365RoadWarrior

I'm landing at KIX at 1820, from PEK on ANA. I'm guessing that even without luggage, I'll miss the 1910 bus. Two hours until the next/final bus. Rail option seems slow and perhaps a little intimidating. Taxi is far beyond my financial limits. Other options? (I know there's lots of discussion upthread. I probably missed an answer, so feel free to direct me to earlier discussion.) Thanks.

The_Wrath_of_Khan

Seeing as lines at KIX have been awful my last several flights (worst/longest immigrations in Japan) it's almost certain you'll miss the bus. You could take a bus or train to Osaka Station and then easily get the hotel bus from there which comes every 30 minutes.

OsakaWino

If your plane arrives on time and you have no luggage, I would not be that surprised if you made the bus, as long as you make sure to get to immigration ahead of most others.

If you do miss the bus, train is not that difficult, take JR to Bentencho and then the Chuo Line subway to Cosmo Square, and a taxi from Cosmo Square to the hotel, ask the driver for a receipt and the hotel will pay for the taxi. To get to Bentencho, you can either take the JR Haruka, changing at Tennoji, which would take about 50 minutes total and cost 2,560 yen; or the JR Kanku Kaisoku (Rapid Service), which goes directly to Bentencho without having to change and would take about 65 minutes and cost 1,190 yen. The Haruka runs at 30-min intervals and the Kaisoku runs at 10-20 min intervals. I would probably recommend the Kaisoku so you don't have to worry about changing trains. The subway from Betencho to Cosmo Square takes 9 minutes and costs 240 yen.

365RoadWarrior

Thanks OsakaWino and The Wrath of Kahn. (I flew out of Ulaanbaatar this morning, so it's been a Khan-filled day.)

My flight, due at 1820 was at the gate at 1810. At 1818, I was at customs, having my bag rifled through. (Common when you live out of one small bag for a month at a time.) I had just missed the 1810, so I decided to do the JR Osaka routing. Maybe it'll save me a few minutes. Either way, it's a mini-adventure, vis'a-vis the bus. Thank you again for your help.

PS. My apologies to anyone between seat 8C and immigration on my flight. I kicked up a lot of dust in my wake.

The_Wrath_of_Khan

Nice, been to UB several times myself. Are you working out there or just traveling? Let us know how the adventure to the Hyatt goes.

365RoadWarrior

Nothing really useful to add. I did really appreciate all the pre-visit advice; it gave me comfort in my selection.
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Five nights at the Hyatt Regency Osaka. I’ll say upfront that I very seldom stay at nice hotels. I self-financed the incremental cost over what my employer would pay and concluded that it was money well-spent. Extra value for me in the regular shuttles to JR Osaka (near where I was working) and vegetarian-friendly breakfasts. From check in to check out, it was a delightful experience. I had a fantastic corner room with lots of windows and views of the harbor area.

Staff was uniformly polite, professional and friendly. I was surprised to be greeted and welcomed by a guest services person at breakfast on the first morning that I made it to breakfast. She was circulating through the room, so I guess this is pretty standard here – at least for some guests (elite and VIP?) I hadn’t experienced this before in something like 16 or 17 consecutive years as a GP Diamond.

The fitness center is connected to the spa, so at night, you need a special key to access; they asked me at check-in (unprompted) whether I would need that key; that saved me a trip to the front desk. The fitness area is quite large, with open space and plenty of equipment, based on usage during my stay, anyway. Everything I tried, worked, and the place was clean. I was delighted that no one tried to coach/mentor/advise me on my gym activities. (It’s a fairly high-service hotel, but sometimes I want to be left alone.)

The airport bus was fine, but check the schedule carefully. I bought a round trip ticket (without checking carefully), assuming that it pretty much ran no less frequently than every two hours. There’s a three-hour gap in the middle of the day; there’s a three hour gap leaving the airport in the afternoon. The schedule is on the hotel website, so it was my mistake.

Little bonus: Beautiful flower beds behind the ATC mall.

I also enjoyed Osaka. I don't spend much time in Japan and know just a few, necessary words. I don't know what the suffix (in Roman alphabet) -suji means in a place name, but I pretty quickly determined it meant "not for you, 365".

Hikki1224

Several months ago, I have made a short complaint to the hotel saying that the sole of fitness shoes available at The City Country Club is asymmetrically worn and that it may potentially lead to injuries.
Relatively soon, many shoes were replaced and I can now run safely.
For those who go to fitness at this property, you no longer need to bring your own shoes.

Hikki1224

was fully renovated. All machines were replaced by brand-new, high-tech machines. It seems that the new owner started to make investment to upgrade the facility.

jpdx

Against my better judgment, I stayed here twice in mid-September, once for a single night, and once for three.

I visit Osaka a few times a year, and for the past five years have mostly been staying at the St Regis and Intercontinental, and occasionally, the Sheraton or Westin. What brought me to the HR was the insanely good value of P&C; with the current promos, you earn back the points portion of P&C, meaning a night here costs no points plus some $60. Hard to beat on a Saturday night in Japan.

