During my Japan Sakura trip in March, I stayed at the Conrad Osaka. It was a hotel I was looking forward to trying, having been lured in by the promise of stunning city views and large, modern rooms. While I had been pleasantly satisfied by the Hilton Osaka on my first trip to a reopened Japan, the Conrad Osaka was clearly a different beast.
With the sister property, Conrad Tokyo being one of my favourite city hotels, and having moved to this property immediately, it was interesting to contrast the two properties. The pre-arrival experience with the Conrad Osaka, and some poor reviews online post-reopening had severely tempered my expectations. There were some great and really impressive things about the Conrad Osaka, the breakfast at Atmos being one such standout. However, the lacklustre service and slightly isolated location dampened the value proposition. The Conrad Osaka was indeed stunning in some ways, but I’d rather pocket some spare cash and stay at the more convenient Hilton Osaka.
Would I return? Only for the right price. Read on to see what impressed, and what fell flat in my Conrad Osaka review!
Booking
For this 4-night stay at the Conrad Osaka, I booked a Hilton Impresario rate, taking advantage of a 4-for-3 offer. I had booked this well in advance, in June 2022 for our stay in March 2023. I had basically gambled Japan would reopen for Sakura season 2023, and it paid off. In any case, Impresario rates are fully flexible so I could have cancelled up to 24h before if the gamble didn’t pay off. The usual Impresario benefits were include: breakfast (which I already get as a Diamond), one category upgrade, double points and USD100 credit. While I wasn’t too concerned with those benefits, the 4-for-3 offer meant it was a no-brainer to book Impresario. An Impresario or Amex FHR rate can also nudge one a little higher in the upgrade priority amidst a glut of Diamonds.
The 4 nights cost us a total of JPY168,728 (SGD1,600). Pricey yes, but it was a Conrad, in the middle of Sakura season. Post-reopening, I saw the rates for our dates were upwards of JYP80,000. We definitely got a steal, comparatively speaking
If using Hilton Honors points is your plan, Standard Room Rewards here appear to go for 95,000. At the rate I managed to get, paying cash was definitely the way to go.
Pre-arrival
My main pre-arrival experience with the Conrad Osaka was mainly dealing with the concierge. In a nutshell, it was horrid. I would regard the Conrad Osaka’s concierge as next to useless. A tad insulting perhaps, but it’s the truth. In fact, it felt like the hotel didn’t even have a proper concierge team in the way the Conrad Tokyo does (who are brilliant). It felt as if the bellhops doubled up as concierge, as does happen in some other countries. In Japan, where a good hotel concierge can be invaluable, it’s simply unacceptable. Even more so at a 5-star hotel like a Conrad.
What was so bad about the concierge? Firstly, they were utterly unresponsive. I sent them an email around mid-December and didn’t get a response for over 2 weeks. Fine, year-end peak blah blah so they may be busy. But the Conrad Tokyo team could turn around email requests in 24h during that period. I actually had to resort to calling the hotel and speaking to a Guest Services Manager before things finally got moving.
Second, the concierge were unable to book any restaurants I wanted. Sure, some were closed and others probably legitimately already full, but I think it was something like 0/8. We did eventually get one of our shortlisted restaurants in Kyoto, but I had to book it online myself. Admittedly the Conrad Osaka concierge was the one who pointed out I could do it online via TableCheck, but otherwise the concierge was no help at all with any arrangements for this leg of our trip.
Overall, it was hardly the smoothest pre-arrival experience with the hotel. Mine wasn’t an isolated case either, as I’ve read similar appalling accounts from other guests.
Location and transport
The Conrad Osaka is located on Nakanoshima, an island in the middle of Osaka. It’s about a 10-15min walk from Osaka Station and the Umeda area. The nearest train station is Watanabebashi, on the Keihan Nakanoshima line. This isn’t a particularly useful line to be honest, and most guests relying on trains will probably have to walk to Osaka-Umeda or Higobashi metro station, also nearly 10min walk away. At the time of my stay, there were no airport limousine buses to either Itami or Kansai as well.
