There hasn’t been a longer review of this place in a while, so I’d thought I’d write one.
I was going to give the hotel relatively high marks, but after just completing my checkout, will instead start with a public service announcement: The hotel has changed categories twice in the past couple of years, going from Cat 2 to Cat 3 and now to Cat 4. These changes of course happen to hundreds of hotels, and usually when checking existing reservations online, the new (higher) rates will be shown, but the internal system will have the correct (lower) rates. In this case, I was charged the incorrect (Cat 4) rate, and when I noticed the error, encountered complete unwillingness to correct the mistake. I showed my reservation with the correct rate, and was told, no, it has changed. This was then repeated by various front desk agents and layers of lower management. In hindsight, instead of wasting 20+ minutes at the front desk, I should have left and filed a case with SPG. If you are staying on a C&P reservation that was made at an old (lower) level, be vigilant when checking in and out; the hotel seems to believe they’re entitled to charge you at Cat 4 rates.
We received an upgrade to an executive suite – a large (~600sqft), junior suite-ish room (no dividing wall) on the 18th floor. It’s certainly older but in reasonable shape, and of course spotlessly clean. The whole hotel is a patchwork of various degrees of renovation – some slightly remodeled floors, but mostly ancient. Currently one of the elevators is out of order; this meant long waits at times, especially when a tour group arrives or departs.
The club lounge is in the running for the title of worst in Asia; there are cookies and soft drinks/coffee during the day, and then a cocktail hour from 5-8pm. Some drinks and tiny appetizers, refilled very reluctantly. The lounge is old and depressing, and there is inadequate space for guests, so people ended up being turned away or standing around waiting for one of the few tables. Platinums are given free buffet breakfast in the 2nd floor restaurant, and it’s a pretty good selection of decent quality items. My only complaint here would be the coffee – awful stuff!
Even though I visit Osaka a few times a year, I hadn’t stayed at the Sheraton in a while; I usually go for the IC or SR or even Hyatt Kyoto if rates permit (my limit for these is about 18k yen/nt), or Hyatt Osaka or CP Kobe or Westin Kyoto on the lower end. Overall, I’d say Sheraton Osaka is a decent option in the 10-12k yen range, and I’ll be back occasionally.