Next month I will be off to Japan for a weeklong work trip, and this time I was given the freedom to find my own accommodation (within reason and my per diem). So I set about reaching out to hotels in my price range to see how accommodating they might be. I thought I’d do what this helpful reader did when looking for an accommodating hotel in Johannesburg, namely, make a table and contact a bunch of places in order to find the best one.
I thought this would be a relatively easy task, but it soon proved challenging for a number of reasons. First, there was a language barrier – some hotels did not have easily identifiable English web pages, and other that did, had forms which refused to translate. On some hotel websites I couldn’t even locate a way to contact them other than by phone. Given the likely language barrier and time zones, I opted to only reach out to hotels with emails, online forms, or online chat features. If I was unable to contact the hotel, I marked down ‘N/A.’ If I was able to contact the hotel but did not hear from them within a week, I marked down a ‘?’
I was pleasantly surprised at the number of hotels that had online chat bots, which directed you to a human if you question strayed from conventional questions (which mine clearly did). The people on these were EXTREMELY polite, and took a variable amount of time to get back to me to inform me that they did not have any waterproof mattress covers.
As you can see from the table below, I ended up contacting a bunch of different hotels spread out across the city. I did this over the course of three nights, and was impressed that all but a handful got back to me within 24 hours, usually sooner. In total I looked at over 44 hotel websites, and contacted a good number of these. I kept at it because I found so few hotels that actually had waterproof mattress covers.
While I did not stay at any of these hotels (or haven’t yet), I did give those that responded a rating, given the nature of their response. Most, as you can see, fall into the 2 category – a polite decline to help. I will highlight the very odd few that offered positive responses at the bottom of the page.
| Hotel | Contact Method | Response | Rating |
| Kyoto Inn Gion | Could not identify contact method. | N/A | N/A |
| Daiwa Royal Hotel Grande | Hard to understand contact form. | “We regret to inform you that we do not have proof mattress or other similar kind at our property. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.” | 2 |
| Rihga Royal Hotel Kyoto | Needed to sign up for mailing list to submit contact form. | “Regarding your question, we have a waterproof mattress protector. However, we do not know the reason why you need, so that we are not sure whether this is useful or not. If you let us know for the reason, we can figure out this is better or not.”
“Actually, our waterproof mattress protector is for children, so it may be small for adult use. |
3 |
| Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel Kyoto | Online chat feature. | Unfortunately we do not have any waterproof mattress covers. We will change the bed sheet for you if needed please feel free to contact our front desk. | 2.5 |
| Daiwa Roynet Hotel, Kyoto-Ekimae | Online chat feature. | Unfortunately we do not have any waterproof mattress covers. Sorry for the inconvenience caused. You may contact the front desk if you need to change the bed sheet. | 2 |
| Hotel Vista Premio Kyoto | Could not figure out how to contact. | N/A | N/A |
| Hotel Keihan Kyoto Grande | Very prompt response to online form. | “Thank you very much for your inquiry. We are sorry, but there is no mattress cover for waterproofing. Instead, it is possible to place and prepare multiple towels.” | 3 |
| Hotel Intergate Kyoto Shijo Shinmachi | Online chat feature. | “I am sorry that we do not have waterproof mattress/cover, please bring your own waterproof cover. Thank you for your understanding.” | 2 |
| Granbell Hotel Kyoto | Online chat feature. | “Hi. Thank you for your patience. We have checked with our related department and unfortunately we don’t provide any waterproof mattress cover or bed sheets in our hotel. It is ok for you to bring a waterproof bed sheets yourself to use on the bed. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.” | 2 |
| Hotel Gran Ms Kyoto | Easy online form. Very prompt response. | “Thank you for your inquiry. Regarding your request, we are afraid that we don’t have any waterproof mattress or alternative things. We appreciate your kind understanding.” | 2 |
| Citadines Karasuma-Gojo Kyoto | Online chat feature. | “Hi, apologies as they do not provide waterproof mattress.” | 2 |
| Prince Hotels & Resorts | No discernible contact method. | N/A | N/A |
| Kyomachiya Ryokan Sakura – Urushitei | Online form. | ? | ? |
| Sakura Terrace – Kyoto | No form or email. | N/A | N/A |
| Hotel Resol Kyoto Kawaramachi Sanjo | Email. | “Unfortunately, we don’t have waterproof mattress. We have just usual mattress. We’re sorry.” | 2 |
| Karaksa Hotel Kyoto | Online form. | “Unfortunately, We don’t have any waterproof mattress in hotel. If the mattress were wet, we will change to new sheet.” | 2 |
