cruisingmickey

Thanks so much Osakawino for the train directions! ^

hailstorm

If the room were available, then why would you even need to use a DSU? Shouldn't you receive the best available non-suite as a Diamond?

RTW1

Maybe to get it guaranteed at the time of booking....

OsakaWino

No, the Club Deluxe Room is classified as a junior suite and is not regularly given to Diamonds as an standard upgrade. After not getting it as an upgrade several times when I knew it was available, I asked the GP Concierge on FT about it and they confirmed that it is classified as a junior suite. The Club Deluxe Room is 80 m2, while the 1-bedroom is 90 m2.

Also, because the Club Deluxe Room is not the 1-bedroom suite, it is not available for use of a DSU through GP, but the hotel can make an exception.

hailstorm

Anyone know if the suites have Nespresso machines?

OsakaWino

Neither the Regency Suite nor the Diplomat Suite has any type of coffee maker, just the same T-fal hot water kettle as in the regular rooms.

hailstorm

TL;DR Version: Despite some oddities, this place is a great value, and I was very happy with my stay.

Stayed at the Hyatt Regency Osaka for two nights as a base for Universal Studios Japan excursion. After stopping for okonomiyaki around Osaka station, we headed to the bus pickup spot around 3:20pm, and already found a significant line for the 3:30pm bus. The bus seats 22, and although we made it inside the bus did fill up, leaving people to wait for the next bus 30 minutes later.

After the 25 minute bus ride, we arrived to find a decent sized line at check-in. I walked over to the Platinum/Diamond sign, and was immediately chastised by a staff member to go to the real line. Somebody else asked me if I was a Diamond, and when I answered in the affirmative, was guided over to a desk next to the Lobby Lounge, where somebody shifted over from the main desk to assist me. It was an oddly jerky experience, but alls well that ends well.

Getting rooms on short notice during spring break season turned out to be a difficult task. With much effort, I was able to secure a P+C for both nights, and was able to use a Diamond Suite upgrade for the first night, but could not get one for the second. I was given a Regency Suite King for the first night, and was told I would be in a regular twin room for the second. I asked if the suite upgrade could be extended to a Club Deluxe for the second night; the lady told me that a suite upgrade couldn't be used on a Club Deluxe, but that they would try to upgrade me to that anyway, though with no guarantee of being able to do so. They said all we would have to do is pack the suitcases and they would take care of moving them; indeed, there would be no problem with this part whatsoever.

The Regency Suite King was a very nice room. I preferred it to the Regency Suite of the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, with a much more spacious design and nice big windows looking out onto the industrial bay. As an added "bonus", the connecting room to ours was left open, revealing a small conference room with a white board and a big desk, and a very dated looking bathroom. There was an open pack of soap with the paper nearby on the sink, but it looked like the room itself hadn't been used in days, so I wondered if anybody ever got around to cleaning it. I used it once as a secondary bathroom when our regular one was occupied; my apologies to anybody that might have been paying for this conference room at that time.

From prior posts, I was worried that I was going to see a veritable ghost town with gloomy staff, but this was far from the case. The tenant restaurants remained intact, the 28th floor Tenkuh space seemed to be put to use by a wedding group, and the B1 shops that went away appeared to be tastefully filled in with "stuff", so nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The Lobby Lounge staff were all very friendly and accommodating. I was impressed with the quality of the coffee and tea being served there; I highly recommend trying the royal milk tea. Selection of snacks is fairly sparse until 6pm, but I was quite happy with the night offerings, including two types of dim sum, Cajun fried chicken, smoked chicken, and a variety of vegetables, cheese, and dessert items. The alcohol selection seemed very nice as well...I only indulged in the sparkling wine, but it seemed as good as that served during Twilight Time at the Park Hyatt Tokyo. The evening service is technically only until 8:00pm, but the buffet offerings were still out around 8:20pm when a mother and her young child rushed in, and they were allowed to take what they wanted before it was finally cleaned up. I regretted not being able to enjoy the offering the second night, as we were going to be staying late at USJ.

Though there's not a whole lot of use for it, I enjoyed the little "self-service lounge" on the 26th floor. It's nice and quiet, and if you have slightly older kids, there's a Monopoly game and chess set in the cupboards to provide some entertainment. But I'd much rather get a coffee from the Lobby Lounge than from that machine. And there's absolutely nothing stopping anybody at the hotel from making use of this room.

