Review Overview

THE ALVIATOR'S VERDICT

A gorgeous hotel, from the finishes, with a great location and breakfast spread. Unfortunately the mattresses were hard and in need of replacement, as is standard at Hilton properties.

4.0

For our time in Japan we spent four nights in Osaka. While the InterContinental Osaka was probably one of the best hotels I’ve stayed at, prices for a room were exorbitant, so we had to look at other options. I had a look at the St. Regis Osaka, the Conrad Osaka and the Marriott Miyako Osaka, which were also offering rooms at prices that we weren’t ready to pay for.

There was one hotel that had intrigued me during our booking process, which was the Hilton Osaka. While many of our mid-tier options seemed rather run down (the Westin Osaka looks straight out of the ’90s), the Hilton seemed to have recently gone through a renovation, and looked like a property that I’d like. We eventually decided to go for an Executive Suite instead of staying in two separate rooms, as it was just marginally more expensive.

The Hilton Osaka looks rather bland from the outside, though a big benefit is its direct connection to the Hilton Plaza, a big shopping complex that brings you straight to the West-Umeda subway station. It’s right across from Osaka Station (the JR station that operates trains between cities), and connected to a bunch of shopping malls, which most shopping fanatics and frequent subway users will appreciate.

Hilton Osaka Exterior

The hotel also has an underground entrance directly across an underground walkway connecting a few malls, Umeda Station, and West Umeda Station. While West Umeda Station is closer, Umeda Station is much bigger, and connects more districts of Osaka.

Hilton Osaka Hilton Plaza Entrance

We got to the lobby at 11:45 PM on Friday night – stunning! The lobby featured a high chandelier-esque light and lots of comfortable seating, with the reception and concierge desks parked off to the right. By the other side was the hotel’s MyPlace coffee shop, the connecting entrance to the Hilton Plaza, as well as the lifts to the guest rooms.

Hilton Osaka Lobby

It’s worth noting that no one came to help us with our bags – there weren’t any bellmen, and the staff just stood there while we hauled our luggage into the lobby. We arrived at 12 AM, though I didn’t see any staff help arriving guests during the day, either.

Since I had already checked in through the Hilton Honors app, we were immediately given our keys, as well as information on breakfast, the executive lounge, and parking. It’s worth noting that we had to approach reception daily to get a 50% off voucher for parking. I’m not sure about the industry norm for guest parking in hotels, as I personally don’t drive, but that was rather impractical, and it seems rather cheap to me that full-service hotels don’t offer free parking to their guests.

Hilton Osaka Executive Lounge Letter

We then brought our luggage to our room. The Hilton Osaka has a stadium shape, and has a rather “long” footprint. We were assigned an Executive Suite located near the elevators.

Hilton Osaka Floorplan

The hallways were modern, but rather cruise-shippy looking, with bright yellow doors, backlit geometric shapes, and rather tacky silver finishes.

Hilton Osaka Hallway

I was rather amused by the ice machine – while practical, I found it funny that there was an ice machine on every floor in its dedicated room. Only in Japan…

Hilton Osaka Hallway Ice Machine

I found it quite cool that while our suite wasn’t “named”, the signage on the door explicitly said “executive suite”. I sure was curious to see what was inside!

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Entrance

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Signage

Hilton Osaka
Check-in: Friday, March 30, 2018
Room Type: Executive Suite
Room Number: 3124
Stay duration: 4 nights
Check-out: Tuesday, April 3, 2018

The suite featured an entryway that led straight into the living room and right to a half-bath, with the bedroom separately connected.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Entryway

While the hallway was tacky, the room was gorgeous. The living room was large, and featured an L-shaped sofa, a large desk and chair, a separate circular communal seating area, a flatscreen TV and a kitchenette area.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Living Room

I was a huge fan of the wooden and matte finishes, as well as the shoji screens by the windows. The seating area was comfortable and well-lit.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Seating Area

The couches were comfortable, and the pillows provided a much-needed splash of red. The TV was also well-placed within the living room, but I felt like they could’ve thought out the placement of our rollaways better, as they were right next to each other and took up most of the living area space. (The rollaways were light, so this issue was easily fixed.)

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Sitting Area

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite TV

The advantage of suites over two separate rooms is that there’s a lot of extra space for lying around, as hotels normally design suites around couples paying top dollar. I appreciated the seating area, and used it for working, as I mainly focused on video editing and trivial tasks during my stay.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Sofa

It’s worth noting that our rollaways weren’t comfortable at all, though – the pillow was thin, and the mattress was terrible. Since each bed cost JPY 3050 (HK$220) per night, the uncomfortable bed wasn’t enough to make me a happy camper, especially since I spent quite a bit of time in it, as I was sick. While there’s not much the hotel can do regards the mattress, I’d have benefited from an extra pillow and a comforter of sorts.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Rollaway Beds

I loved the large desk facing the seating area, which featured a very comfortable office chair and a desk mat, as well as an abundance of power ports (not pictured, in the slotted area in front of the desk mat – it featured universal power ports, as well as USB ports, which were much appreciated).