Nakanoshima is mostly an office area, so most F&B require walking to surrounding areas. Again a tad inconvenient, though not necessarily a dealbreaker. That said, the Hilton Osaka definitely has a far superior location, being right in the middle of the bustling Umeda area.
Arrival and check-in
Getting to the hotel
We arrived in Osaka from Tokyo via Shinkansen. This put us at Shin-Osaka station, and from there we took the Midosuji line to Yodoyabashi station. It was then a 10min walk to the Conrad Osaka. Thankfully, we had shipped our bags from the Conrad Tokyo, so only had smaller carry-ons. If you’re planning a multi-city itinerary in Japan and travelling by train, I highly recommend shipping luggage in advance Takkyubin or Ta-Q-Bin. It’s inexpensive, and saves the hassle of lugging large suitcases around crowded train stations.
We came in from the streetside, away from the bell desk. This resulted in a rather lukewarm welcome, if any (I don’t recall now). The hotel lobby is located on the 40th floor of Nakanoshima Festival Tower West.
The lobby
I have to say, the lobby is one of the most visually impressive I have seen. Because the building is mostly glass and part of the lobby is open to 3 floors below, it makes for some quite breathtaking views, especially in the evening.
Check-in
There was only one other guest at the front desk, so we were attended to immediately. My Diamond status was acknowledged, and were given various sheets of information: An Impresario welcome letter, Executive lounge benefits and timings, and hotel F&B venues and facilities information. The front desk agent also apologised for the issues with the concierge, though nothing was forthcoming in the way of service recovery. We were also asked if we required turndown service, which we did (it’s not default here, unlike the Conrad Tokyo).
We had booked the base deluxe room, and morning of arrival my Hilton app was showing an upgrade to an Executive room. The Executive rooms, and rarely the Executive Corner room, appear to be the maximum upgrade for Diamonds here, to my knowledge. I believe the hotel only has a handful of suites anyway. It’s a small hotel, just 164 guest rooms in total. Oddly, the Executive rooms are located at corners anyway, and are the same size as the Executive Corner, so I’m still struggling to understand the difference between the two categories.
Two things stood out from check-in. Firstly, the Conrad Tokyo and Conrad Osaka clearly use very different exchange rates when converting the USD100 credit into Japanese Yen. While Conrad Tokyo typically gives a JPY higher than spot rate, the Conrad Osaka followed most hotels in using a rather less generous FX rate. This is par for course, so not a specific criticism of the Conrad Osaka.
Secondly, as I mentioned we had our bags shipped here. I knew they had already arrived in the morning thanks to an AirTag planted in my bag. However, somehow the hotel hadn’t seen it necessary to move our bags to the room in advance. Again, that was something the Conrad Tokyo had managed (on that occasion I had it shipped from the Hilton Hiroshima). It’s not a big deal, but as I always say, these little things are what differentiates good and great service.
Once check-in was done, we made our way to the lifts round the back from the front desk, passing 40 Sky Bar & Lounge and Atmos Dining along the way.
King Executive Room
Our room was located on the 34th floor, the second lowest hotel floor if I recall correctly. The Executive rooms at the Conrad Osaka are massive, measuring a whopping 66sqm. That’s bigger than suites in some hotels. In fact, I’d consider the Executive room at least a junior suite, with a proper work table, living area and bed. Just not separated by wall into different rooms. The standard rooms here are an extremely generous 50sqm, which is honestly an incredible amount of space.
The room
Upon entering the room, we had to walk through a long and wide entryway which opened up to the room proper. For our room configuration, the bathroom and walk-in wardrobe could be accessed on the right of the entryway, but I’ll come to that later.
The amount of space was unbelievable, and honestly the room was really really impressive. While we had enjoyed the comfortable, classic luxury of the Conrad Tokyo, the Conrad Osaka was different in a way we really liked. The modernity appealed to us more, and the floor-to-ceiling windows provided a fantastic view of the river below and the Umeda area. This immediately became one of our favourite city hotel rooms.
