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Westin Osaka - Japan [Master Thread]

Old Mar 13, 2014, 5:14 am
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Westin Osaka - Japan [Master Thread]

Old May 31, 2006, 9:00 am
  #61  
 
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Unless you are traveling by train from city to city on almost a daily basis the rail pass is almost a scam imo. Just buy individual tickets. I saw some people that had rail passes had to take their pass through the booth on the JR lines and it was somewhat of a holdup compared to just getting tix and going.

Are the passes supposed to "save" westerners the hassle of dealing with getting tickets at each station, because the savings don't seem "that great." This goes for nearly every "savings type pass" I encountered in Japan, from the Kyoto bus passes (that said discounts at temples, yet the temples have signs that say no discount), train tix, etc. etc.

You have to travel alot for the pass to reap the savings. Moreoever, there is no flexibility in your trip. You can't take a day off without burning a day of your train pass. IE you have to take alot of trains for it to be worthwhile AND you have to layout the money before you get there. Only one shinkansen ride won't make it worthwhile. Don't forget the pass doesn't include subways.
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Old May 31, 2006, 11:55 am
  #62  
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Kyoto bus passes
The Kyoto bus pass is a great value as it costs 500yen.
The busfare is fixed within Kyoto at 220Y per ride.
All one needs is to make 3 bus rides in a day for the pass to pay itself off, which is easy to do in Kyoto.

The kyoto bus pass never states (at least in anything I have, that you get discounts off temples) the pass is available to everybody regardless of nationality.

I'm afraid you must be mistaking it with some other pass.

There are a lot of excellent passes out there each one geared differently depending on where one wants to travel, in the case I noted on the other page, there is no one pass that would fit based on his schedule.
I've really gone offtopic here. As mentioned in an earlier post, The Japan forum is the most appropriate forum.

Those staying at the Westin Kyoto should get a city bus pass and combined with a few subway rides, its a great value if you plan on visiting that facinating city.

Last edited by railroadtycoon; May 31, 2006 at 12:01 pm
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Old May 31, 2006, 7:27 pm
  #63  
 
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Talking

Originally Posted by RTWSTARALLIANCE
I certainly am no expert on Japan. I think you do not need to purchase a rail pass. Now the pass being quoted herein must be a regular car pass and not a green car pass. I know that is 37800 for a 7 day as I bought this one. The link above is probably good but I found the schedule via the Japanese National Tourist Organization or google- JNTO. Use the tabs to right to access the train schedules. The pass is convenient if you want to walk in and out of JR lines with ease. From Osaka to Hakata these are almost ALL Hikari Rail Star trains which may run once per hour. Not so great. So just using funds gives you flexibility. Put together your trip using JNTO and you can zoom in on total rail costs.

I did almost exactly what you are talking about this trip. Please see my report which includes Hiroshima within the FT Hyatt forum. I panned the HR in FUK but know you will enjoy as I did the GH albeit a couple years since I have been.


I highly recommend the Hotel Granvia Hiroshima. I did the ANA and it was more. The Rhiga which is popular with some is more in town by the castle. The Granvia was excellent. I booked a single online and paid for the breakfast option. 9000 plus 1500. All rates included taxes and service. And please note my recommendation for dinner at Granvia Tei in B1F on the Hotel. This rate included HSIA wired. It was also nice as by booking via their website they DO NOT ask for a cerdit card so no penalty on cxl. As for Hiroshima you can see the place will keep you busy. Hope that helps.
Well, RTWSTARWALLIANCE, you certainly are the expert on Japan of the posters on this board. We appreciate your efforts to get Yasuki to assume the title that many of us have given you as "THE EXPERT ON JAPAN". Or is it your wife who is the person behind your reputation and your many successes?

Let us know how your do it.
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Old May 31, 2006, 8:41 pm
  #64  
 
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Originally Posted by RTWSTARALLIANCE
Yasuki recommended the breakfast buffet on 1. The buffet is a combination of American and Japanese style. The add on with my voucher was 1260 net.
I am adding some details. The continental breakfast voucher for SPG-P member can be used as the one for the room service breakfast that values for about 1,700yen. @:-)
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Old May 31, 2006, 10:14 pm
  #65  
 
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Well that was nice. I'll have to pass on that title because I have made some travel errors in Japan. Fortunately this is a land where those errors do not mean you are stuck. Ala just go back where you were. When I need something for sure there is Yasuki and yes my wife. Those who know her backround can vouch for this. She is without doubt a Kyoto expert. The problem is sometimes it takes for long to get my answer hence FT is great!
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Old May 31, 2006, 10:16 pm
  #66  
 
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BTW KIX has free wifi. FYI.

