The St Regis Osaka Review

I found a rate for the St. Regis of 30,000 yen ($276.00) per night (including all taxes and fees), which I thought was pretty reasonable. My stay was in early June 2019. This was my first-ever stay at a St. Regis, and I had fairly high expectations based on other people’s reviews of this hotel chain.

I arrived early at about 12 noon and stopped at the Concierge Desk on the ground floor and was told there were no rooms yet available for early check in, but was escorted to the 12th floor lobby to check in anyway. I sat down at one of the two check-in desks, but was taken aback by the cool reception I received, with the young woman coldly asking me for my passport, like I had just arrived at Japanese immigration at Narita Airport. Her manner quickly changed when she saw I actually had a reservation and she became very friendly, weird.

It turns out there was a room available for early check in and she told me that because I was Platinum, they were giving me a room on the top (27th) floor and upgrading me a Grand Deluxe King room. My reservation was for a Deluxe Twin room, which was slightly lower in cost, so this was not what I would call a major upgrade, but appreciated, nonetheless. Another Platinum benefit was a 3,000 yen per night minibar credit and free breakfast. Thanking them, I was escorted to my room by an elderly gentleman.  

I appreciated the staid and plush quality of the room, which you would expect from a luxury hotel, even though the rooms are not that new. There was a great view of Osaka, but I’ve never been a fan of the Japanese urban landscape, which is almost always depressingly gray. The room layout seemed well thought out and designed, with accessibility to everything quite convenient. The bed was huge and comfortable, one of the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in. I enjoyed having a control panel for lights and curtain and I used it often to control the two curtain layers. The TV, though mounted on the wall to the left side of the bed, can be pulled out at an angle so that you can comfortably watch it from bed. The bathroom area is both luxurious and spacious, with the toilet behind a separate glass door. The bath had a built-in TV, but I never used the bath since I found the shower more to my liking, with both an upper shower raining water downward and multiple wall showers shooting water out horizontally, it was super comfortable and convenient. Another feature I liked was the evening yukata placed on the bed each night. This was not your standard blue and white hotel yukata, but a more stylish and artsy yukata. There’s also ample closet space with drawers for clothing and a rack with hangers.

Finally, the minibar was much nicer, though perhaps a little more expensive than those at most hotels I’ve stayed at. Beers were iirc about 900 yen, while a half bottle of wine was 1,900 yen. There was a nice selection of teas and a metal Japanese tea pot for green tea.  

Overall, I found the service to be very good. I did not require a lot of servicing, but my interaction with staff was highly professional, polished, and personal always with an emphasis on satisfying the guest. When I was initially shown my room, the elderly gentleman told me to call the Concierge if I had any service requests, but he pointed to the Butler service button on the phone. Never did anyone use the term “butler service” when explaining the hotel’s services to me. That said, when I required something, I pressed the butler service button, which connected me to the Concierge Desk on the ground floor. I’m a little confused on this point, because I have read previous reviews saying that you get private butler service for your room, but I’m still not sure what this means. I had one specific request for instructions on how to get to a museum outside Osaka by train and pressed the butler service button. The “butler” (or concierge) took my request and within a few hours had two pages of detailed train routes, with alternate routes, with times, where and when to change trains, and so on. Now, I realize that all of this can be easily obtained online and she undoubtedly did so, but the level of detail provided with alternate routes showed me that she went out of her way to ensure I got everything I needed, so I was very pleased with this service.

One service hitch that happened (in my eyes) was that when I came back to my room from the museum at around 4:30 pm, I barged in on housekeeping, who was just getting started on cleaning my room, which I think is unusually late for housekeeping. This was especially irritating because I had some work to perform on my PC before heading off to a meal with all-you-can-drink beer, wine, champagne, etc. at 6 pm at the St. Regis Beer Garden on the 12th floor, and I wasn’t sure I could get it all done by then, and certainly wouldn’t be able to do it after the evening’s drink-fest. The housekeeper apologized (I felt sorry for her because she is just following a schedule) and if I didn’t have this work I wouldn’t have complained, but I’ve just never encountered such late housekeeping. So, I took this up with the front desk and they too apologized and said they would expedite it. I was then escorted to the bar and told to order a drink and they offered to send someone to my room to get my PC and bring it to me so I could work in the bar during room cleaning. Since I knew it was being expedited and wouldn’t take long, I declined and just tried to relax at the bar with the drink that I ordered. A staff member came to me twice to provide updates on the room cleaning status and I was immediately told when it was finished. They never charged me for the drink, which was a very thoughtful gesture and showed me that their aim was to please. Later, someone from housekeeping came up to my room and delivered an assortment of chocolates on a plate while profusely apologizing for the housekeeping delay. Overall, this was a level of service I had never encountered before, so I give the St. Regis high marks for service. If you need to get back to your room in the afternoon, you should probably let them know when you want to have access.