It appeared turndown service had been provided for us on this first evening without asking. I have to say the Conrad Osaka’s turndown was quite delightful. Not only did they do the usual of placing water at the bedside and leaving the long pyjamas, there was a lovely tea setup on the coffee table complete with a TWG chamomile teabag and some senbei (Japanese rice cracker). The accompanying note was signed by the room attendants and was quite cute.
The hotel also gave a bottle of sake, which I understand is a standard welcome gift for Diamonds. This was a lovely present and quite generous.
With the nice tea set for the evening and complimentary sake, we spent most nights relaxing on the sofa either enjoying the sake or sipping chamomile tea before turning in. It was a really relaxing way to end the day, and I have to give credit to the hotel for these little gestures.
The minibar area beside the sofa, close to the entry corridor, had a Nespresso machine and minibar fridge. The complimentary teabags were from TWG, always pleasing to see.
There was a decent-sized dressing table at the other end of the sofa, by the window. This had a Hollywood mirror built-in.
One comment about the work desk. Because of it’s shape and having the TV mounted at one end, it kind of reminded me of discussion rooms in one of my previous offices. Not exactly the most fond memories. The TV could be extended and swiveled to face the bed or sofa of course. In terms of power and connectivity, there was a bank of sockets with a couple of power outlets, USB-A port, HDMI and LAN ports. The power plugs were Type-A only however.
As readers of my Conrad reviews will know, I love collecting stuffed animals from any Conrad I stay at. This stay was no exception, although the Conrad Tokyo and Conrad Osaka appear to share the same stock of bears. The rubber duck here was quite unique, being transparent with a golden beak and golden key inside. This too found its way to my suitcase.
The bed itself was really comfortable, and I daresay maybe even better than the Conrad Tokyo. Maybe it was all the walking, eating and sake drinking, but we slept really well all four nights at the Conrad Osaka.
At one of the bedsides was a tablet which could be used to control the lighting, air-conditioning and curtains, as well as the DnD and housekeeping indicators. There was another Type-A and USB-A outlets by the bedside, though I did notice this area seemed to suffer more wear and tear and less cleaning.
Bathroom and walk-in wardrobe
The bathroom is probably one of standout features of the King Executive room, besides the generous space. The bathroom could be accessed near the bed, or from the room entryway.
The centrepiece of the bathroom is the 1.2m diameter circular bathtub. As with many Japanese hotels, it was in the same area as the shower, but there was distinct standing shower section.
The tub filled fairly quickly, which was great. My only issue was that it could be a little challenging to get in and out of. The shower worked fine for us, though I have seen reports of other guests complaining about the plumbing.
The toilet was hidden behind frosted glass on the other side of the bath area. It was fitted with a TOTO washlet, as is expected in Japan.
A bathroom of this size had double vanities of course. The hairdryer was a Dyson, complete with stand to hold it in place, rather than having to be tucked away in a drawer.
The shower toiletries were the usual Conrad brand standard, Byredo Mojave Ghost. The Byredo scent has really grown on me after several Conrad stays, to the point I even went into a Byredo shop to check out the prices. Suffice to say I walked out empty-handed. The usual other bathroom amenities were provided as well.
The walk-in wardrobe was between the bathroom and entryway. It was convenient for hanging outerwear, though perhaps a tad inconvenient if you’re the sort that prefers to get dressed in the bedroom, since it’s at the opposite end. It was otherwise a pretty standard hotel wardrobe. At least the safe was a conventional flat unit, unlike the tall, slim ones at the Conrad Tokyo.
Room overall
We honestly loved the room. We didn’t have any complaints about the room at all It was massive and really felt like a room we could unwind and rest up after a long day out. Definitely the little soft service touches helped. . That showcased what the hotel could deliver at its best. The floor to ceiling windows combined with the corner location delivered some pretty nice views. I’ve been fortunate to stay in a handful of suites in various Hilton and IHG properties, but this is possibly my favourite city hotel room, and it wasn’t even classified as a suite.
