There were once hotels named “Hotel Sunroute Kyoto” in the same block, Namba-cho in Kyoto’s Shimogyo Ward — two of them. The short answer: (1) the “Hotel Sunroute Kyoto” on the Kawaramachi-dori side (144 rooms) closed at the end of June 2019, and “FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto” (59 rooms) opened on its site on March 16, 2021. (2) The “Hotel Sunroute Kyoto Kiyamachi” on the Nishikiyamachi-dori side (75 rooms) never closed; it has kept operating in the same building while changing its name — to “Hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi” on July 1, 2020, “SH by the square hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi” on August 1, 2021, and “Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi” in June 2024.

For readers who want to stay again at the hotel they once knew, the answer depends on which of the two they stayed at. Dropping the Sunroute sign while carrying on in the same building is not unique to Kyoto — Sunroute Plaza Tokyo, now “Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel First Resort” has also kept operating in the same building since its 2019 renaming. This article untangles the history of the two hotels separately and shows month-by-month price guides for booking under their current names (OTA listed prices, per room, 2 guests, tax incl., as of October 17, 2026).

Summary table — from the old names to current name, address, room count and price guide

First, the two properties side by side. Prices cover all plans listed for stay dates from October 15 to December 15, 2026: “lowest” is the cheapest plan found in the period and “average” is the mean of all plans, including upper room types and premium plans. Choosing the cheapest plan gets you a stay below the average.

Source: HotelBank Editorial Team research (OTA listed prices, per room, 2 guests, tax incl., all plans for stays October 15–December 15, 2026; Traveltine N=7,493 plan-days, Fauchon N=3,118 plan-days; as of October 17, 2026). Closing and opening dates are from Wealth Management’s timely disclosure (June 27, 2019) and information published at opening; renaming dates are from operator announcements and press reports.

The two stood in the same corner of Namba-cho, facing each other from the Kawaramachi-dori and Nishikiyamachi-dori sides. The location — about a 5-minute walk from Kiyomizu-Gojo Station on the Keihan Main Line and about 10 minutes from Hankyu Kyoto-Kawaramachi Station — has not changed.

The main Kawaramachi-dori building closed at the end of June 2019 — its site is now FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto

The “Hotel Sunroute Kyoto” at Kawaramachi-dori Matsubara-sagaru was acquired in March 2017 by Wealth Management, Inc. (listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange) through a special-purpose company, and the company’s timely disclosure of June 27, 2019 announced that the hotel would “close at the end of June 2019 and proceed with development of a new hotel.” The redevelopment partner was the hotel arm of the Paris food brand Fauchon, and what rose on the site was Japan’s first Fauchon hotel, “FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto.” It opened on March 16, 2021 with 59 rooms and is operated by Hotel W Management Co., Ltd., a consolidated subsidiary of Wealth Management.

In other words, you cannot stay in the old Sunroute Kyoto building itself, but you can stay on the same spot. The price range, however, has changed dramatically. Per its listing, rooms are 35m² and up and it is positioned as a deluxe hotel with a lounge and spa; OTA listed prices (per room, 2 guests, tax incl.) for stays October 15–December 15, 2026 are lowest ¥54,450 and all-plan average ¥151,400. Against the average listed price of Kyoto deluxe hotels as a whole, ¥175,300 (Kyoto Prefecture, N=38 properties, October 2026), it sits on the more affordable side of Kyoto’s luxury hotels. Outside the autumn-leaves season, January 2027 drops to lowest ¥48,400 / average ¥100,200, and February to lowest ¥60,500 / average ¥99,000.

If you are returning to “that place” for an anniversary or special trip, knowing how luxury-hotel prices swing by season makes budgeting easier. The cheapest months and days of the week for luxury hotels in Kyoto City are laid out in Kyoto luxury hotels: which month is cheapest? Prices by month and day of week, 2026 (wabistay, in Japanese), based on listed prices at 24 hotels.

The Kiyamachi property is operating under its third new name — today it is “Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi”

The “Hotel Sunroute Kyoto Kiyamachi” at Nishikiyamachi-dori Matsubara-sagaru was a new build that opened in August 2018, in a separate building from the main hotel. As Sotetsu Hotels announced, its Sunroute franchise agreement ended with stays on June 30, 2020, and from July 1 it carried on as “Hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi.” It then reopened on August 1, 2021 as “SH by the square hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi” under the Solare Hotels and Resorts brand (reported July 28, 2021), and in June 2024 changed its name again to “Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi.” Its address (403-1 Namba-cho) and room count (75) have stayed the same throughout; when the franchise agreement ended in 2020, the building simply kept welcoming guests under a new name. The same pattern — the old-name hotel ends, but the building can still be booked under another name — applies to Hotel Keihan Universal City as well.

