About HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO

HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO, a Luxury Collection Hotel & Spa, is in an excellent location in Kyoto. Newly renovated in 2020, the hotel combines modern facilities with elegant design, and it’s only 900 meters from the city center, making it easy to explore this historic city. The property is owned by the Mitsui group, historically the leading one among Japan’s four major zaibatsu. Spanning industries such as finance, mining, automobiles, and real estate, Mitsui is a massive conglomerate with many hotel holdings, including Mitsui Garden Hotel and other Mitsui-branded chains. What makes HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO especially unique is that it was rebuilt on a former Mitsui family estate with more than 250 years of history. The result is a blend of old heritage and new construction that gives the hotel a real sense of depth and character.

The hotel is very close to Nijo Castle—about a 7- to 8-minute walk. Getting there from Kyoto Station is a little less convenient, though, since you need to take the subway and then walk another 10+ minutes. The surrounding area is very quiet. Another highlight is the hotel’s natural underground hot spring, which is definitely worth trying. It’s complimentary for guests.

A nighttime shot of Nijo Castle for everyone to relax a bit

Booking

I happened to have an 85,000-point free night certificate that was about to expire, so I started looking for hotels in Japan that would be worth using it for a one-night stay. I came across this Kyoto property by chance: $1,100 per night or 98,000 points per night at the time I checked out the pricing, though when I actually booked it, it was 90,000 points. That’s a pretty solid redemption value. Since I really didn’t want to waste the certificate, I was happy to top off with a few extra points to book it.

I also checked peak season pricing in March, and it was going for $2,200 per night or 150,000 points per night. Definitely the kind of property that makes sense for a special experience.

Later, I checked Fliggy and found that this is considered one of Kyoto’s must-visit ultra-luxury hotels. The natural underground hot spring is another big selling point. Kyoto also has some other excellent luxury options, like The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto and Park Hyatt Kyoto, both of which are on my list for a future trip. I actually happened to pass by Park Hyatt Kyoto while visiting Kiyomizu-dera, so maybe next time.

Email Communication

For this stay, one room was under a Marriott Platinum member, while the other was only under Gold status. So I figured I’d try my luck and ask whether we could get breakfast for the second room as well, and whether there was any chance of a suite upgrade. I shamelessly fed the details into ChatGPT, had it draft an email for me, and sent it off to the hotel. In response, the hotel listed the breakfast charges and gave a template-style reply regarding upgrades. Fair enough, since we were only staying one night anyway. They did say, however, that breakfast for children would be free.

Exterior and Courtyard

We took the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto, then transferred to the subway. By the time we walked to the hotel, it was already evening.

The hotel felt very fresh and different to me, since most of the luxury hotels I’d stayed at before were city-center properties that all feel fairly similar around the world. I hadn’t stayed at a hotel with this kind of distinctly Japanese character before. Even the entrance had a lot of charm.

The landscaping by the entrance was lovely too (this was taken the next day in daylight).

Even the small bamboo details felt very atmospheric.

At night, the lighting design really transforms the space and creates a fantastic atmosphere.

The central courtyard garden is beautiful, with water, a bridge, and plenty of greenery.

Decor Details

It felt a bit like walking into a museum.

This seemed to be an old stone sculpture.

Check-in

Check-in took place in a lounge area, in a separate semi-open private section. The front desk agent took our passports and stepped away for a bit.

You could tell they put a lot of thought into the lighting and shadows here.

A little while later, tea was served, and the staff even bowed as they entered. You could really feel the sense of respect in the service.

They also prepared apple juice for the kids, which was a very thoughtful touch. One cup was pink and the other was blue.

After check-in was finished, they specifically brought over a staff member who spoke Chinese to assist us, even though we had been speaking English previously. They asked first whether we spoke Chinese. When I saw her standing there speaking to us while slightly bowed, I instinctively stood up to listen. But when she saw me stand, she asked me to sit back down and then crouched down herself to go over the room details. That felt quite different from the usual hotel experience. She also told us we had been upgraded to a garden room and that someone would escort us there shortly. When I asked about breakfast, she said rather proudly that this property is part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, where breakfast is not complimentary.