Executive lounge
As an Honors Diamond, I had access to the Executive lounge on the 39th floor. With only 164 rooms, the Executive lounge wasn’t particularly big, but still felt quite spacious and never seemed as hectic as the Conrad Tokyo, or shudder, the Hilton Hiroshima.
The lounge had a meeting room, which eligible guests could have 1h complimentary use. One evening, I saw the staff seat a large family with young children here.
During our stay there, we only managed to swing by the lounge for evening cocktails. While the food items were perhaps not as “innovative” as the Conrad Tokyo, the spread did seem a bit wider, and I think we probably enjoyed the food offerings here a little more. The quality may have been slightly lower. The lounge was not serving breakfast at the time of our stay.
The beverage selection was fine, though the wines were a little poor I felt. I know I complain when lounges serve Australian Chandon Brut for the sparkling wine, but I would have taken that over the Espace Sparkling Brut served here (3.3 on Vivino). The rest of the wines were De Bortoli Lorimer Semillon Chardonnay (also 3.3 on Vivino), and both a red and white from Baron Philippe de Rothschild Mapu. The tea was from TWG.
While the overall environment and food offerings were fine, the weakest point of the lounge was the service. There was no personalisd service, no recognition from staff. On our second evening, the gentleman who had checked us in was somehow on duty at the lounge desk. He greeted us but showed not even a flicker of recognition from the day before. Furthermore, when I enquired with him about trying to make a restaurant booking, he just directed to the “concierge” downstairs. It’s literally stated on the hotel’s Japanese website that lounge staff can assist with restaurant reservations, so I don’t understand what that was about. It’s just another inconsistency in service at the hotel, which was frustrating.
Other than the service, the lounge was fine. I wouldn’t necessarily make time for it over more sightseeing, but it good a breather and pre-dinner drink.
Food & Beverage
The Conrad Osaka has 3 dining venues and one bar. Atmos Dining is the all-day restaurant, Kura Teppanyaki & Sushi serves well, teppanyaki and sushi, and C-Grill offers woodfired grilled seafood. C-Grill also has a bar area with a smaller menu that seasonally rotates between focusing on lobster or oyster. We had actually planned to dine at “Lobster Bar”, but it was “Oyster Bar” when we stayed.
Eventually, we only dined at Atmos for breakfast. Since we had the Impresario credit to burn, we used that at 40 Sky Bar & Lounge.
Atmos Dining breakfast
Breakfast at Atmos was quite enjoyable, and I daresay topped the Conrad Tokyo. The selection was slightly wider, and we felt the quality of some items were very good. Guests with breakfast included had access to the buffet, a choose of an ala carte egg dish or a rotating daily special. There were 3 daily specials on rotation, so we were able to see all 3 on the menu, though we only tried 2 of the 3.
Of the 3 daily specials, the “signature” item is the Okonomiyaki Benedict. We enjoyed this dish, after it was slathered with sauce and mayonnaise. I recommend giving this a try if you’re having breakfast at the Conrad Osaka.
We also tried the minced chicken mini rice bowl with egg tempura. This was fine, and I do enjoy egg tempura, but we didn’t enjoy it as much as the okonomiyaki.
The buffet was fairly extensive, and even featured a roast beef carving station. Unconventional for a breakfast buffet, but delicious. I had a slice or two of beef every morning. Pleasingly, there was at least a little bit of variation day-to-day, unlike other Japan hotels I’ve been to. For example, the grilled fish slices alternated between salmon and mackerel. Some of the oriental dishes also changed, one morning would have fried rice, and another day fried noodles. I wouldn’t call it the most imaginative variation, and these items basically were on alternate days, but it was still nice to see that not everything was the same every day.
