Brighton Kyoto

This is review is based on balancing the cost of a room with the experience. (In other words, if the cost was $ 250/​night, perhaps the review would be a little different.)
Background: I am traveling on internationally on business, which unfortunately, I do rather often — in the US, Asia and Europe. I’m comparing this hotel to others I’ve stayed at in Asia (Thailand, China, Korea), because I feel that is the appropriate comparison set.
Room: The room is very nice and clean. Fabulous linens, comfortable bed, nice bathroom (if a little oddly configured with the bathtub enclosed in the shower) and fairly quiet. Though, it does have the open atrium configuration (all of the doors to the rooms open to an internal atrium which runs the entire height of the hotel). This can get noisy if anyone is talking on the first floor lobby. I’m in one of the few rooms which is tucked off of this main area and it is down season, both of which are probably helping.
Free and stable wifi (always something I consider).
As a general comment, the room came with powdered tea and powdered coffee and a hot water pot. As a coffee addict, I’m not a huge fan of powdered coffee; however, at least it was powdered black coffee and not the powdered coffee which is pre-​mixed with creamer and sugar (which is completely undrinkable and tastes like cream-​based cough syrup).
At this point, you are probably wondering if I hit the «1 star» in error… nope.
First day: I went down to breakfast to, well, get breakfast. I was asked if a I had a ticket — uh, no. What ticket? I was told it wasn’t a problem, was shown to a seat, and was told I could have the buffet. Great, things are moving smoothly after a minor hiccup. At the end of the meal, I received a bill — and it was ~$ 24. This was not $ 24 worthy… But I totally agree this was my mistake. I should have asked. But then I noticed that they did, in fact, have menus. (Someone else was given one.) Kind of frustrated but too late. The next day, I asked for a menu and ordered off the menu (much more reasonably priced). So, now we come to the third day. My meetings started an hour earlier, so I had to be at the office at 7:15am. I arrived at the restaurant at 6:15 — they weren’t open. I went to the front desk to inquire — apparently, the restaurant doesn’t open until 7am. What? This was totally new for me, so I thought a creative solution might in order. Perhaps room service to the rescue? Nope, room service keeps the same hours as the restaurant… Huh? I think they missed the point of room service entirely. So, no breakfast for me — on that day or the rest of the week (including before boarding my 12 hour flight home)… (- 1 star)
The hotel offers a shuttle to a nearby metro station. The shuttle comes to the hotel drops people off in from of the hotel and parks off to the side, at what looks like a service entrance. When you want to board the shuttle, you actually board over near the service entrance. When I asked the person in front of the hotel where I boarded the shuttle (and the shuttle was arriving at the hotel) he pointing to the front. So when the shuttle pulled to the side, I assumed the shuttle was taking a break (like drivers do). Therefore, I missed the shuttle and had to take a taxi. This was after waiting 15 minutes for the shuttle b/​c it was late. Note: it is supposed to come every 20 minutes, so it was really late. Basically running almost an entirely cycle late. (–1 star)
One of the main reasons I booked this hotel originally was that it advertised having a gym/​fitness center with a pool. They closed the whole thing (not just the pool). They have now «teamed up» with a nearby gym and hotel guests can walk to the gym and workout. BUT guests have to pay extra to use the gym. If I have to pay extra to use the gym, that doesn’t count as partnering. (–1 star)
If not for the above problems, I might have given it 3.5−4 stars…