Background

I come from the SPG side of the merger. I normally stay in SPG properties in Osaka specifically the Westin Osaka and have stayed the St Regis Osaka in Dec 2018 (also did a review on flyertalk on that hotel).

In April 2019, on a trip through Osaka, I decided to give new brands a try and will compared my experience at Marriott brand Ritz-Carlton Osaka with my experience at the SPG legacy brand of St Regis Osaka.

I hold lifetime status and my ambassador serves both Marriott Five star and Ambassador level members.

The stay is pure paid stay. I asked my ambassador to inform the hotel it is my first experience with them and likely my first experience with a Ritz-Calrton ever. So kindly show me best they can offer with the "basic room" standard flex rate price I am paying. 

Location

The hotel's location is at the end of a series of shopping/business buildings complexes. One of the building houses the Broadway Shiki (Four Season) Theatre Osaka showing the off-braodway Disney's The LIttle Mermaid.

I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) into Osaka from Tokyo. I had to transit from the Shinkansen trainsation called "Shin Osaka" and take a single station ride to "Osaka" where the hotel is located.

The hotel is walking distance from Osaka station to hotel. If you use the surface like I initially did, it took 20 minutes because traffic and lights and trying to find the place.

If you go underground (not something I prefer), there is a direct walkway from hotel to Osaka train station.

Part of the difficulty to navigate is Osaka station is a main station like Shinjuku in Tokyo. There are a number of city subways that uses Osaka station as a transit station. There are also private railway that uses area next to Osaka station.

This cause a divide between one side of the Osaka train station that is more lively and fun and the other side of the Osaka train station that is more quiet and upscale. It appears the Ritz Carton is situated in the quiet side (less-fun side) of station surrounded by more luxurious stores.

This contrast to the St Regis Osaka where it is literally on top of a subway station and at the end of a long walking/shopping stip that leads to the iconic bridge/tourist spot of Nanba. 

The picture attached shows the front of the hotel facing a side street.

Check In

As for heading to Osaka airport, the building next to where Ritz Carlton is situated has Airport Limousine (tour bus type) terminal that goes to either domestic Osaka airport or the more international Kansai Airport every 30 minutes.

This is superior to the St Regis Osaka because I had to take a taxi (or subway if you have less luggage) and then transit to a train at Nanba during my stay there.

I walked from the train station on the ground surface to the hotel. I find it slightly difficult to find the hotel as it facing a side street and doesn't have a big grand entrance like the Westin Tokyo or the The Peninsula hotel of Hong Kong. It has a deep enterance for cars. I find myself looking for a side pedestrain enterance.

You enter the hotel and it looks like the East Asian fantasy of how rich Europeans would live like. I mean if I had a arstocratic western european grandpa, I totally imagine his estate would look something like the Ritz-Carlton in Osaka. The wall has paintings/portrait of kings/royalties/famous people from the renaissance era. The interior design reminds me of scenes of the British general cabin in Pirates of the Caribbean.

The check in staff was friendly. I was like a deer looking at headlight because I felt little out of place without a British accent to fit the scene.

Now comes the fun part. The front desk ask for proof of employment to qualify for the corporate rate (which is about the same price range as non-refundable rate but allow cancellation with 2 days notice). This is one of the rare times in my decade long travels that I got asked. Nevertheless, I have my smirk face on and ready to pull my ID proof. Then jaw dropped, I don't have one! My whole non-Japanese wallet along with North American driver license, health cards, benfiits cards and other important documents are all not in my backpack. I only have my passport with me with my Japanese wallet.

So I have a far more serious problem than not having proper employment ID to prove my rate.

I ended up providing my business card and the front desk staff accepted that as enough to qualify my corporate rate. Front desk did not provide any additional information on what benifits of Platinum/Titianium/Ambassador/Marriott Five Star status provides. They also forgot to mention my welcome gift.

After I checked in, I returned to the front desk an hourlater to ask about if there is any perks for being an elite member.

Only then did they explain. There is a lounge but elites are not allowed in. If I want to enter, they are willing to provide access for 8000yen per day. I asked if I can have a look inside before spending that amount and the front desk says I can be escorted in for a look. I was hoping they let me in for an hour and see if I want the lounge access. Since I have the "Asian Flush" (East Asian genetic problem that cannot digest alcohol), my drinks in the lounge would be mostly Coke and non-alcohol drinks. I thought about it for a few seconds and politely declined the offer as 8000yen is probably enough for me to have a good breakfast at the hotel resturant and even a king's breakfast outside of the hotel and probably buy me 50 bottles of coca-cola a day. 

Elite members do have access to the gym for free. I was also told I was upgraded to a higher level floor perhaps with a better view room. Also elites have 20% off food in hotel resturants.

I attached a picture of the European looking lobby.

A Side Note on Special Service

As my story goes, I discovered during check in that my wallet and North American IDs and important docs were missing.

So it turned out I left it in the previous hotel room safe in Utsunomiya, Tochigi about 600km away! I manage to contact my previous hotel and they are willing to send it by express courier. The problem was I need to somehow pay for it and the previous hotel isn't able to take my credit card over the phone.