Source: compiled by HotelBank Editorial Team from company announcements, press reports and property listings (checked October 17, 2026)

According to the property’s notices on booking sites, the current rooms are mainly 40 doubles of 17–18m² and 34 twins of 25–39m², with check-in at 3:00 pm and check-out at 11:00 am. A free light breakfast of bread and coffee is served in the 2nd-floor lobby (listed as 6:30–9:00 am). Anyone who stayed in the Sunroute days should recognise the spot along the Takase River and the room layouts — this is a hotel where you can “stay in the same building under a different name.” Facilities and services may change, so check the property’s information when booking.

Prices differ this much by month — Kiyamachi falls to less than half after the autumn-leaves season

Splitting OTA listed prices (per room, 2 guests, tax incl.) as of October 17, 2026 by month, Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi goes from lowest ¥25,900–¥28,000 and average in the ¥50,000s in the October–November autumn-leaves season to lowest in the low ¥10,000s (¥11,200 for the 1st–15th, ¥10,500 for the 16th–31st) and average in the ¥30,000s in December, and in January–February 2027 lowest ¥9,450–¥10,500 and average around ¥27,000. Between the autumn-leaves season and winter, the average roughly halves. FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto follows the same shape: an average of ¥169,000 in November versus ¥99,000 in February 2027.

Source: HotelBank Editorial Team research (OTA listed prices, per room, 2 guests, tax incl., all plans per month; Traveltine N=1,806–3,686 plan-days, Fauchon N=747–1,638 plan-days; as of October 17, 2026). The average is across all plans including upper room types and premium plans; choosing the cheapest plan gets you a stay below the average.

Two points on reading the table. First, because the “average” includes upper rooms and plans, the cheapest plan you would actually pick is close to the “lowest” column. Second, autumn-leaves November is the most expensive month in this observation window (October 2026–February 2027): its lowest price is about 2.7–3x that of January–February, and even the all-plan average is about 1.9–2x. If your dates are flexible, choosing a weekday from mid-December onward or in January–February lets you stay on a budget close to what you remember from the Sunroute days. When the 2026 autumn leaves peak, and how Kyoto lodging prices move month by month, are covered alongside typical years in Japan Autumn Leaves 2026: Peak Dates by Region, Kyoto Hotels 1.72x.

By day of week — Saturday nights run 1.2–1.8x Sunday–Thursday, and some autumn-leaves dates sell out

Listed prices move by day of week as well as by month. Splitting each stay date’s lowest listed price into “Sunday–Thursday,” “Friday” and “Saturday” nights and taking the median, Saturday nights at Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi came to 1.2–1.8x Sunday–Thursday nights, and at FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto 1.1–1.5x. The widest gap is Traveltine in January 2027: ¥9,800 for Sunday–Thursday versus ¥17,150 on Saturday. Friday nights sit close to Sunday–Thursday in most months, so simply staying Friday instead of Saturday helps keep the budget down.

Source: HotelBank Editorial Team research (OTA listed prices, per room, 2 guests, tax incl.; the cheapest plan on each stay date from October 17, 2026 to February 28, 2027, aggregated as a median per day-of-week group; as of October 17, 2026). Public holidays and the nights before them are grouped by their actual weekday. Dates with no bookable plan at the time of observation are excluded.

Demand strength also shows in availability. Stay dates with not a single bookable plan on booking sites at the time of observation numbered 5 for Traveltine in October–November (4 of them Saturdays) and 0 from December on; for Fauchon, 11 in total, including 7 of the 15 days in late October and 3 in November. On autumn-leaves Saturdays it is not only prices that rise but availability that shrinks, so if your dates are fixed, booking early is the better move.

Looking for the same price range nearby — business-hotel rates in Shimogyo Ward

What former Sunroute Kyoto guests are probably after is an affordable hotel within walking distance of Kawaramachi and Gion. As a benchmark, the average listed price of business hotels in Kyoto Prefecture is ¥21,900 (per room, 2 guests, tax incl., N=348 properties, stays in October 2026), and for business hotels in Shimogyo Ward, which includes Kawaramachi and Kyoto Station, it is ¥31,400 (N=126 properties, same basis). Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi’s October lowest price of ¥25,900 is below the Shimogyo Ward average, andits lowest prices of around ¥10,000 from December on come to roughly half the Kyoto Prefecture average. Comparing all-plan averages, however, Traveltine’s October figure (¥50,725) is about 1.6x the Shimogyo Ward business-hotel average, so whether you get a bargain depends on whether you can pick the cheapest plan.

Shimogyo Ward has more than 300 hotels from the Kyoto Station area to Shijo-Kawaramachi, and listed prices swing widely by month and day of week. To check cheap months, cheap days and booking timing against listed prices, see Kyoto hotels: which month is cheapest? Kyoto Station to Shijo prices [2026] (HotelPicks, in Japanese), which aggregates 307–330 properties in Shimogyo Ward.