We also liked the pastries and breads. Baked goods seemed to be a strong point of the F&B offering, the bread served in the Executive lounge had also been quite good. On the other hand, the fruits were a weak point. None were particularly sweet, which was disappointing.
On the whole, we were very happy with the standard and variety on offer at breakfast. My personal highlights were the okonomiyaki and roast beef, plus the bread and pastries. I’d definitely be having those again the next time (if) I stay at the Conrad Osaka.
40 Sky Bar & Lounge
We visited 40 Sky Bar & Lounge twice to use up the Impresario credit. We had checked out the drinks menu beforehand and were quite intrigued by the cocktails on offer. You can check out the menu here. The signature cocktail is “Takoyaki in the Sky”, an unusual but fitting drink for Osaka, and came with an actual takoyaki for eating. I don’t recall the other drinks we had, and the seasonal cocktails have changed. I know we definitely had the Strawberry Rose. One of the best things at the lounge was the complimentary nuts and crackers, those were really nice.
The service was 40 Sky Bar & Lounge was fine, but again lacking warmth or personalisation. On both evenings, we were served by the same stuff, who showed no sign of recognition. He was slightly more friendly and less standoffish on the second evening, but the service in general wasn’t spectacular.
The staff were also not as sharp and on the ball as those at Conrad Tokyo’s TwentyEight (yes, I know I’m comparing the two properties a lot, but it’s unavoidable). At TwentyEight, the staff knew we were using hotel credits without informing them, and applied the full pricing without prompting. Here at 40 however, the staff applied the Hilton ‘Dine Like a Member’ discount, which then had to be reversed at checkout. It’s annoying the offer isn’t stackable with credits, but that’s the way it is. The Conrad Tokyo, and the Waldorf Astoria Bangkok as well, had no issues preparing the dining bill ‘properly’. The Conrad Osaka just couldn’t.
I ended up spending a decent amount of time during checkout running through the various items on the hotel bill to ensure the dining charges were correct. It’s a minor thing, but it’s frustrating the staff at 40 Sky Bar couldn’t do it right. I could have pointed it out to them, sure, but it shouldn’t be the guests’ responsibility. It just detracted from the guest experience.
Facilities and amenities
The Conrad Osaka has all the usual facilities expected of a luxury hotel: a gym, spa and swimming pool. These facilities are all located on the 38th floor. As a matter of fact, the whirlpools were one feature of the hotel I was keen to check out.
Swimming pool
The pool was quite nice, given it’s lofty location. It’s not dissimilar to the style of the Conrad Tokyo. It was actually quite crowded when I stopped by, and given the signs banning photography, I opted not to risk a photo.
The changing room was very nicely appointed and looked in immaculate condition, with plenty of lockers for use. There was a whirlpool which would have great views if the windows weren’t frosted. There was even a bathing area meant to resemble an onsen tub, and a sauna.
Gym
The gym was compact but well-equipped. The cardio machines faced the windows, so it was nice to have a good view while trying to get rid of the weight gained during the trip.
Spa
I didn’t try the spa, the prices were simply too much for me to stomach. You can find more information on the spa here.
Conclusion
The Conrad Osaka is in all fairness, a pretty good hotel. Modern, big rooms, an excellent breakfast and decent Executive lounge. The frustrating thing was the inconsistent service. I don’t understand how the housekeeping department does so well, but every other section of staff seems to fall short. Starting with the terrible concierge or lack thereof, to the front desk and even the Executive lounge. I already had fairly low expectations of the staff before arrival, and it’s disappointing to say that the reality matched those expectations. The Conrad Tokyo and Conrad Hong Kong remain the benchmark for me, as far as Conrad service go.
For the right price, I would definitely stay at the Conrad Osaka again, despite the less-than-ideal location and average service. At least the long walk to the train station helps burn calories. I still love the hard product, and not all aspects of the soft product are bad. But if they’re charging significantly more than the Hilton Osaka, then that will be my go-to for trips to Osaka, despite the small rooms.