I really enjoyed my stay at Gion Misen Furumonzen. My room was very stylish and comfortable, and I loved the bathroom. The bathtub was amazing! The staff were also wonderful: very polite and helpful any time I had a question. I've seen other reviews complaining that the staff isn't friendly, but essentially these complaints seem focused on the fact that the staff are mostly European rather than Japanese. This should be seen as a pro, rather than a con. They are all multi-lingual, meaning they can help a greater range of travellers in their own languages. For a city like Kyoto that draws visitors from every corner of the globe, having multi-lingual staff at a hotel is an absolute bonus.
The location of the hotel is great too. Right on the edge of Gion, so the area is walkable (I walked as far south as Kiyomizu-dera) but the street itself is quiet, which I appreciated. And it's very close to Sanjo Station, which makes travel quite easy (no need to take any packed buses).
The one thing, as other reviewers have mentioned, is the pillow situation. The pillows in the room were like pancakes. I had two beds in my room, so I was able to use the additional pillows, but for a relatively expensive boutique hotel, you'd expect better pillows, or a pillow bar in the lobby. If business-class hotels can have a pillow bar, so can boutique hotels. This hotel's rating would instantly improve if they added a pillow bar.
Beyond that, I had a great stay and was sad to leave, haha.
