I stayed one night in this hotel, which--given the paper-thin walls that made sleeping a near-impossibility--was a good choice on my part. Upon checking in, my partner and I requested a room as far away from the elevators as possible. We were assured that this was not a problem, and handed the keys to our "upgraded" standard room on the third floor (the first floor of guest rooms). Unbelievably, our room was the FIRST from the elevators. Because we were in a hurry to get to an appointment, and because the room had a long hallway leading from the door to the sleeping area, we hoped we'd be okay and decided to deal with the issue later. Sure enough, the elevator was completely inaudible from our room--so in this instance, the front desk's absolute disregard for our request (and dishonesty in telling us about the room's location) wasn't as big a problem as it might have been.
More troubling was the fact that the walls of the hotel rooms are paper-thin. We were located adjacent to a room with two female travelers, and spent the hours of 11 P.M.-2 A.M. listening to them talk (at a normal level, so it's not like we could call security or ask them to be quiet--it really wasn't their fault). Further, we were located on the first floor of guestrooms, so the noise from the second floor and the restaurants below were audible all night. Finally, when we mentioned these complaints to the staff upon check-out, there were no efforts made at remediation--just a blank look and an apology. I was disappointed by my experience at the Kitano and would encourage others to look elsewhere when booking a hotel in this part of the city.
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