For my stay in Osaka, I opted to stay at the Hilton Osaka. With Hilton Honors being my primary hotel loyalty programme, it was a choice between the Hilton Osaka or Conrad Osaka. While I am a big fan of the Conrad brand, on this occasion the price of the Conrad was a little too steep for my liking, so I settled for the Hilton Osaka. The Hilton Osaka does have a better location with more transport links, which was also a factor since I was making a day trip to Kyoto and also wanted convenient access to both Kansai and Itami airports.
I stayed 3 nights at the Hilton Osaka, and not once did I regret not choosing the Conrad. The location was superb, and the staff were generally excellent (to be fair that was expected for Japan). The Executive Lounge was also one of the nicer lounges I’ve been to. I do have some minor quibbles over the food offerings and over-zealous Covid protocols, which I’ll detail later on. Overall, it was a nice stay and the Hilton Osaka is a hotel I’ll be happy to return to.
Booking
For this stay, I booked a Honors Prepay and Save rate for the base King Hilton Room, at JPY20,093 per night plus 13% service charge and taxes. That worked out to about SGD244 per night nett, which I felt was acceptable for a good international hotel in a major city in Japan. While the rate is named “Prepay and Save”, it allowed changes and cancellations up to 3 days prior to arrival, and nothing was charged to my card until the day before.
Location and Check-in
The Hilton Osaka is located in the Umeda area. It’s a couple of minutes walk from Osaka Station, with many department stores, a huge Yodobashi Camera shopping centre and other shopping and dining options. With it’s Umeda location, it’s well served by public transport. JR West runs a rapid service (not to be confused with the Haruka express) between Kansai Airport and Umeda, and there’s direct airport bus links to both Kansai and Itami airports from bus stops just opposite the hotel.
After my quick exit from my Scoot flight into Kansai, I caught the 3pm bus to Herbis, just round the corner from the Hilton. The bus ride took a little over an hour and I was at the Hilton just past 4pm. When I entered the lobby, it was pretty packed. It seems the lobby cafe is pretty popular, at least on that Sunday afternoon.
There was no line to check-in, and I was attended to immediately. My Diamond status was recognised and the front desk staff explained to me various F&B and facilities available, and the Executive Lounge offerings. He handed me a couple of leaflets containing all these information.
I had been pre-upgraded automatically to a King Executive Room. At check-in the front desk staff tried upselling me to a King Executive Suite, for JPY15,000 per night. Now, I dislike upselling attempts, especially when Diamond status technically entitles me to upgrades up to and including a suite. In this case the price was not tempting in the least, so I declined it. I didn’t bother pushing for a suite upgrade either, since I was alone and was planning to spend most of my time outside.
I had pre-selected my room on the 34th floor – the hotel has 37 floors in total – and this was confirmed by the front desk. In large hotels, I prefer to be on a higher floor if possible. This stems from an experience in New York where I had to wait for several full lifts to pass, with my room being situated on a lower floor. An offer was made to assist with my bags, but I declined that as well. I generally do not like hotel staff handling my bags. With check-in formalities done, I headed for the lifts up to my room.
The Room
The standard rooms in the Hilton Osaka are identical, the room categories are based on low vs high floor, and Executive Rooms are on the highest floors with and come with lounge access of course. The rooms are in a pretty standard configuration. The Hilton tried to incorporate some Japanese elements into the room. The wood flooring, the Shoji screen and fusuma screens for the windows and bathroom, which are immediately obvious upon entering the room.
The bed is a standard Western style King bed. Power outlets are built into the bedhead. The power outlet is a universal socket, a USB port is also available. While the bed itself was a nice firmness, the pillows were far too soft for my liking.
The TV was mounted across the bed, with a wooden frame around it. The selection of English-language channels was not great, so I didn’t touch the TV even once during my stay.
On the left of the TV was the work desk. A welcome amenity of a plate of mochi and some brown sugar rusks were placed here. The power outlets, Ethernet and HDMI ports were built into the shelf behind the desk. These were universal outlets as well.
