gengar

Too bad about the Conrad Osaka; I stayed there last year and felt that the service was poor all-around - a real shame given the hard product. The concierge in particular was awful; they seemed unmotivated and even sent us to a restaurant on the day it is closed every week . In case anyone else reading this thread is interested, I wrote briefly about my stay in a post over on the Hilton forums.

Thanks for the reviews and glad the StR was good. Personally though, I found Osaka pretty boring and when I visit the Kobe-Osaka-Kyoto area now I just stay in Kyoto the whole time.

bhrubin

My pleasure! I cannot recommend Suiran enough--unless you really prefer the full trappings of a larger and more typical Western luxury hotel, that is. Please do report back on the Prince Gallery and Suiran if you do end up staying there!

bhrubin

Well, at least it's gratifying to learn that our impression of the Conrad--amazing hard product and views, subpar service issues--is shared by someone like you who is even more familiar with it. Your post mimics the poor service we discovered.

The front desk agent who originally showed us the beautiful executive suite (a very spacious open plan junior suite that we very much liked) and around the property had previously worked at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo. She clearly was a great hire--she was fantastic and knew how to provide service. But there it ended.

When trying to get lunch at Atmos around 1:45 pm, they first told us we'd have to wait until 2:30 pm--despite there being an obvious plethora of tables ready and waiting right in front of all of us. We persisted, and they said they'd "find" a table...only to then take us 10 min later through the restaurant--with plenty of tables ready for 2 persons--to the farthest space and in a table as far from the views and against the wall next to the serving stations as possible. It was patently ridiculous. We sat...and then immediately asked our server if we could move to one of the 4-5 empty tables against the window. She checked and then made that happen. The whole thing was a study in incompetence. We realized that the lunch beffet ended at 2:30 pm, so we believe they wanted to delay us so they could shut it down early. We didn't even order from the buffet, which made them visibly seem relieved. Really ridiculous.

Then we asked about one of the wines--and the server had no idea about it. There weren't that many wines by the glass on the menu, so I was surprised. She said she'd ask her manager...and then disappeared for almost 10 min. We ordered the wine from another server...and it was fine.

Those 2 experiences alone made us realize how subpar the service might be. Your review only reinforces that our realization was accurate. Always good to know our instincts are right! That being said, for anyone who likes a very modern hotel and doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about service, the Conrad could be a good deal/option.

Certainly, we are dying to return to Kyoto (and the Suiran property) and not Osaka. We feel we've seen more than enough of Osaka. But still we liked Osaka more than we thought we might.

flapland

We will report back in just over 7 months(sadly I am counting). Suiran looks to be a good balance between the Japanese and Western styles so I think will be our last two nights before we fly out of Osaka Itami.

LM225

So glad you had a great trip, bhrubin! And happy that the RC Kyoto turned things around for you.

Your albums bring back such fond memories of our trip from last year. Thanks for taking the time to put all of these thorough TR's together, as always.

Your meal photos have me flipping from "man, that makes me hungry" to "I feel full just seeing all this food" and back

bhrubin

Haha thanks. I gained 7 lbs while in Japan. Diet already in progress. #wortheverypound #youonlyliveonce #liveitup #foodislove

MikeFromTokyo

HKTraveler

Thank you for the detailed and lovely report! Sounds like you both had a great time while in Japan

Still remember way back when I told you that Japan is probably the single best country for food and that their restaurants are vastly underrated, hope this trip has made an impression!

I am likely heading to Kyoto in June and have decided to stay in the RC again. While I am not a big fan of their lobby, the FS's location just doesn't do it for me. Really liked the Arashiyama area but all my fav bars, restaurants, coffee shops are near the RC and they have the best location against all the competition though still not ideal.

I would like to give a thumbs up to the RC Concierge! Just gave them a list of restaurants and asked them to fit them into my schedule. They not only responded within 24 hours every time, they also managed to get some difficult reservations. Maybe i just lucked out but will have to give them a thumbs up!

ralphs

We stayed one night in Suiran in Dec 2016 on points, in a perfectly nice room with a king bed. I was SPG Platinum and technically I was upgraded from the base "Suigetsu Moderate Twin Room" which cost us (at the time) 25k SPG points, but it was no suite.

I absolutely loved the blend of Westernized comforts and Japanese aesthetic. I personally would return in a heartbeat, and enjoyed my one evening in Suiran more than at the Park Hyatt Tokyo, Ritz Carlton Osaka, and definitely more than other upper-middle end hotels we stayed at during our trip like the Westin Kyoto and HR Tokyo.

I was not impressed with the concierge's ability to find us a restaurant booking, but we admittedly did not plan ahead, so I'll blame myself for that one. I sensed some attitude or aloofness from the check-in desk (fantastic English ability), but the free rickshaw transfer from JR Saga Arashiyama was fun.

I think comparing Arashiyama to Newport Beach is a bit of a disservice though. I live here in the area as well and yearn to go back because I think it's quite different!

bhrubin

Pickles

News to me and to the hordes of visitors that go to Japan just for the food.

HKTraveler

And seems to be getting more popular every day! Reservations for some restaurants are so hard to come by these days

bhrubin

RichardInSF

Currently they haven't disappeared but all the photos did and they were each in one huge post. Have asked Internet Brands people to fix this, I presume they are the ones who caused it.

RichardInSF, moderator, luxury hotels and travel

IBobi

I'll ask someone to look into this, but FYI there is a technical support forum where issues should be posted -- otherwise it is highly unlikely anyone will see/respond to you:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tech...-feedback-386/