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Picking up from the previous post, we spent one night in Osaka and then flew to Hokkaido early the next morning. We booked Conrad Osaka through AMEX FHR, and it happened to coincide with a sale. The rate was already the lowest available anywhere online, and with the extra $200 credit, it was an excellent deal. Compared with Tokyo and Kyoto, hotel prices in Osaka are much lower.

Check-in

The hotel is near Watanabebashi. It was only about a 10-plus-minute taxi ride from Namba. It’s not in one of the major commercial areas, so it wasn’t as convenient for shopping as the InterContinental we stayed at on our last trip. That said, the hotel is located on Nakanoshima, so it’s very quiet, and transportation is still convenient. You can get directly to both Umeda and Shinsaibashi.

It was already close to 11 when we arrived. After getting out of the taxi, there was no one at the bell desk to greet us. When we went inside, the staff member at the bell desk was still on the phone, so we waited a bit before someone came out to help with our luggage. P.S. the blast of cool air-conditioning right when we walked in felt amazing.

Similar to Andaz Tokyo, the lobby is on the 40th floor, while the guest rooms are on the floors below. Looking out at the night view from the spacious, quiet lobby gives you a feeling of having seen all the bustle of the world below.

The lobby has a strong design aesthetic, blending minimalism and luxury.

The hotel only opened in 2017, so the physical property still feels very new and clean.

Room Experience

Even though I had already entered my Hilton member number when booking, for some reason they asked for it again at check-in. With Hilton Diamond plus FHR, we were upgraded to a view room. We had booked a twin room, but the beds were only about double-bed size, which was a tight squeeze for two people. Our child slept in one bed, and the two of us shared the other. We had originally planned to add a rollaway, but my partner thought it was too much trouble and said to forget it.

They gave us a bottle of sake, but unfortunately neither my partner nor I are drinkers, so we didn’t really know what to make of it.

The Conrad duck is standard, and the teddy bear gets updated every year.

FHR also included a $100 property credit, so since we had just flown in that evening, we ordered room service after check-in. We got udon and a beef dish, but neither was very good—just enough to fill us up.

The bathroom has doors on both sides. When you open them while not in use, it makes the room feel much more spacious. It’s a fairly unusual design, and our kid thought it was really interesting.

After the late-night snack, the whole family was exhausted from a full day of flying, so we went straight to sleep.

Breakfast

There wasn’t a long line when we went down for breakfast, but the family ahead of us still had to wait several minutes to be seated. Breakfast was similar to Conrad Tokyo: egg dishes are made to order, while everything else is buffet-style. The selection was a bit more extensive than on the 37th floor at Conrad Tokyo.

For eggs, we ordered our family’s usual standby: an omelet.

Later, we also ordered a signature Benedict, a fun mash-up of okonomiyaki and eggs Benedict.

Overall, the breakfast was solid but unremarkable by Japan standards. Aside from that Benedict dish, nothing else stood out too much, but there was enough variety to go around and leave full.

While waiting in the buffet line, we ran into quite a few fellow Chinese travelers. Compared with April, when we barely saw any Chinese tourists, it was very noticeable in summer that travel from China to Japan was recovering.

Departure

After breakfast, we went back to the room to pack. While my partner was getting things together, I quickly ran to the spa shop on the 38th floor to use up the FHR credit. They had Sisley skincare products there, but I wanted something lightweight, so I only bought a hotel T-shirt and a 5th anniversary teddy bear. Together with the room service from the night before, that pretty much used up the credit. By the way, this credit is fixed at $100. The hotel converted it into yen and gave a spending cap, and that exchange rate was worse than Google’s real-time rate.

I booked a DiDi myself. The hotel is very close to ITM airport, where we were flying out that day, and the taxi ride only took 10 minutes. The bell desk was much more attentive in the morning, busy helping guests call taxis and move luggage.

The promo rate at this Conrad Osaka was genuinely a great deal and offered excellent value. If rates like this come up again, I’d definitely consider staying here again. Otherwise, if shopping is the priority, staying in one of the main shopping districts would probably be more convenient.

2023 Japan Trip Series

This series covers the author’s travels in Japan before returning to the U.S., after a trip back to China.

About the Author

This article is reposted from the WeChat public account “懒人 33 的吃喝玩乐,” which features original articles. Feel free to follow if interested.