The Hilton Osaka has chosen to install a daybed by the window. Normally I’m quite a fan of daybeds in hotel rooms, but in this case I felt it made the room a bit more squeezy in that area. It made the room feel smaller than it was.
As mentioned earlier, the windows use Shoji and fusuma screens rather than curtains, giving a more traditional Japanese feel.
On the right side of the TV is the minibar. There was a Nespresso machine, two complimentary bottles of water that were replenished daily, and an ice bucket on the countertop here. There was a sign for an ice machine near the lifts, though I didn’t check it out for myself.
The minibar itself was fully stocked with the usual sort of drinks and snacks. There were also four Nespresso capsules and an assortment of tea bags that were a mix of Ronnefeldt and Dilmah.
Back at the room entrance, the wardrobe and shelf for luggage were located here. I’m not sure why the bathrobes were wrapped in plastic. Hygiene measure to prove it’s clean? The safe was not the biggest, and it took some twisting and turning to fit my Razer Blade 15 inside.
The bathroom was on the left of the entryway of my room. It was rather large, mostly taken up the deep Japanese-style soaking tub and the shower area next to it.
Only a single sink on the vanity, though that left plenty of space for my toiletry bag. The hotel-provided toiletries were the usual Hilton standard Crabtree & Evelyn.
This is Japan, so of course the toilet was equipped with a washlet.
Overall, the Hilton Osaka room was pleasant place to rest up after a long day walking around. The deep soaking tub was both a blessing and a curse. It was fantastic to have a warm soak after clocking 20,000 steps a day, but the large size of the bathroom, combined with the daybed, made the room feel smaller and tighter to maneuver about. That said, the room is still a generous size by Japan standards, the furnishing is the problem with too many large fixed pieces. If not travelling alone, I would consider a hotel with rooms with more usable space.
Food & Beverage
The Hilton Osaka has a total of five F&B outlets:
- Folk Kitchen: All-day dining venue. This is where breakfast is served daily
- MyPlace Cafe & Bar: The Hilton’s lobby bar
- KawaUme: Sushi and kaiseki. Open for lunch and dinner
- Centrum Grill & Wine: Western, specialising in grilled items. Open for lunch and dinner.
- Tenka: Japanese teppanyaki. Open for lunch and dinner
Japan being the dining paradise it is, I didn’t dine in the hotel except for breakfast at Folk Kitchen. The Executive Lounge doesn’t operate in the morning, so all Executive floor guests and HH Diamonds are directed to Folk Kitchen for breakfast.
Breakfast was your typical buffet. Mix of Western, Asian and Japanese, fruits, cereals, cold cuts, breads, all the usual works. There was also an egg station where the chef could whip up fried eggs, an omelet or Egg Benedict (yes singular). I had an Egg Benedict one day, which was technically an Egg Royale, and it was pretty much perfectly done.
Here’s a few photos of the buffet offering:
I had breakfast all three mornings I was there. The variety in the buffet was decent and the food quality was acceptable. However I do have a few issues with the breakfast. Firstly, there was absolutely no variation in the items day to day. Everything was exactly the same every day. My second complaint was that everything was self service at the buffet, including tea and coffee. I don’t think I’ve ever been to any breakfast buffet at a hotel of this standard in Asia, and not been able to order coffee/ tea through the wait staff. To be clear, I don’t have an issue making my own coffee or tea – in fact I prefer to be in control when it comes to tea – but honestly this was rather perplexing and disappointing for a Hilton.
Executive Lounge
As a Hilton Honors Diamond member, I get access to the Executive Lounge regardless of room type. From my understanding, the Hilton Osaka’s lounge used be on the top (37th) floor – which would explain the carpeted stairs linking the top few floors – but a couple of years ago it was relocated to the 3rd floor. In any case, the lounge certainly looked fairly new.
As mentioned earlier, the lounge wasn’t operating in the morning at the time of my stay. Its opening hours were 3pm to 9pm. Afternoon tea was available from 3pm to 4.30pm, and evening cocktails from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Outside of these hours, coffee, tea and soft drinks were available.