Source: HotelBank Editorial Team research (monthly aggregation of OTA listed prices, 2 guests per room, per room, tax incl., stays in October 2026, as of October 17, 2026)

To explore further

Frequently asked questions

Q. Did Hotel Sunroute Kyoto close?

A. The “Hotel Sunroute Kyoto” (144 rooms) on the Kawaramachi-dori side closed at the end of June 2019, and “FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto” (59 rooms) opened on its site on March 16, 2021. The “Hotel Sunroute Kyoto Kiyamachi,” also in Namba-cho, did not close; it continues to operate under a new name.

Q. Is Hotel Sunroute Kyoto Kiyamachi still the same building?

A. Yes, it is the same building. The 75-room building at 403-1 Namba-cho, Nishikiyamachi-dori Matsubara-sagaru, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto changed its name to “Hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi” on July 1, 2020, “SH by the square hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi” on August 1, 2021 and “Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi” in June 2024, operating throughout with the same address and room count.

Q. Where can I book?

A. The old names do not appear on booking sites. Search for “Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi” for the Kiyamachi building and “FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto” for the Kawaramachi site, and you can book through the booking sites and the properties’ own pages. Listed prices as of October 17, 2026 (per room, 2 guests, tax incl.) start from ¥9,450 at Traveltine and ¥48,400 at Fauchon, and vary widely by month.

Q. When is Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi cheapest?

A. On listed prices as of October 17, 2026 (per room, 2 guests, tax incl.), the lowest price of ¥9,450 in January 2027 is the cheapest in the observation window, and for Sunday–Thursday nights from mid-December through February the median of each stay date’s lowest price is ¥9,800–¥13,300. In the October–November autumn-leaves season the lowest price is ¥25,900–¥28,000, about 2.7–3x January–February.

Q. How much do Saturday and weekday nights differ?

A. Comparing the median of each stay date’s lowest price, Saturday nights are 1.2–1.8x Sunday–Thursday nights at Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi and 1.1–1.5x at FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto. The widest gap was Traveltine in January 2027: ¥9,800 for Sunday–Thursday versus ¥17,150 on Saturday.

Q. Are SH by the square hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi and Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi the same hotel?

A. They are the same building (403-1 Namba-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto, 75 rooms). It operated as “SH by the square hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi” from August 1, 2021 and as “Hotel Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi” from June 2024. Search booking sites under the current name.

Q. Is FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto in the Sunroute Kyoto building?

A. No. It is a different hotel that opened on March 16, 2021 on the site where the former Hotel Sunroute Kyoto (Kawaramachi-dori side, 144 rooms) closed at the end of June 2019, with 59 rooms. You can stay on the same spot, but the price range has changed dramatically: listed prices (per room, 2 guests, tax incl.) start from ¥48,400 (January 2027).

Methodology and sources

■ Data source

Prices are HotelBank Editorial Team research. Listed prices published on OTAs (2 guests per room, per room, tax incl.) were collected as of October 17, 2026 for stay dates from October 15, 2026 to February 28, 2027 (Traveltine Kyoto Kiyamachi N=1,806–3,686 plan-days per month; FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto N=747–1,638 plan-days per month). Area benchmarks are average listed prices by property type for Kyoto Prefecture and Shimogyo Ward (per room, 2 guests, tax incl., stays in October 2026; Kyoto Prefecture business hotels N=348, Shimogyo Ward business hotels N=126, Shimogyo Ward deluxe hotels N=9, Kyoto Prefecture deluxe hotels N=38 properties).

■ Calculation assumptions

“Lowest” is the cheapest listed price found across all plans in the stay month; “average” is the mean of all plans, including upper room types and premium plans. Table 5 splits each stay date’s lowest listed price into Sunday–Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and takes the median per stay month (stay dates October 17, 2026–February 28, 2027, excluding dates with no bookable plan). December is split into the 1st–15th and 16th–31st to separate the end of the autumn-leaves season from the year-end period.

■ Limitations

Listed prices change after observation, and the average runs higher than what you would pay choosing the cheapest plan. A “date with no bookable plan” is one on which no availability was found on booking sites at the time of observation, and does not necessarily mean the whole property was full. Facilities and services may change, so give priority to each booking site’s and property’s information when booking. This article organises current names and price guides for travellers and contains no assessment of the companies operating either property.

■ References

Wealth Management, Inc., timely disclosure “Notice on the Conclusion of a License Agreement between Hotel W Management Co., Ltd. and FAUCHON HOSPITALITY” (June 27, 2019) / Published information on the opening of FAUCHON L’Hôtel Kyoto (opened March 16, 2021, 59 rooms) / Sotetsu Hotels announcement (franchise agreement ended June 30, 2020; “Hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi” from July 1) / Travel Watch, “Solare Hotels rebrands “SH by the square hotel Kyoto Kiyamachi” and opens official site with lowest-price guarantee” (in Japanese; July 28, 2021; rebranded opening August 1, 2021) / The property’s notice on booking sites (“rebranded and reopened June 2024”; the exact date of the 2024 renaming could not be confirmed in published materials, so only the year and month are given).