Review: Roku Kyoto, Hilton LXR

During my September 2022 trip to Japan, Roku Kyoto became the third of three luxury hotels that we checked out while staying in Kyoto.

After exploring both Marriott and Hyatt’s top-tier properties in the form of The Mitsui and the Park Hyatt, we then ventured over to Hilton’s best property in the area, located on the city’s northern outskirts.

The brand-new Hilton property opened in September 2021 and is the first LXR Hotels & Resorts property under the Hilton brand in the Asia-Pacific, as well as Hilton’s first foray into Kyoto’s world-class luxury hotel scene.

Roku Kyoto – Booking

Fortunately, I could use a Hilton Free Night Reward to book our one-night stay here at Roku Kyoto. Otherwise, it would’ve cost me 110,000 Hilton Honors points, corresponding to ~$660 (CAD) as per our Points Valuations – which is certainly not a cheap redemption.

Hilton’s Free Night Rewards can be used on weekdays and not just weekends through the rest of 2022. This worked perfectly for my itinerary, and since I happened to have a few Free Night Rewards floating around, I opted to use one here at Roku Kyoto.

Cash rates at this property won’t come cheap either, starting at 64,000–77,000 yen ($600–720 CAD) for a standard room, and reaching 190,000 yen ($1,780 CAD) for a suite.

All factors considered, using a Free Night Reward made the most sense here, rather than paying the exorbitant cash prices or with points.

I’d note here that, after staying, I think the hotel is fairly overpriced in both the cash and points categories. Roku Kyoto tries to compete with other top-tier properties such as The Mitsui or The Ritz-Carlton on price; however, as I realized throughout my stay, the quality doesn’t quite reach the same heights.

Roku Kyoto – Location

The resort is situated on the northern outskirts of Kyoto, resting among the green foothills of Takagamine Sanzan. 400 years ago, the location was home to an artists’ village.

Roku Kyoto is situated on the grounds of the Shozan Resort, an enclave of Japanese…