During my stay, I managed to stop by the lounge for afternoon tea on my first and third days. Disappointingly, as with breakfast at Folk Kitchen, the food items for afternoon tea were identical on the two occasions I had it. I’m not sure if it was just bad luck the menus were the same on alternating days, or there’s really no rotation at all. Either way, it was disappointing not see any variation.
For afternoon tea, a couple of savoury sandwiches were available, along with a selection of sweets. A few snacks such as cookies and nuts were also available.
While the food variety wasn’t too wide and never changed, the quality was not too bad in my opinion. The green apple jelly and grape was quite refreshing, and egg salad in Japan is usually pretty good.
As with breakfast, all drinks were self serve. Coffee was from Segafredo machines while the tea was Dilmah. Juices, iced coffee and tea, still and sparkling water, various soft drinks (Coke, ginger ale, Fanta orange) were also present. These beverages were available all day.
For evening cocktails, there was four hot items and a few cold hors d’euvres. Most were alright, though I question the so-called mee goreng and seasonal vegetables. Unsurprisingly, the same desserts from afternoon tea made a reappearance in the evening, as tends to be in the case as most hotel lounges I’ve patronised. Chips and rice crackers were also available to accompany the alcoholic beverages. I particularly liked the chirashi sushi with teriyaki smoked duck and the daily special, which was some sort of cold Asian chicken salad.
In terms of alcohol, I thought the Hilton did a decent job with the variety. There was a selection of three white and red wines each, as well as two sparkling wines. The sparkling wines were a choice of an Australian Chandon Brut or a lightly sparkling Italian Donelli Lambrusco. I was more partial to the Lambrusco, though admittedly I’m quite biased against anything from Chandon Australia. The usual spirits and hard liquor were available, as well as sake of course. The alcohol available wouldn’t win any awards, with their Vivino scores mostly in the mid 3.X, but at least there was a good amount of choice.
In terms of service, the staff were generally very good. Tables were diligently and quickly cleared. The lounge reception staff were also very good. When I wanted a last-minute dinner reservation at an unagi restaurant, they got on the phone the moment the restaurant opened for dinner and were able to get me a table at my desired time (it turned out the restaurant wasn’t full anyway).
The staff were borderline fanatical about the use of gloves though. Whenever a guest entered the lounge, the staff would ask if the guest intended to patronise the buffet and immediately proffer hand sanitiser and gloves if the guest answered in the affirmative. I’m not against the practice of gloves when using a buffet, quite the opposite in fact, but there was something a little inelegant about the way gloves and sanitiser were thrust at each guest.
There was also dividers between tables, which was a little odd considering I don’t recall seeing them at the F&B venues. Again I have nothing against it, but it just seemed a little inconsistent.
Overall, I quite liked the Hilton Osaka’s Executive Lounge. The décor is bright and airy, helped by the natural light coming in the large windows. The staff were great, and the food fairly good. I rate it as one of the better Hilton lounges I’ve been to.
Facilities
The Hilton Osaka has a fitness centre located on the 7th floor. There’s a gym, heated indoor 15m pool and sauna. The gym is open 24h, while the pool is open from 6.45am to 9.45pm. I didn’t use either facility, but I did pop in to take a look. The equipment all looked fairly new and well-maintained.
Conclusion
My stay was nice, though not perfect. I do wish the hotel would at least attempt to introduce some variety day-to-day with the breakfast offerings, and hopefully the fanaticism with using gloves at the buffet will cease soon. These are minor issues, and frankly hotel breakfast isn’t what most visitors go to Japan to eat.
The Hilton Osaka is a good choice for visitors to Osaka. The location is fantastic, with loads of shopping and dining in the Umeda area. Namba and Dotonburi are a short subway ride away. Osaka Station is nearby, for easy access to trains to get around and out of Osaka, unless of course you need the Shinkansen. The hotel itself is good, with comfortable rooms and a very pleasant lounge. The staff were all helpful, courteous and at least slightly proficient in English.
As I stated in my introduction to this review, this is a hotel I would not mind returning to. Which admittedly is an ironic statement given I’ve booked the Conrad for my next planned trip to Osaka for Sakura season next year.
Anyone else stayed at the Hilton Osaka? Share your experience in the comments!