My only previous stay was ruined by elevator noise that made it extremely difficult to sleep, but even though the Regency Suite was right by the elevator, I experienced none of that this time around. Perhaps because the elevators don't often go that high, or maybe the suites just have better soundproofing? Regardless, about a minute after my head hit the pillow, I was free to wholeheartedly enjoy this hotel.

In the morning we went down for breakfast at about 8:30am to find a significant line. One of the staff told us we could eat breakfast in the Lobby Lounge. We asked if there were the same offerings as there were in the restaurant, and we were assured that there were. Despite the line at the restaurant, the Lobby Lounge was less than half full. The salad was about as minimal as the Hyatt Regency Tokyo club lounge, but it was quick and easy to order an omelette, and the meat and other hot dishes seemed tasty enough; certainly better than "Prince Hotel level" as was claimed previously. It was a very bright and relaxed atmosphere, and we were able to get our high quality coffee and royal milk tea as before.

Despite (or because?) the hotel being an Associate Hotel of Universal Studios Japan, the bus service is quite inconvenient, with only one bus running 30 minutes before park opening going there, and one bus running 30 minutes after park closing back. Neither was doable for us, and the train routes with multiple transfers were too much of a pain, so we ended up taking a taxi both ways. About 3200 yen to get there and 2700 yen coming back around 9:30pm (as for the reimbursement of taxi fare to/from Cosmo Square, we were told that was only applicable for when you check in or check out of the hotel) When we arrived, I was happy to find that we had indeed been moved into the "Club" Deluxe for the second night ("Club" goes in quotes because the room is on the 24th floor, which does not allow access to the staircase to the old Regency Club Room. Why not call every room in the hotel a "Club" room?) I can see why some people prefer it to the suite, with the huge windows providing a nearly 180 degree view (and it's a fantastic place to play hide-and-seek with small kids), but ultimately I did prefer the extra room layout of the suite...as well as the television in the bathtub. Still, it was fun getting to experience them both, and no issue with elevator noise made for a pleasant night's sleep after a hard day of Butterbeer drinking.

The next morning, the restaurant had no line, but I enjoyed the ambiance of Lobby Lounge breakfast so much that I wanted to see if we could eat there again. The lady on duty said we were welcome to eat there, but that it was really only set up for certain tour groups, and that it did not offer all of the items available in the restaurant. Sure enough, when we went to the restaurant for breakfast on the day, there were pancakes, waffles, a much larger salad bar, and many other things that were not available at the Lobby Lounge breakfast, leading me to wonder if we were deliberately lied to the previous day, or just misinformed by a clueless staff. In any case, while the offerings were greater at the restaurant, the service was somewhat lacking, with staff members in short supply. However, when we ordered a royal milk tea, it took twenty minutes to arrive, and it was obvious that somebody carried it over to us from the Lobby Lounge. I'm not sure whether to ding the restaurant or applaud the initiative to satisfy the guest. But all in all, I think I prefer breakfast in the lounge, as the limited selection was still sufficient, and it was just a much more relaxing place to start the day.

On the final day I was able to check out the indoor pool and spa, which were both frighteningly similar to that of the Hilton Tokyo Bay. Good enough, and the fact that it even has a spa makes it far superior to the HR Tokyo. I was hoping that there would be a way of strolling through the grassy area by the outdoor pool, but unfortunately there was no way to get there. I wonder if the Pergola restaurant will be open in the summer?

All in all, I find that the Hyatt Regency Osaka is a very high quality category 2 Hyatt, that could very easily be a category 5 Hyatt if it were located in central Osaka. If I had any reason to be in Osaka again, I'd be more than happy to put up with the inconvenient location for all that it has to offer.

mangoMan

Trying to book rooms for our last nights of our summer Japan trip (flying out of ITM) at this hotel. Are suites often available for points? I called and can only get standard (8K pts) or club rooms (12K pts). We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 young teens) so we need two of these rooms, but the agent told me 4 are allowed in a suite, so at 13K pts a night, this becomes an enticing option, were it available. Anyone know if/when they open suite inventory for points? Our dates are during the earlier part of August. Plat status only, so no DSUs.

OsakaWino

If Hyatt res are saying that a suite is not available on pts, you could try contacting the hotel. Upthread someone was able to secure the Diplomat suite with a DSU by contacting the hotel when the entry level suite was not available, so they have shown some flexibility.

