Centara Grand Hotel Osaka — Hotel in Osaka

The luxury hotel "Centara Grand Hotel Osaka", which opened in July 2023, is located not far from the city's most popular entertainment district and scores points for its excellent value for money and as an oasis of tranquillity. We visited it, here is our review

It takes less than five minutes to walk from Osaka's bustling Namba Station to the unmissable "Centara Grand Hotel Osaka", which towers over all neighbouring buildings.

Location: From the 515-room Hotel it is only ten minutes through Nansan, Nankai and Seika Streets to the restaurants, bars and clubs of the Dotonbori entertainment and nightlife district. On the elevated track of the Namba Line, trains rattle past the hotel every five minutes - a real anime scene after sunset.

The modern building of the "Centara Grand Hotel Osaka" is 33 storeys and 135 metres high, and is already the new landmark of Namba. There is also the Ekikan project, which is breathing new life into the shops under the Nankai railway viaduct.

Modern surf, skate, sports, furniture and bike shops as well as a coffee roaster and music clubs have taken up residence there. So guests at the Centara Grand Hotel Osaka don't necessarily have to go far to go out. Everything is just around the corner - including the global flagship store of the sushi chain "Kura" and a Lawson brand convenience store (called "Konbini" in Japan), which is open from 6 a.m. to midnight.

You have a great 180-degree view of the city from the "Club Lounge" on the 32nd floor. It's usually monastically quiet there, both at breakfast and for an afternoon snack with wine, beer or tea. A nice contrast to the hustle and bustle on the street. Anyone who has booked a room in the "Club" category (double room/F from 250 euros) between the 26th and 31st floors can enjoy the chilled-out lounge.

Style and atmosphere: The style of the hotel manages without any pretentious coolness, dispensing with unnecessary design gimmicks - the aesthetic DNA of the Japanese designers from "Nikken Space Design" shines through in a very positive way.

Here and there, a discreet homage to Thai and Japanese style elements pops up. The lift area, for example, quotes the Thai Festival of Lights - with colours that change depending on the time of day. On the 32nd floor, the waiting area in front of the lifts looks like the vault of a bank with hundreds of safe deposit boxes. The Club Lounge on the 32nd floor, with its very unusual ceiling design, takes up the varied patterns of Japanese kimonos.

Hungry? French-Japanese food is served in the "Kunsei Kitchen", while the rooftop bar "Smoke & Spin" with its fantastic panoramic view offers a relaxed atmosphere, where a DJ plays from Friday to Sunday and burgers, ceviche, Caesar salad and more are served.

Top-quality dry-aged beef and a selection of the best whiskies from around the world are served at "WhiskeyNova", which also boasts a magnificent skyline view. The "Embassy of Crab" 30 floors below specialises in crab dishes such as chilli crab, fishhead curry and prawn masala. The main restaurant "Suan Bua" provides the Thai flavour with authentic Southeast Asian street food, a tribute to the Thai hotel group.

Service and rooms: No matter where and when you deal with the hosts, everything is characterised by relaxed friendliness and courtesy. This also applies to the driver of the original Thai TukTuk, who shuttles guests to the railway station on request.

Regular deluxe rooms with king-size or twin beds offer a smart TV, rain shower, extremely fast Wi-Fi and organic care products from Panpuri. The rooms cost from 165 euros including breakfast. They are at least 30 square metres in size, have floor-to-ceiling windows and are tastefully furnished in minimalist style with a predominance of light natural tones. And there is a Nespresso machine for a quick espresso in between.

German review...

One of the biggest scam to date.

We stayed at Centara Grand Osaka for 5 nights. It was one of the worst experience I had in Japan. We started off by checking at 18.00 where the staff had no idea what they were doing. We upgrade the room to the highest room category for an extra 40,000-60,000 yen per night. Roughly translate to 2,000 USD extra for the five night.

The room when we entered had a moldy smell to it, the bathroom had small black dot all over which we have tried numerous time to wash and clean the bathtub by ourselves. The water was jumping between hot and cold.

The room was built poorly, you can see damage all around the room. Bare in mind this is the highest category room on the highest floor.

We also used the spa, they advertise that guest staying in the suites room would have a 15% discount for any services used in the spa. This discount was not deducted from our total bills at the end of our stay. I have tried to tell the staff, but they did not speak a word of english. (5 star hotel in the middle of Osaka, a hotel owned by a Thai business group).

We also asked the concierge to help us on several occasion but they just lack the fundamental "care" and knowledge to help us. Every message in the application Centara Grand Osaka takes 2-3 hour to be responded to.

I understand that star is given to the facilities provided by the hotel. Having a swimming pool, conference room does not mean anything if you can't even take care of guest staying in your HIGHEST ROOM CATEGORIES.

I have decided to post this because when we were about to leave the hotel. Our taxi had to pick us up curbside on the street where car was running because the bell boy decided to allow another car to wait for a japanese guest. I consisdered this extremely rude as once again I am also a paying guest. That other customer was not present for his taxi. The taxi should have moved in for us to safely enter the car. The taxi driver was also a tiny lady who tried her best to help us carry the luggage. While the bell boy just stood there watching. If the management ever read this post. I sincerely request for the immediate termination of that specific bell boy. We left the hotel on February 11, 2025 at 8.00-8.10 AM. I have never been this furious in my entire stay.

2,000 Dollars Extra, 4 Spa sessions

Not a care given or provided by the hotel staff. I will continue to pursue this to a higher authorities whether it be the Japanese board of tourism of board of hotel. I will contact them and put in an immediate request for the hotel to be...

•Car park Fee: ¥4,000 but we only paid ¥2,000 We came here by car. The male staff in the parking lot is not so accommodating. When we get out of the car, he just writes something on paper and asks for my name. He also confirms my booking on his tablet, but he hasn't even guided us where to go.

•Front desk The male front desk staff at the 2nd floor is very accommodating and always smiles. He also guides us to the club lounge where we need to check-in.

•Club lounge In the club lounge, the female front desk staff is accommodating and friendly. I have a lot of requests and questions and she makes an effort to accommodate them all.

•Deluxe King Club-Miyabi floor The room at this 5 star hotel is somewhat small compared to the other 5 star hotel we stayed at, in my opinion. I lived in Japan and I was already expecting small hotel rooms, but not in a 5-star hotel. But the good thing is that the room is clean and very minimalist. Also, because of the location, expect noise from the train and cars.

•Amenities When it comes to amenities. I think that there are not enough amenities. I'm unsure if you have the option to request more amenities.

As I wash my face in the sink, water drips from my arms to the floor, making it wet and can be a hazard for small children. I suggest putting 2 bath towels outside the shower and sink areas.

In the shower area I'm so happy with the water pressure and the loofah sponge. It leaves my skin feeling soft after using it.

•Breakfast Breakfast is so good. The food is a combination of Thai, Western, and Japanese cuisine, but there are only a few options when compared to other 5-star hotels.

Even though my birthday isn't until a month later, I still appreciate having a birthday plate and a greeting card with the staff's handwritten message.

•Opinion & Suggestion Given that the hotel is closer to the central part of Osaka, I think it would be best if there was a shuttle bus service so that guests could explore Osaka even when it's raining.

Overall, we had a good time during our stay here. It's unfortunate that we only stayed here for one night. All the staff was accommodating, the food was delicious, and the hotel facilities and rooms were clean. I hope when we come back here, they can maintain the hotel's cleanliness and have more...