Overall, this was probably the best check-in experience I’ve ever had. The respect and service were exceptional across the board, and the attention to detail was top-notch. I’m not personally used to being served in this way, but considering I had spent nearly 100,000 Marriott points, I decided to just embrace it.

Room Experience

The front desk agent led us down a long corridor to the room. She wanted to give us a full room introduction as well, but I was too tired and just wanted to take a few photos and rest, so I quickly let her head back.

Guest Room

There’s a long entry hallway when you walk in, so you don’t see the bed immediately, which I appreciated.

The room itself isn’t very large, but the extensive wood accents and wood flooring made it feel especially warm and inviting in winter.

Looking back from another angle

Another angle

This shelf looks very nice.

An unidentified plant

I mentioned our 10th wedding anniversary in an email, and the hotel thoughtfully prepared a card.

Macarons, a little bunny, and some kind of pastry I couldn’t identify. They looked nice, but tasted average.

The water here was even more extreme—it came directly in paper packaging. It seems plastic bottled water is disappearing in Japan.

They also gave us two little tigers, which were pretty cute.

The room key. Supposedly there is a new design every season.

A few more shots of the decor

The shoe rack—even the shoe rack had built-in lighting.

Bathroom

Next up is the bathroom.

This bathtub has a very unusual design.

It was incredibly relaxing to soak in after coming back tired.

These were the in-room amenities, which seemed to be the hotel’s own brand.

Even the toilet had ambient lighting.

Courtyard

You could see the courtyard from the window. At check-in, the front desk agent mentioned that the garden-view rooms on the second floor actually had the best views, and that higher floors were a bit less impressive. I casually asked whether the view felt less appealing in winter and whether cherry blossom season would be better. She said bare branches have their own unique beauty, and that she personally really likes that look.

Daytime view of the courtyard

Breakfast

Breakfast was available for two adults as a Marriott Platinum benefit, and according to the hotel, children were free. So we just took our group of two adults and two kids straight to the restaurant.

Breakfast here was a buffet + made-to-order setup. Each person could order one set meal, and there was a dedicated kids’ set for children. I saw prices on the menu and confirmed with the staff multiple times before feeling comfortable ordering.

  • This was the adult menu, with Japanese, American, or vegetarian options, all of which included the buffet.
  • This was the kids’ menu, with Japanese or American options.
  • This was the adult breakfast, and it was very beautifully presented. But honestly, while it looked great, it tasted average. I’d rather have had a hot bowl of beef noodles.

There was even a diagram showing you how to eat it.

  • This is what the kids’ breakfast looked like.

Other buffet items included the following:

  • A standard salad bar
  • The smoked salmon was pretty good.

All the juices were freshly squeezed.

A standard bread station, and the taste was average.

No strawberries in the fruit selection~!

A standard hot food station

Overall, the setting was pretty nice.

The restaurant lighting was very comfortable.

To sum it up: breakfast looked good, the environment was nice, but the taste was average.

Onsen

The front desk said phones were not allowed for photos, so I obediently left mine out. Once I got inside, I realized we were the only group there. In hindsight, I should have brought it in to take a few pictures for everyone.

Let me use a few images from the official website. I can confirm it really did look like this.

The water was pretty hot, so I soaked for a little over 10 minutes before getting out and lying down. To be honest, I couldn’t really tell whether it was especially natural or not, but after walking all day, it still felt very relaxing.

Summary

This hotel really does deserve its reputation as one of Kyoto’s top properties. Both the service and the room hardware were excellent. If you’re planning a stay here, you can book with points. At the low end, it only costs 90,000 points, and using an 85,000-point free night certificate is also a pretty good deal.