The suites here never appear on Hyatt.com, so it is impossible to tell if they are actually available even for revenue. BTW, did you ask the agent if the entry level suite (the Regency Suite) is available for revenue for your dates?

mangoMan

I did ask if "a suite" were available for revenue and she mentioned the Tatami, Diplomat, and Presidential suites (and all were quite pricey), but not the Regency.

OsakaWino

The standard suite for a DSU, and I assume it would be the same for pts, is a choice between the Regency and the Tatami. Don't know if you would like the Tatami, but not sure why it was not offered on pts.

If the Regency is not available for revenue, it means it is booked and would not be available on pts unless someone cancelled.

But as I said, upthread someone said that they contacted the hotel directly and secured the Diplomat Suite on a DSU when the Regency was not available. You could try doing that for a pt booking. Can't hurt to try, Good luck.

hailstorm

Not impossible. There are certain corporate codes that will bring up suite availability.

OsakaWino

We stayed again this past Saturday. With more than 40 stays over the past 20 years, more than half of those in the past 5 years, we've seen a lot of this hotel, both the good and the bad.

While there have been some significant enhancements for Diamonds and other RC guests, there are still some areas in drastic need of improvement.

As others have mentioned, the evening lounge service is quite good. Lots of very edible food, some drinkable low-end wine, and plenty of spirits to choose from. And there's no rush to push people out at 8 pm. They make a last call on the alcohol, but the food is still out until at least 8:15 and usually 8:30, so it is easy to linger. The only complaint I've had was with a bottle of red wine that had obviously been open since the previous evening and neither resealed well nor refrigerated, with serious oxidation as a result.

The daytime service is also quite good, with a nice list of beverages, but it can get quite crowded on weekends with outside guests, so the 26F lounge is usually much quieter for reading the newspaper or doing any work.

The biggest problem with HR Osaka is the lack of any room refurbishment. The carpets and curtains in the rooms are still the same after 20 years! While the suites are in slightly better condition, followed by the Club Deluxe (junior suites) and then the club floor rooms, but the lower level rooms can get rather disgusting. Last month we were one floor down from club level and the curtains were so moth-eaten that when the sun came up in the morning it was like looking at a starry night, with dozens of tiny holes in the curtain. It is too bad, since the rooms are very spacious and a bit of refurbishment would make them quite nice again. The public areas of the hotel have mostly been well maintained and are even quite luxurious.

I also find the breakfast to be totally unacceptable, mostly due to the lack of palatable orange juice. The stuff they use now is a long-shelf-life type that tastes just terrible, like canned or bottled juice that requires no refrigeration. 35 years ago before Japan opened up the orange and orange juice market, this type of juice was fairly common, but now that the public has become accustomed to widely available and reasonably priced Tropicana and Minute Maid, it is only used at the lowest-levels of food service.

The other breakfast offerings also lack quality, especially the Japanese items. Overall the breakfast buffet is well below the quality at HR Kyoto (even though HR Osaka charges more for breakfast than HR Kyoto if you're actually paying for it). It is also well below the quality of any of the 5 Hiltons I've stayed at in Japan. The one exception is the omelettes, which are exceptionally well prepared.

As a cat. 2, HR Osaka is a bargain on a P&C rate or an all-pts award, but the standard rates have become incredibly high. If P&C is not available, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

After 20 years of red ink, the hotel seems to be doing well with its new 3-prong (large Asian tour groups, weddings, and meetings/events) business plan, so maybe they will start investing in refurbishing the rooms. I see the improvements they've made in the RC service as a good sign, but we'll just have to wait and see.

qmiles321

Thanks for the extensive review OsakaWino.

I cancelled the reservation at HR Osaka and am going to stay at the Intercontinental instead!

OsakaWino

Take it in balance with the glowing review upthread. After so many stays we're likely to notice the warts more.

The lounge service, both at night and during the day has tremendously improved and it now very, very good.

But regarding the buffet breakfast, while some might say that it is more important to have a nice omelette than palatable orange juice, the quality of the omelette is solely dependent on the one slightly elderly lady who prepares it (once, just once thankfully, we had a greasy, burned omelette prepared by a young male staff), but the substandard quality of the orange juice reflects a decision by hotel management to economize, and that is a more important factor in evaluating the property. Staff come and go, especially when a property is cutting back.