Available under- kixmbl.
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Old Jun 2, 2006, 2:13 am
  #67  
 
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FWIW, I found the english version of the Westin shuttle service map,
http://www.westin-osaka.co.jp/img/map/map_a4e.pdf

the Japanese version (nice picture of the big shuttle to look out for),
http://www.westin-osaka.co.jp/access/shuttle.html
the Osaka Station map to the shuttle (only the Japanese version seems to be available), red line for path to the shuttle pickup point, blue line for path to Westin on-foot.
http://www.westin-osaka.co.jp/access/stationmap2.html
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Old Jun 2, 2006, 10:24 am
  #68  
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http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=563036
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Old Jun 3, 2006, 5:55 am
  #69  
 
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Originally Posted by railroadtycoon
The Kyoto bus pass is a great value as it costs 500yen.
The busfare is fixed within Kyoto at 220Y per ride.
All one needs is to make 3 bus rides in a day for the pass to pay itself off, which is easy to do in Kyoto.

The kyoto bus pass never states (at least in anything I have, that you get discounts off temples) the pass is available to everybody regardless of nationality.

I'm afraid you must be mistaking it with some other pass.

There are a lot of excellent passes out there each one geared differently depending on where one wants to travel, in the case I noted on the other page, there is no one pass that would fit based on his schedule.
I've really gone offtopic here. As mentioned in an earlier post, The Japan forum is the most appropriate forum.

Those staying at the Westin Kyoto should get a city bus pass and combined with a few subway rides, its a great value if you plan on visiting that facinating city.
I agree the bus pass pays for itself if you ride 3 times or more. Which is easy to do, particularly if you stay in Kyoto.

There is in fact a bus pass where they say you get a discount on temples admission at the ticket office, pretty sure it was 1000 yen vs the 500 yen pass we bought. However, there are definite signs at the temples ticket window that read, "We do not give discounts." The golden temple for sure had that sign in the window and I don't remember if the rock garden had it too.

It might be a new thing, I was there a little over a week ago.
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Old Jun 3, 2006, 2:52 pm
  #70  
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The only card I can think of is the Surutto Kansai card.
The Surutto kansai Pass does offer discounts to select temples.

The published temples are (there might be more I have to look further):
zenrinji Temple
Daikakuji Temple
Toji Temple
Ryoanji Temple
Kodaiji Temple
Chionin Temple
Byodoin Temple

Kinkakuji (the golden pavilion) is not listed, I think the sign you saw was probably addressing that that temple in particular does not accept the pass.

I hope that helps.

Last edited by railroadtycoon; Jun 3, 2006 at 5:19 pm
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Old Jul 5, 2006, 7:26 am
  #71  
 
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A quick trip report on the Westin Osaka:

Westin Osaka was fantastic in every aspect, well, maybe except the smoking room that we got, but the smell was relatively faint, and it gradually decreased as days went by. We didn't spend much time in the room anyway.

Finding the shuttle was initially a bit challenging at the Osaka station since the area where the shuttle drops off/picks up passengers were lined with various buses and we got there during rush hour, and there were no signs of where Westin shuttle was to be parked. We walked to the end of the street to be safe in case the shuttle ended up there and missed us. Turned out the Westin Shuttle's regular spot is in the middle of bus parking area, so we had came running back about 25 yards (w/ two 50 pound suitcase and two laptop bags in a sea of rush hour ppl on a narrow sidewalk, not fun). After that, the rest of our time using the shuttle was a breeze. FWIW, when they mean the bus leaves at 10 after the hour from the Hotel, they mean 10 after, as the driver literally closes the door and starts the engine at 10 after the hour. Why can't Chicago bus or any American public transit system buses run with that kind of attention to detail, oh well, I digress.

After arriving at the hotel at a bit past 8PM, I was really overwhelmed by the level of service. After attempting to check in at the front desk initially, I was puzzled on why I was not given a key and room number, as I was told to follow the bell-girl (very politely of course in all manner of speaking). Then, I was led by the 100 pound bell-girl who incidentally tried to lift our two 50 pound suitcases onto the carrying cart (no worries, I did the work, but appreciated her effort!) to the lounge on the 26 floor, where I was "officially" checked in by the concierge girl, given the breakfast certificates, and officially welcomed to the hotel. Since it was late enough at night after a 15 hour flight (delayed per wind, mechanical, etc) and we had a full day of events planned for next day, we just went over to the Hokka Hokka bento box joint half a block away and got us two nicely plated bentos, then went over to the FamilyMart (think 7/11 for those who have never been to Japan) and got us an oversupply of water/juice for the next day or so and promptly ate and crashed.