I was upgraded both times to a high floor “view” room. People have raved about the “amazing view,” but truth be told, I have no idea whether the city or the harbor view is supposed to be the desirable one. The harbor one reminds you that you’re in some industrial wasteland, but this way does have the sunset. The city view has a sea of ugly housing and an exhibition center in the foreground, and the skyline of Osaka in the distance, serving as a constant reminder that you’ve picked a hotel in a really crappy location.

How crappy, you ask? The hotel’s website says “Osaka is known as both an economic center of Japanese commerce and as an ideal leisure destination with convenient access to Kyoto, Nara and Kobe.” This doesn’t quite rise to the standards of misleading advertising; Osaka, the city, DOES indeed have convenient access to those places. The Hyatt, however, does NOT. Getting anywhere is a major pain. The hotel is a half hour shuttle bus ride away from Osaka station, which is one of the downtown areas in Osaka, but not the one where visitors are likely to spend most of their time. To get to those areas, you’ll be spending another 15-30 minutes traversing Osaka station and riding the subway. Alternatively, you can avoid the Shuttle bus altogether and take the local subways; from Cosmosquare, 1/3 mile (.5km) from the hotel, you can get to various central subway stops in 20-30 minutes. Any way you slice it, the Hyatt is in the middle of nowhere, which is fine if you’re used to leaving the hotel in the morning and not returning until after dinner. If your preferred schedule looks anything like mine -return to the hotel to freshen up in the early evening, have a drink at the club, head out again- you couldn’t pick a worse place than the Hyatt.

So is the location convenient for exploring the region? The only destination where the HR is competitive is Nara; Chuo Line to Bentencho, then JR, just over an hour. But Kyoto or Kobe? Laughable! I spent a couple of nights at Crowne Plaza Okayama (on Pointbreaks, so an even better deal than the Hyatt), and even though that city is 180km (115mi) away from Osaka, the CP (located right at Okayama station) is no worse than Hyatt Osaka for someone who holds a railpass and wishes to visit Kobe or Kyoto. And only marginally worse for someone going to, say, Shinsaibashi or Dotonbori.

But there must be redeeming features, right? Why, yes! One such feature I had been looking forward to is the outdoor pool area, which indeed looks lovely in pictures. Imagine my surprise when I went there, on a mid-September day when (at 5.30pm) my iPhone showed the temperature as 88F (31C), only to be told that the outdoor pool season had ended. Thankfully, I hadn’t planned on swimming anyway; I merely wanted to sit in the sun for half an hour while housekeeping finished cleaning my room (again, it was 5.30pm). I went up to the 26th floor to enjoy the abandoned former club lounge, another intriguing feature of this hotel.

To be fair, despite the awful location and many quirks, the hotel is excellent value for (points and) money, especially for Diamonds. The club benefit is above-average for a HR (especially by Japanese standards); ample selection of drinks, a couple hot items (gyoza, spring rolls, and similar junk food), and some very good cured meats and fish. Breakfast is also decent for a HR, although the restaurant size seems inadequate especially for weekend crowds, and the waits can be excessive.

hailstorm

And why do you think that a nice hotel building in a major city in one of the most expensive countries in the world would only be a Cat 2?

Complain about the location if you must, but don't claim that you should have reasonably expected it to be on par with the Cat 8 Intercontinental.

Universal Studios Japan.

Tokyoite

+1! The hotel is only good if you do nothing more than sleep there and are out all day (the tour crowds seem to love it for this reason).
I use it for mattress runs to requalify for Diamond!!

OsakaWino

Seems a bit foolish to first choose a hotel that you know is not in a location that suits your needs and then complain vehemently about the location.

You wanted to be able to stay for cheap and you got exactly what you wanted. If that is not what you wanted, then I imagine that the St. Regis or IC would have been available at about 5x to 7x the cost.

And to claim that travel to Shinsaibashi from Okayama would take only marginally longer than from HR Osaka is ludicrous.

I find both the harbor and city views from HR Osaka's Club Deluxe rooms to be interesting enough, and it is hard to say that a 270-degree view from an 80-m2 room (larger than most suites) on a high floor is not at all impressive.

I doubt you'll find many (if any) outdoor hotel pools anywhere in Japan (other than Okinawa) open in mid September. HR Osaka's closing date of Sep 11, which is clearly stated on the hotel's website, is actually later than most.

jpdx

I should have clarified that I'd stayed here before, so knew exactly what I was getting myself into. My post was in response to some of the discussion on the previous pages, which included somebody who considered hotel-hopping to HR Osaka for a night after two nights at HR Kyoto, with wife and two kids in tow. Now, I can't say that I've written the book on the secrets of a successful marriage, but I don't even want to imagine how my SO would react if I made her embark on that hotel-hop, only to end up at HR Osaka.

