance easily enough but one tends to do rather a lot of walking in Kyoto.....)

Finally, it's worth observing that the hotel is very well set up to welcome overseas guests, which is comparatively rare in Japan. Of course, just about every hotel I have stayed in in Japan is very welcoming and hospitable, but the ANA actually caters for overseas visitors with plenty of English information, Autumn colour guides etc.

My partner and I stayed in ANA hotel Kyoto for two weeks.
The staff where really friendly and polite, the double bed room had a lovely view and was clean and well presented, plus it was really comfortable and well priced.
The restaurants and room service where very good and if you want to splash out got to the NIJO Teppanyaki restaurant on the ground floor.
There is a free shuttle bus that collects and drops you of at the main enterance to the hotel and the taxi area for Kyoto Station, there was a bus pretty much every half hour.
If you get shuttle bus from kansai airport it drops you off very near the shuttle bus location (blue bus). These are both really useful when you are tired from a long flight and quite cheap.
The hotel is in a really good central location and if you feet can take it, get a good map of kyoto and walk to the temples, sights etc, it a great way to see the city.
Also we did have earthquake while where in the hotel and we hardly felt a thing

Stayed for 3 nights, had a great room overlooking Nijo Castle. Easy bus links to the golden temple and walking distance of shopping areas and Imperial gardens, couldn't fault it. Find it hard to believe some of the other reviews are of the same place.