The breakfast is served at the La Veduta restaurant. It’s a very sold breakfast offering, as you are able to order one of several items from a menu and also freely partake of the buffet. One morning, I ordered a steak, but it was only a very small portion. There are typically Japanese and western offerings, and while not as extensive as you might find in a larger hotel chain, it was still very ample and the quality good. Another morning, I ordered the eggs benedict, which was tasty and a bit more substantial than the small steak.

I did not have lunch or dinner in any of the hotel’s restaurants, but I twice had dinner in the St. Regis Beer Garden. I really liked the Beer Garden space, with the Japanese rock garden and outdoor deck with bar, tables, and chairs. The young woman who appeared to be in charge was very pleasant and spoke pretty good English, but her staff was clearly English-challenged. There are various food and drink packages you can order and a few of them are food with all-you-can-drink alcohol options. The option I chose one evening was for 10,000 yen, which included an appetizer platter, Margherita pizza, and the choice of an item from the grill (I chose American Grilled Pork Ribs) that were served at intervals over an hour and a half period. Free-flowing drinks included Mumm Grand Cordon champagne, champagne cocktails, draft beer, wines, and soft drinks. The volume of food was sufficient and helped offset the alcohol. The pizza, while good, was not great. Unfortunately, Japan just doesn’t do pizza well. There are exceptions of course; generally, good pizza is hard to find, but the pizza I ate here was certainly better than average. The grilled pork ribs, though, were exceptionally tender and good. The Mumm Grand Cordon was tasty and that is mostly what I drank. For my final drink, before the time limit expired, I asked for a plastic cup filled with champagne that I could take to my room and enjoy there. They happily obliged and gave me a large cup with a plastic cover that helped put me to sleep in my comfortable bed while watching TV. The outdoor atmosphere is great during the summer and with the right seat, you can view the Japanese garden while imbibing to your heart's content. There’s even a pathway you can walk around the entire garden.

Another night, I ordered curry and nan with a beer at the Beer Garden, but the cost of this was about 6,000 yen, so the all-you-can-drink option with food is by far a better deal than a la carte dining. I also redeemed a free drink certificate for a Shogun Mary (the hotel’s signature cocktail), which is their version of a Bloody Mary with a Japanese touch of wasabi, and yuzu fruit. I just so happen to like wasabi and yuzu fruit, but I’m afraid this drink was a disappointment, as the tastes just didn’t seem to mesh well. As a Platinum member, I was offered either 1,000 Marriott Rewards points or a free Shogun Mary drink certificate, which I was told by the bar staff I could actually redeem for any drink. In hindsight, I probably would have taken the points.

I can’t complain about the location, since it sits on top of a main subway station (Homma Station) that takes you directly to Osaka Station or Namba Station. There are a number of hotels immediately surrounding Osaka Station (such as the Ritz-Carlton) and it is a good walk to the St. Regis from there, but for me, it was no obstacle. If you want to do a lot of shopping, especially luxury brand shopping (not my thing), just around the corner from the hotel is the luxury brand shopping boulevard. For dining, the Dotonbori area, though a bit of a walk, is a quick subway ride away.

At check out, I was presented a hotel bill with a 56,000 yen charge for Shinkansen tickets that I never ordered, which I told them. At first, they insisted that I was the person who ordered the tickets. Finally, after spending some time on the phone, a new bill was printed and they removed that charge. Fortunately, they were apparently able to confirm it wasn’t my charge. A few days after checkout, I checked my credit card account and noticed that incidental hotel charges for the Beer Garden were categorized as “travel” and not “restaurant,” so I received fewer Marriott Rewards points from my credit card than I should have. I suspect that this was due to the mistaken “travel” charge they added to my bill and then had to delete, perhaps without deleting the “travel” category associated with it.  

Pictures I’ve seen of the hotel gave me the impression that the hotel is more spacious than it actually is. In fact, it is what I would call a small and intimate boutique hotel. I really like the intimate feel of the hotel, which gives it a more exclusive feel. The service is really good and personal and when they fail at something, they really try to make up for it. If there is anything that I might be critical of it was the small fitness center, which is about the size of 2-3 large closets. That said, there was only one person there when I used it, but it could get crowded very quickly. I really enjoyed my stay and would like to return, but there are other hotels I would like to try so that I can compare them, namely, the Osaka Marriott Miyako Hotel, Ritz-Carlton, the Conrad, and Inter-Continental. All of these hotels are highly rated in Osaka and I want to try them all so that I have some data points for comparison. That said, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a hotel with much better service in Osaka.