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Desk

Behind the desk was a kitchenette area, featuring a cute little sink, a Nespresso coffee machine, as well as a kettle.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Mini Sink

A shelf featured some complimentary water, an empty ice bucket, as well as Nespresso capsules (for the machine). I also found the random stone artefacts really cool, giving the room some appreciated Japanese flair.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Nespresso Capsules and Complimentary Water

The bedroom was comparatively less impressive but still very well laid out. It featured a bed (still not very comfortable, but much more so than the rollaways), a chaise longue of sorts by the windowsill, and another flatscreen TV, beside a large side table.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bedroom

The shoji screen theme was persistent throughout the room, as seen below.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bedroom

I’m not sure how comfortable the chaise longue would be (in our case it was a moot point, since we had a ton of comfortable seating in the living area), though it’s a persistent theme throughout all of the hotel’s guestrooms – not just their suites.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bedside Chaise Longue

The master bathroom was connected to the master bedroom. It was of an adequate size, though was excellently equipped. It featured double sinks, a separately enclosed toilet, and a separately enclosed tub and shower.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bathroom

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bathroom Double Sinks

While the bathroom had a Japanese bidet toilet, it wasn’t one of those that opened automatically when you entered (I’m not complaining).

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bathroom Enclosed Toilet

The tub was of an adequate size, and enclosed with the shower. I can’t help but feel like spending 45 minutes in a tub in a small, enclosed area wouldn’t be particularly enjoyable. I guess that’s why there’s a glass partition directly between the bedroom and the shower/tub area (with shades that can be lowered), to let in some natural light when taking a bath – since I’d imagine taking a bath here would otherwise feel claustrophobic. Regardless, I never used the bathtub during my stay.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bathroom Enclosed Shower and Tub Area

The pressure from the rainforest shower wasn’t great, though in consolation this was a “carwash” shower, with six additional water outlets at chest height for a true full-body shower experience. 😉 In all honesty, I really appreciate “carwash” showers, though don’t value them over good water pressure.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bathroom Enclosed Shower and Tub Area

The hotel featured Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries. Believe it or not this was my first ever stay at a Hilton, though I’d heard that across the brand they consistently used Peter Thomas Roth toiletries, which were bleh at best. Therefore, the toiletries we were given were a pleasant surprise for me.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bathroom Toiletries

I also would’ve appreciated full-size bottles of shampoo and body wash, though on the plus side housekeeping was really attentive with refills.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bathroom Toiletries

Also connected to the bathroom was a large walk-in closet, where the safe was located. I really appreciated this area, as my mother travels with an insane amount of clothes, so it was a place where we could all get organised.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Bathroom Walk-in Closet

Near the entrance was a half bath, with a toilet and sink.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Half Bath

In terms of amenities, the kitchenette featured the room’s minibar.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Minibar

Also, each night during turndown service we were offered pajamas. I figured for the purposes of this review I might as well try them on, but I got sick, and I forgot, and… 😉

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Pajamas

It’s worth noting that I had the option to place orders for our room through the Hilton app, where I asked for an extra down pillow and an extra two towels. These were all delivered straight to the room and stocked with the rest of the pillows/towels accordingly.

Furthermore, on the first night, there was mochi waiting for us on the communal table. Yum yum!

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite Welcome Amenities

All of the room’s windows faced west over Osaka, so being on the 31st floor we had great views over Osaka, especially during sunset.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite View

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite View During Sunset

The views were equally cool during nighttime, and weren’t obstructed by any buildings at all. However, I never got around to turning off the lights in the room for a better photo, so I apologise for the photo quality below.

Hilton Osaka Executive Suite View During Nighttime

Overall, I thought our suite was large, very nicely appointed, and tastefully designed. I was more than happy to spend a few days here. While I knew the decor would be nice going in, what surprised me was the attention to detail with practicalities, including the great desk chair and walk-in closet.

On our last morning I had to check out one of the hotel’s entry level rooms, since the housekeeper was cleaning when we walked past. The room felt small for an Asian hotel room, but featured the same chaise longue and desk chair that we had in our suite, as well as the same, well-thought-out Japanese decorative touches.

Hilton Osaka King Hilton Room

As we were staying in a suite, we also had access to the hotel’s executive lounge. The hotel’s main lounge is still under renovation, so in the meantime a suite similar to ours was cleared out and used as a makeshift lounge.

Hilton Osaka Executive Lounge Entrance

Due to the fact that the lounge was makeshift, it wasn’t very nice by any stretch of the imagination. It featured one type of seating, laid out densely across the small area of the living room (the bedroom was also equipped with the same type of seating, but was only open during evening hours).

Hilton Osaka Executive Lounge

The lounge served an afternoon spread from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM, and an evening spread from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. The afternoon spread featured your average afternoon tea items, including mini sandwiches, cakes, and tortilla chips.

Hilton Osaka Executive Lounge Afternoon Spread

The evening spread was more substantial but still only consisted of a few cold dishes. As it stands the Hilton Osaka does not have an aspirational club lounge, and I wouldn’t pay for a club room for access here.

Hilton Osaka Executive Lounge Evening Spread

To the side was some liquor, including beer and harder liquor, as well as sparkling water.