| Village Kyoto | Online chat feature. | “We apologize for taking your precious time. In regards to this matter, we will have to confirm it with our related department before giving you a correct answer. Thank you for your patience. We have checked with our related department and unfortunately, we don’t provide any waterproof mattress cover or bed sheets in our hotel. It is ok for you to bring a waterproof bed sheet yourself to use on the bed. If the sheet was getting wet or dirty during your stay, you are welcome to let our front desk know, they will help you to change the sheets. (No an additional fee will be charged).” | 2.5 |
| Kyoto Itoya Hotel | Email. | “We are afraid but we don’t have any waterproof matters.” | 2 |
| Garnet Hotel Kyoto | Online form. | “We are afraid that we only provide normal bedding without waterproof. But we can provide one more mattress cover for you.” | 3 |
| Villa Sanjo Muromachi – Kyoto | No email or form. | N/A | N/A |
| Kyoto Century Hotel | Online form. | “We are afraid we do not have waterproof mattress covers or something similar.” | 2 |
| The Share Hotels Rakuro | Email. | “We are sorry, we don’t have a waterproof mattress.” | 2 |
| Apa Hotel Kyoto Ekimae | No contact information found. | N/A | N/A |
| Hotel Ethnography Gion Shinmonzen | No contact information found. | N/A | N/A |
| Comicap Kyoto | Hotel? Incomprehensible website. | N/A | N/A |
| New Miyako Hotel | Online chat feature. | “I’m afraid we do not have waterproof mattress. Thank you for your understanding.” | 2 |
| Tazuru Tyokan, Kyoto | No contact information found. | N/A | N/A |
| Hotel Gimmond Kyoto | Online form. | ? | ? |
| Hotel Mume | Online form. | “However, we are afraid that we do not have any waterproof mattress or something to cover the bed. We are sorry for the disappointing information.” | 2 |
| Kyoto Ryokan Gion Sano | ? | ? | |
| Gion Hanna Stay | Confusing non-English form. | ? | ? |
| Yutaka | Online form. | “The beds are good at water absorbency but not sure if the guest can satisfied with our beds. Actually, since we are providing apartment styled hotel, we won’t clean your room during your stay. However, we can put more towels in your room.” “We are so sorry to tell you that we don’t provide the waterproof mattress cover.” |
2 |
| Almont Hotel Kyoto | Online chat feature. | “I’m afraid we do not have waterproof mattress, you are welcome to contact our staff in the hotel if you’d like to exchange the bed sheet.” | 2 |
| Hotel Gracery Kyoto Sanjo South | Online chat feature. | “Unfortunately we do not have any waterproof mattress covers and you are welcome to contact our front desk for bed sheets change if needed.” | 2 |
| The B – Kyoto Sanjo | Online form. | ? | ? |
| Lake Biwa Otsu Prince Hotel | Can’t find contact form. | N/A | N/A |
| Kyoto Brighton Hotel | No contact email found. | N/A | N/A |
| Hotel Alza Kyoto | Auto-play movie and no contact email found. | N/A | N/A |
| The Machiya Hotel Kyoto | Email. | “We appreciate for being interested in our hotel. We can provide the waterproof mattress cover for you. If you would like to book our hotel, please let us know how many covers do you need. For your information, there are two twin sized beds in the western bedrooms, and we can also set the Futon (Japanese bedding) in the Japanese bed rooms as needed.” | 4.5 |
| Dozen Ryokan | Email. | “At the moment, our guest house does not offer such service, but we would gladly prepare a waterproof sheet to place on top of the mattress. We kindly ask, however, for the guest to also wear some type of diaper or extra layer in case the waterproof sheet is not sufficient.”
“Please mention the information when booking so that we know the booking is made by you.” |
4.5 |
| Kyoto Plaza Hotel | Email. | ? | ? |
| Kyoto Izutsu Hotel | Online form. | “We are very sorry to tell that our hotel does not have waterproof mattress covers.” | 2 |
| Hotel Kuu Kyoto | Broken online form. | N/A | N/A |
| Hotel Grand Bach Kyoto Select | No contact email found. | N/A | N/A |
Of all of these various hotels, only two replied that they did in fact have waterproof mattress covers, or could get some for me. The top hotel out of all of these, and the one I will likely book, is the The Machiya Hotel Kyoto, which responded to my email promptly in the affirmative, and even asked how many I might need. My email was rather vague and in the third person (one of the guests wets the bed), something I do to avoid embarrassment I suppose. This hotel even provided details on the kinds of beds they had. I rare breath of fresh air in a table filled with disappointments.
The second hotel, the Dozen Ryokan replied to my email to inform me that while they did not currently have any waterproof mattress covers, they would gladly procure one for me if I booked with them. I appreciated this attitude, and was only a little embarrassed when they added the following to their message: “We kindly ask, however, for the guest to also wear some type of diaper or extra layer in case the waterproof sheet is not sufficient.”
So I will be picking one of these two hotels, unless I hear back from any of the others in the meantime.
The Bedwetting Traveller 