So turns out our negotiated corporate rates have finally been loaded (before was only the "Gold rate that gives 1x% off BFR) and they are, well, reasonable versus the current BFR rates that hover around 100K JPY at the moment for Oct / Nov 2023 (may come down eventually I would hope, but anyways). So I was able to make a 3 night booking and to my surprise, we now can book any room from Classic to Premium City View at the same rate.

Normally we could only book Classic and then the standard upgrade for AMB would be to exactly the Premium City View room. Given that King Premium City View is now my booked room category, is it fair to say that +1 category AMB upgrade from here should go to 1 King 1 Bedroom Suite (59sqm) without Club (of course)?

Actually the "next" room category price wise would be the 1 King 1 Bedroom Residence (57sqm) which we wouldn't mind at all as it apparently has a washing machine (with dryer function I would hope) that could come in handy at this stage of our trip, but my understanding was that normally IC Osaka doesn't upgrade into residences unless originally booked into a residence. Does that hold?

I mean, I got the contacts of the current Director of Rooms so I can always ask anyways with regards to the Residences 1-Bedroom upgrade, but first I'll see if the team upgrades the booking proactively which they often do in advance (they are quite switched on and diligent in that matter from my experience).

Actually, as far as access to the residences goes, is it also from the lobby on the 20th floor? Are they on certain floors or in a separate section? Never actually paid any attention.

Thank you for any inputs / experiences.