Gion Minami Banka Machiya House

The Machiya is very beautiful and has been totally modernized, and our family of four (two adults, two kids in their 20’s) truly enjoyed our stay in this unique property. It was great to have a small kitchen and the common area was lovely. The screens throughout are beautiful. We had a few issues initially (the company didn’t understand that we were planning to use all three bedrooms, including the tatami room on the first floor as a bedroom so they hadn’t put out enough linens) and the aircon in that room was broken and the company was unable to fix it during our stay. That said, the staff (who we communicated with via a dedicated mobile phone they left in the house) helped us find additional linens (stored away elsewhere in the house) and brought over a giant fan that kept the room cool despite the heat. They also offered to move us to another one of their properties, but we decided to stay put because we liked the property and the neighborhood. Some other guest reviews have mentioned noise - we did not experience that. It was very quiet at night, which we appreciated.

Traditional, comfortable, good location

Nothing

This house was in a fabulous location, just a short walk to Hanamikoji Street and, in the opposite direction, Sannenzaka Street. From a practical side, it was great having a combination washing machine/dryer in the home. You could put your washing on in the morning and it would be washed and dried when you returned.

The booking process appear to indicate that they will provide up to 8 beds in 3 bedrooms for 2 adults and 2 children. The child policy stated children below 6 are free and above 6 treated like adults. However, upon completion of booking, the property will message you through Booking Assistant indicating that they would only provide 2 beds and the children have to co-sleep with adults or pay an extra fee for more beds. I informed the property that I would require 4 beds but they told insisted that I pay for the extra beds. I disputed this with the property and told them that this was not indicated anywhere in the child policy or indicated as a possible fee which I have to pay. Booking.com and the property had misinformed the customer and I told them to either honour the booking and provide the beds, allow me to cancel for free or prove to me that I had missed out on reading the policy that I am required to pay for the children’s bedding and I would gladly pay the additional fee. However, the property kept insisting that I pay for the extra beds as it’s their policy and they asked me to solve the problem with Booking.com. Booking.com was equally exasperating for 2 weeks as they simply performed the role of telling me the property’s position and were absolutely not interested to show to me the relevant policy or seek an amicable solution. They also did not allow me to cancel for free as they simply echoed and forwarded the property’s reply. The situation was finally resolved when I started a live chat with Booking Assistant and they sought approval from the supervisor to pay for the extra beds to the property while they resolve the issue with the property for future cases. The issue was settled 2 days before my arrival within 30 minutes as compared to 2 weeks of messaging with the property and Booking Assistant. Kudos to Kayla from Booking Assistant. When I finally arrived for check in, they were aware that I was supposed to have 4 beds in total.