Hilton Osaka Executive Lounge Evening Spread Drinks

The staff at the lounge were friendly, and we were invited to sit down when we got to the lounge. They took our orders for drinks – I ordered a cappuccino, and also took a Coca-Cola. This was a lethal enough combination to keep me in bed the entire next day. On the plus side, not every club lounge takes drink orders upon arrival, so I appreciated that aspect of the experience.

Hilton Osaka Executive Lounge Cappuccino

Breakfast was served either at MyPlace or Windows of the World. The former is located on the first floor, and is the “main” breakfast area that the concoierge directs guests to. The latter is located on the top floor of the hotel.

I was planning to check out MyPlace on the morning I was sick, so unfortunately I don’t have pictures of the spread. I was informed by my parents (who weren’t sick that day) that the selection was lackluster, though. I did get to sample the breakfast spread at Windows of the World (cheesy name, if you ask me – especially since the views, while great, aren’t “iconic”).

Hilton Osaka “Windows On The World” Restaurant

The restaurant itself was nice enough, though I couldn’t make sense of the balloon-style decorations on the ceiling.

Hilton Osaka “Windows On The World” Restaurant

The selection was very extensive, and the food quality was mostly great, too. The spread featured a bunch of Western and Japanese items, including hot and cold options. Notable options included a make-your-own-tofu-bowl stand (seaweed and bonito flakes were among the selection of condiments), and an omelet stand.

Hilton Osaka “Windows On The World” Restaurant Breakfast Spread

The omelets were akin to the fluffy omelets you see in omurice satisfaction videos, and were SUBLIME.

Hilton Osaka “Windows On The World” Restaurant Breakfast Spread Omelette

Furthermore, the coffee was good – it was charcoal coffee and had a prominent smoky flavour that tasted great – though according to my mother it apparently wasn’t as good as the coffee at MyPlace.

Hilton Osaka “Windows On The World” Restaurant Breakfast Spread Charcoal Coffee

While I didn’t get to check out the breakfast offering at MyPlace, it also serves as the hotel’s coffee shop, which seemed like a nice place to work and spend time.

Hilton Osaka MYPLACE Restaurant

Due to my sickness I didn’t get to use the gym, though it was located on the sixth floor, in a separate area that required a key card to access.

Hilton Osaka Fitness Center

This led to the entrances to the male and female changing rooms, which you had to get through to access the gym (the changing rooms also lead to the swimming pool). The gym was well equipped, including a bench press rack, so I’m bummed I didn’t get to spend time there.

Hilton Osaka Fitness Center Gym

There was also a “lounging” area with TVs in the changing room area – I’m not quite sure what that was for.

Hilton Osaka Fitness Center Relaxation Area

While I’d heard about WiFi issues at the hotel, the WiFi was fast and free. We had the option to pay for premium WiFi at ~HK$90 per night (which allowed us premium connection for up to 100 devices – yowzers!), which was as fast as WiFi gets anywhere around the world.

While the lack of bellmen and luggage help on the first night was a letdown, the staff were friendly and courteous upon every interaction, as is usually the case in Japan. The staff also managed the hotel like a well-oiled machine – our rooms were refreshed by the afternoon at latest, with shoes aligned, toiletries restocked, and cushions returned to their original positions (one night I used a cushion as an extra pillow due to the lackluster pillow provided with the rollaway, and the night after I returned to find it nicely placed on the bed).

On one of the days I wanted to make a reservation at a renowned restaurant (for those wondering, that’s Kani Douraku), and the concierge offered to call the restaurant for us and inform us of availability after. We weren’t in our room when they called, so they were nice enough to send up a handwritten note telling us that there was no availability. Furthermore, when we informed the club lounge of our room number, they checked with us that we had received the note, and had us follow up at the concierge (we placed a booking, though due to my sickness didn’t actually end up going).

The hotel wasn’t as courteous online, though. When I asked if they could reserve Fast Passes for my parents and Hailey at Universal Studios, and also asked if they could make a reservation for us at Ippoh, as they only spoke Japanese. In the former case we were declined as “they were not an official Universal Studios hotel”, and in the latter case they agreed, though were rather rude when we had to change our guest count, as some friends were joining us for dinner. I’ll blame that on the language barrier, though.

Bottom Line: The Hilton Osaka

The Hilton Osaka was a pleasant surprise for us. The location was great, and I knew the rooms would be good coming in, as they were the main reason I was intrigued by the hotel in the first place; they were stunning, and had a sense of place. However, I was more surprised by how well run the hotel was, from the brilliant housekeeping services, to the fast WiFi, to the amazing breakfast spread. My main complaints would be the pillows and mattresses – in dire need of an update – and the lackluster club lounge, though there’s not much I can say, since it’s makeshift as the real one undergoes renovations.

This was also my first ever stay at a Hilton, and gave me a very good impression of the brand as a whole. However, I know that this is ultimately one of Hilton’s top properties, and well above the quality of most of their “average” properties.

Objectively I prefer the InterContinental, though it’s also obscenely priced. All things considered, I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again.

Review: Hilton Osaka – Executive Suite (Osaka, Japan)

Bottom Line: The Hilton Osaka

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