We were there three nights/mornings, thus tried each of the three breakfast options given to us for free. The lobby restaurant spread were the most elaborate and our upgraded executive level certificate allowed us free reign of all the items on the first day, which were really fantastic since we tried everything from Japanese breakfast items to the typical American stuff. The other two days, we had the normal certificates given to the plat, which allowed us to do the continental breakfast at the same restaurant or the lounge. The continental at the lobby restaurant was what it is, pastries and coffee, nothing too fancy, but better than your typical run-of-the-mill American continental, also w/ the same level of waitron service as the previous day which was quite attentive and pleasant. The last day we did the lounge option, which was really a mini version of the breakfast spread downstairs w/ various cuts of meats, pastries, juices and full-staffed waitron. Knowing this, I'd probably use the lounge for breakfast more in my future standard stays here if I ever happened to be back.

Our room was 3016, top floor I believe, facing directly at the Umeda building, really great view at night. A bit smoky flavored on first night as I mentioned, but not a big deal to me (may be to others). King size bed was not heavenly, which I was suprised, but sufficed, restroom was efficiently sized, not small, but also not overly sized to waste space (very much like the country itself). We had a fantastic 42"(?) LCD that had various inputs such as normal TV, audio channels, dvd player, english channels (I didn't explore it enough since I wasn't in the room enough, but enjoyed the selections when I did play w/ it). HSI was more than adequate and had a really fat upload stream (I think I reached over 100KBytes/sec) compare to US hotels. Housekeeping and afternoon turn down service were quite efficient. Not sure how they could tell, but they had english paper for me every morning, and Japanese paper for others on the floor, not a terribly difficult thing to figure out, but I definitely appreciated the attn. to detail.

We walked a few times to the Osaka JR and Hankyu stations (5-10min), and also took the shuttle a few times (just as long as walking due to traffic, but more comfortable and w/ AC), and also used the cab once, all were convenient and dependable ways of getting around from the Westin. There's also a rather sizable underground eating mall (think 15+ eateries) that is a replica of 1700(?) Osaka literally underneath the Westin/Umeda building, a very nice eating option to explore if you are going to be spending time in the area or on business trip at the hotel and don't want to eat in the hotel. We were away most of the three days we spent in the area, so I can't vouch for their quality, but all looked very appetizing.

Last edited by fenger; Jul 5, 2006 at 7:35 am
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Old Jul 9, 2006, 3:38 am
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Just back from Osaka/Kyoto. Stayed at the Westin in Osaka, and (after much debate) the Hyatt in Kyoto.

Arrived in Osaka relatively late, after a flight from Taipei. Took the JR train (made the mistake of taking the "rapid" train, which was far from rapid) from KIX to the JR Osaka Station. This took a bit more than an hour. From the station, we decided to walk, and after having seen the maps, we found the North Central exit that was furthest to the right, walked past Yodabashi Camera and down through the underpass. Not too bad, even with a few bags. Check-in was quick, escorted to our rooms with our bags (no tipping) and crashed for the night. The room was on the 20th floor, king bed, non-smoking. Quite nice, great bathroom, no complaints.

We had initially planned to spend a morning or so in Osaka, but ultimately decided to spend all of our time in Kyoto. So, in the morning, took the shuttle back to the JR station (between waiting for the shuttle and the surprisingly long drive time, it's probably just as fast to walk) and found a train to Kyoto (540 yen)

Really loved the Hyatt in Kyoto. It's not on a subway line like the Westin, but it is right next to Sanjusanjendo Temple, among other locations, on 3 major bus lines (100/206/208), and the room and service were superb. The only taxi we took in Kyoto was back to the train station to catch the Haruka Express back to KIX. Otherwise, we used the one-day bus passes to get around. Loved Kyoto, a city on a very human scale...had some great meals as well. Also made a side trip to Nara, which I thought was well worth it, especially for the Hory-uji complex.
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Old Jul 9, 2006, 3:41 am
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Incidentally, while on the topic of Osaka, the Nikko hotel at KIX is a great choice for those arriving late/leaving early. Booked a $146 room that included breakfast through Asiarooms.com, and was glad we made the choice. Arrived very late after a mess with travel plans that ended up routing us through NRT and then Itami in Osaka, then a bus to KIX, instead of direct into KIX...so were glad to have a place to crash, had a very nice buffet breakfast the next morning, and left our room 1 hour before flight time (on-line check-in) to catch our on-going flight. KIX is a great airport as well - modern, efficient and just generally quite pleasant.
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Old Jul 9, 2006, 7:47 am
  #74  
 
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We are in Kyoto this coming weekend for the Gion Festival. Staying at the Hyatt so very pleased to hear you liked it. Regards
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Old Jul 9, 2006, 9:45 am
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Will be interested to hear your thoughts on the Hyatt vs. the Westin Miyako. The weather we had in Kyoto was great for sightseeing - cloudy and unseasonably cool, for the most part. A tiny bit of rain, but a nice trade-off for it not being hot and humid.
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