Having spent six heavenly nights at the Westin Tokyo (see review), we were really looking forward to an equally enjoyable five-night stay at the Westin Osaka. Unfortunately, our hopes were crushed as soon as we exited the JR station to wait for the hotel shuttle.
The airport shuttle runs at different intervals throughout the day depending on the time of day. They were supposedly running every 15 minutes at the time we arrived in Osaka. While other hotels' shuttles came and went on time seemlessly every 5 minutes or so, the Westin bus was late. Blame it on traffic, right, sure thing. The bus driver did not offer any assistance with stowing our luggage. Actually, he never said a word. Maybe he is shy, right, sure thing.
The shuttle bus deposited us at the hotel's motor lobby. Here is where the contrasting level of service between the Westin Tokyo and Westin Osaka really began to take hold. None of the front door or lobby staff greeted us as we arrived. No one opened a door. No one smiled. No one said a thing. We procured our own luggage, opened our own doors and found the reception desk ourselves. Fine if you are staying at a Days Inn, not fine if you are staying at a hotel that represents itself as a luxury property. Once through the door, we were greeted with the strong, all-encompassing smell of smoke in the lobby. It was heavy and suffocating. NOT a good sign.
The front desk staff did nothing more than look up the reservation, take the credit card and hand us a set of keys. There was no warm greeting and no pleasantries were exchanged. Quite a contrast from the reception we received at the Westin Tokyo. Our room was a king-bedded non-smoking on the 19th floor. The hallway on the 19th floor had heavily stained carpets, beat up floor boards and had no decoration whatsoever on the walls. The room was the plainest, most basic Westin hotel room I have ever stayed in. The furniture appeared to be from the 80s and probably made it there after a decade-long stint at a Days Inn stateside. The bed was incredibly hard and the linens were the cheapest, scratchiest linens you could imagine. The TV was barely 15 inches.
The first thing we noticed was that there was no safe in the room. No safe? At a Westin? First time EVER that I have stayed in a room without at least a small El Safe. We called the front desk to inquire as to the presence of a safe in the room (perhaps we had overlooked it somewhere). Nope, no safe in the room. None of their rooms have a safe except on the executive level or in suites. We could leave our valuables at the front desk if we wanted, but no safe. They insulted us by offering an "upgrade" to an executive level room with a safe for the low, low cost of an additional 35,000 Yen (about $300USD) a night. Amazing.
The air conditioning in the room barely worked properly and one night the hotel's entire air conditioning system went down. At first, when we called the front desk, they thought we just did not know how to work the thermostat. They sent a concierge up to take a look at the problem and no matter how many different ways you tried to explain the situation, he went back to trying to teach us how to use the thermostat. After dealing with this issue for over an hour after an exhausting day we gave up, but not before we got the manager of the hotel to agree to a 50% discount for that night. It really should have been free in my eyes, but I was tired and just wanted to sleep. On another day, housekeeping turned off the air while we were gone. By the time we got back, the room was very warm. Completely unacceptable that housekeeping would feel the need to mess with the thermostat of a guest's room.
We tried breakfast at the hotel the first morning. It was AWFUL. The food was cold, the selection was minimal and the quality of the food was subpar, even if not staying at a Westin. That was the only day we bothered with breakfast at the hotel.
The location of the hotel is a bit out of the way. It is about a 15-minute walk from the JR Osaka station. You have to walk through an underpass and adjacent to the Umeda Sky Building in order to get to the hotel. After a few days, the walk became a terrible chore. The last thing you want to do after getting off a train after a 10-hour day of walking is to walk another 15 minutes to get to the hotel. I would highly recommend the location of the Hilton or Ritz Carlton instead.
Overall, the Westin Osaka was extremely disappointing. The service level is pathetic, the hotel is inconveniently located and the rooms are old and tired. We will definitely stay elsewhere if we return to Osaka.