This is where Ritz-Carlton service shines through. I talked to the front desk staff and they are willing to handle the logistics. So my previous hotel will send my wallet & documents using the Ritz-Carlton hotel's corporate account. Ritz-Carlton Osaka will pay the courier and put it to my room charge.... with a handling fee of 10%.

I consider 10% of service charge reasonable since that is my wallet and lots of legal documents. At that point, I was just happy I probably can get them back before my departure.

Sure enough, two days later on a Sunday, my packet shows up and given to me by hand from the hotel staff. This is one very positve experience I have due to unusal circumstances.

I can compare this special service request similar to my experience with the Butler service with St Regis Osaka. Both was impressive - ie the job got completed in a satisfying way.

Room

I was assigned room 3509. From the evacuation map, I can see my room isn't the biggest room on the floor. The view is decent.

Compared this to St Regis Osaka, I was given one of the bigger corner rooms on a high floor. So comparing rooms, I did feel I was treated slightly better with St Regis Osaka.

A very much appreciated thing and very much reminds me of my Sheraton experience, was a hand-written by the general manager Chrsitopher Clark and some high quality fresh strawberries on my desk. These starwberries were refreshed daily during my stay. It was a very nice touch.

I do not really know the brand of amenities called "Asprey" from London. It looks high end. It's beyond my expertise if their quality is higher than Remede from New York used in St Regis or one of my favorite Bliss brands of New York used in W Hotels.

The wifi is free and good enough. Good enough because I was able to use HBO Now to stream the latest episoides of the latest Game of Thrones from New York - using VPN.

The Gym

Because I was eating so much delicious foods in Japan, I was getting fat. So I was determined to hit the gym once a day so I can keep eating.

The hotel gym is attached to a spa. So there is steam room and spa stuff you can use. Massage and treatment cost extra of course.

I only used the weights and treadmill. There are staff monitoring the area in case someone falls or have a medical emergency.

I have seen more epic gyms. Sheraton Hong Kong has an awesome harbor view and really lifts my spirt. The gym in Westin Shosun in Seoul was really big. The Westin Tokyo allows guests to use the huge recreation complex next to the hotel.

The St Regis Osaka has a gym too and the tredmill faces the window so you get a nicer view while running. Overall, the gym is adequate.

A Bitter Aftertaste at Checkout

On the day of check out, I received my bill. There was a local phone charge that was way beyond my imagination.

The hotel charged me close to 3000yen ($USD 27) for making a single local phone call. That was shocking.

You would expect I have been talking for hours on the phone but in fact it was mere minutes. I looked at the front desk jaw dropping asking how much are phone calls per call? Per minute? The front desk staff looked it up and says about 500yen + tax per minute. So I talked less than 5 mintutes on a local call.

Normally elite members get free local calls. Even if I do get charge, the going rate seems to be $US 2-5 per call. $US27 is just way out there.

Although the front desk staff was sympathetic and agree the charges are really high, she did not offer to reduce or waive the phone charges. She did apologetically say on my next stay, please ask them at front desk and they would gladly allow me to use their phones to make a local call.

I didn't have enough time to escalate this. I paid the bill and after my return home did I contacted my ambassador. He agrees the charges are really beyond normal range for a single short local call. So he was able to smooth things out by provided me some points to make the whole thing easier to swallow.

The point is... There were no price list next to the phone so customers have no idea it would cost 500yen/min. I would have just used my roaming cellphone had I knew. You travel through the decade and you sort of have some expectations on how much stuff costs. Local phone calls should be in the $US2-5 range per call.

This is what cause a bitter taste at check out that dampers the whole experience.

Overall

Marriott has many hotels in Osaka. On the higher end front, you have the Westin Osaka (my usual hotel), the St Regis Osaka and the Ritz-Carlton Osaka. They are all in similar price range.

The St Regis seem to beat the Ritz-Carlton in better treatment both in rooms, and benifits (ie free breakfast). For tourists sightseeing, I think the St Regis also holds an advantage as it is literally located on top of a subway station and the end of the covered shopping walkway to Namba.

The excellent service in helping out logistically to recover my wallet and important documents was a high-light. I enjoy the effort of the manager's hand-written note. However, the phone bill did leave a slight bitter aftertaste that cancelled out some of the good-will accumulated earlier in my stay.

Tastes is more subjective. St Regis has a more modernist approch while Ritz-Carlton takes a more east asian interpretation of Classic European feel.

As a millennial, I seem to prefer the modernist approch mixed with the culture in the country I am in. So my prefered rooms while in Japan should be modernist with a feel of elegance known in east asia as Miyabi (é›…). A good example is one of the suites in Prince gallery Kioicho Tokyo (see my review there). It's modernist but distictly feel east asian and more specifically Japanese elegance.

The Ritz-Carlton isn't a bad option. I just find the St Regis Osaka have an advantage on bigger rooms and better treatment while the Westin Osaka have an edge on better value in equally close location to Osaka station as the Ritz-Carlton.