I think you're significantly overstating the cost of other hotels. HR Osaka had rates of 20k yen for my nights, and I've seen it as low as 15k, but the 10k-ish rates of years past appear to be gone. It is, of course (as I pointed out), very good value on C&P, and decent on points ($120 at the usual 1.5cpp valuation). In comparison, I've BRGed the SR for 17k yen during cherry blossom season this year, and hold a 21k yen BRG for November. I agree that the recent move to Cat 6 made it pricey on points and C&P, but fortunately before the category change, they allowed reservations at Cat 5 rates until EOS, and I hold some for January, March and July 2017. The IC at 40k (35k until recently) is a great deal for anyone who has tons of IHG points laying around (as many FTers do). Alternatively, you can spend as little as 15k yen per weekend night here if you have Ambassador status and use a BOGO (the BOGO waives the second night, so the trick is to pay for Friday, and get Saturday free). And of course the Sheraton, Westin, and CP are better located than Hyatt, and can also be had quite reasonably.

Well, I've done it a few times. The CP Okayama is located right next to the station, and you'll get from your room to the Shinkansen tracks in under 10 minutes. The Nozomi or Sakura take 45 minutes to Shin-Osaka, followed by a transfer to the Midosuji line and ~15 minute subway ride. From HR Osaka, you have a 30 minute shuttle bus ride, walk to Umeda, and ~10 minute subway ride. Let's call it 45 minutes. It's slightly quicker (but much more inconvenient) to walk to Cosmosquare, then take the Chuo Line and Midosuji lines. Obviously we can argue whether a 30% difference in time can be called "marginally longer," but I'd happily take a cool 180km Shinkansen ride over a cramped shuttle bus, if it only takes an extra 15-20 minutes. (I want to avoid getting into a protracted argument, so let me clarify that I'm not advocating that someone visiting Osaka stay in Okayama; I made my initial comment mostly tongue-in-cheek, to illustrate how inconvenient the location of HR Osaka is).

I never found myself in one of the rooms you speak of, so it's hard to picture how much awesomeness the larger room adds. I've seen the views in both directions, though, and neither is in my top-1000, so the 270 degrees would have to make an awful lot of difference to wow me.

I'll take your word for this, but I find it puzzling. Is the outdoor pool season mainly aimed at staycationers, and thus timed to coincide with school breaks? With temperatures in the 80s until early October, it seems as though that pool could easily be open another month.

OsakaWino

Sorry if I over-reacted, but I just felt that it was a bit much for someone to choose HR Osaka fully knowing the faults of its location and then complain about the location.

My spin on the hotel rates was using the final cost of about US$60 that you mentioned for the HR vs what I imagine are the standard rates at the St. Regis and IC. I have to admit that that is not very useful as a general comparison.

When you said you were in a "view" room I thought you were referring to the 80 m2 corner Club Deluxe room, which is really quite nice. If it were not for the rather worn carpets, curtains, and upholstery and the too-thin mattresses, it is nicer than many (if not most) entry level suites, especially the bathroom. Recently they have been much better at upgrading Diamonds to this category, even though it is classified as a junior suite.

You are certainly correct that using HR Osaka as a base for touring Kansai (Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, etc) has serious drawbacks, but I still think that for a Diamond on a tight budget, using the P&C rate, especially during a promo such as now, is not that bad of a choice, as long as they know what they are getting into re location.

Maybe someday hotel outdoor pools in Japan will stay open until the 3-day weekend at the 3rd Monday in Sep, especially since there is another holiday in the same week, but others I have seen close at the end of August or after the first weekend in Sep. As you say, the pools are intended to draw families for staycations during school holidays.

fallinasleep

I stayed a couple nights at the HR Osaka recently. I was a bit hesitant given the lackluster reviews on FT, but overall I was pleased. Not sure if I would stay there again (for general sightseeing, Namba is probably the best location), but if you're going to USJ then it is probably one of the best options (other than the ones at USJ). The hotel offers a free shuttle bus to USJ in the morning (first come, first served so get there at least 15 minutes before the departure time) but the return schedule is not ideal since the bus runs only after USJ closes (and most folks don't stay that late). Other than paying JPY 3000 for a taxi back to the HR, another option would be to take the train to Osaka Station for less than JPY 200, grab dinner in the area, then take the shuttle bus back to the hotel.

I booked a Club deluxe room, which was a good size with lots of power outlets. Breakfast in the cafe was good, with the exception of the terrible coffee and passable bacon.

Since we arrived into KIX too late to take the airport limousine bus (or the JR Haruka for that matter), we took the JR local train to Bentencho, then grabbed a taxi from there. It was about 15 minutes to the hotel. On the website, the hotel suggests taking a taxi from Namba, but there are plenty of taxis waiting outside the Bentencho station at night. Just make sure you print out the hotel name in Japanese before you leave home.

Lastly, there is a well-maintained foosball table in the business center (or it looked like one) on the first floor (ground floor in certain parts of Asia).