Hotel Gracery Osaka Namba — Hotel in Osaka

Small first floor, lobby is actually on second floor. There are only 2 elevators for 12 floors and they run quite slowly, especially during breakfast time(keep in mind when checking out) . The elevators are also really small and narrow. Would be able to only fit 2 guests with 2 large suitcases. They have self storage so we could leave our bags, but keep in mind everyone has access to this room it is not privately accessed by just staff. There are locks to lock bags in place and you are provided with that key. In the morning it was pretty empty but by 2pm (check in time) I could barely move my luggage from back of room to front as it was practically full. Room is very small, which is common in Japan, but makes it hard for two people to open suitcase or sort things out. Bathroom has a bathtub, the amenities offer bath salts which was nice. The bathroom floor had some stains on it, maybe from beauty products, the material of the floor likely makes it harder to clean. The bathroom is musty as there's no ventilation or fan, that I could see. There as a hair hanging from ceiling, minor cleaning error not a big deal as it could be easily missed. Otherwise the room was clean. The bed was a little hard but had cozy blankets. The TV does not have access to YouTube or other streaming channels and only a handful of Japanese networks. Check out was easy at the machines but the elevators were painful. Not far from Namba station (exit 7) and easy walk to shopping and sites. Small room with double bed, only one side had access, both sides had plugs but be careful as the lip between bed and wall is tight so you don't want anything to slip there. There is a slight ledge above headboard you could potentially keep glasses and a water bottle but it can easily be knocked off. Stayed at a different hotel not too far from here, would recommend that hotel over this one in my opinion. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. No complimentary water bottles, they provide a jug for you to access water on Floor 2 (lobby) which also has vending machines and complimentary coffee machine. Not worth it to go up and down those elevators to keep going to floor 2 when you're at floor 3. Time your arrivals and departures at this hotel as you will have to wait or squish...

Hotel Gracery hits the sweet spot as a hotel that is mid range and affordable, and is also modern, efficient and with the highest service standards one would expect for Japanese hospitality. Things I liked:

1. Room service was prompt and responsive. However, simple English may be a challenge - so be prepared to use Google translate.
2. they have a standard Japanese bathroom layout across all their hotels (even those overseas). Having the option of a bathtub beside the sitting shower area with stool was appreciated.
3. It is really close to Namba so quite convenient coming in from Kansai Intl Airport (via Nankai rapi:t). As another connector said, if you need an elevator down to the metro level, use Namba metro station exit 12.
4. Family mart is across the road and it was nice to be able to drop by after midnight to grab snacks or a simple breakfast item for the next day.
5. All Gracery hotels now (Kyoto and Taipei) come with bottled water. I understand they used to give a tumbler.
6. the room is small but quite efficiently laid out. There is a sofa and compact table beside the bed.
7. the air con system is superb - the thermostats work well and can be manually set. There are heating and cooling modes which both work.

Things that may be an issue:

1. the double rooms are really small and you may need to use the corridor between the entrance, toilet and bed area to put luggage. For cabin size bags, it leaves just enough room to walk. For anything larger it may need to be stored standing up.
2. the conditioner they use is really diluted and watery. The one in Kyoto Sanjo and Taipei were ok. This led to having noticeable rough and dry hair in Osaka.
3. all Gracery hotels have this odd duvet layout where there is a thin white sheet followed by a separate thicker coloured sheet above it. It can be a bit difficult to turn around in bed with these layers separating. A workaround is to get document clips and to clip the sheet later with the thicker layer.
4. on lower floors the window is frosted glass so you get light but cannot see outside.
5. you can hear the Osaka traffic downstairs even at the higher floors (10+). One night there was a fire engine with sirens and I woke up...

As many have already said, the rooms are small and there is not a lot of space to open the luggage. There is no safe. There is no desk and chair to work (no space for such), just a mini table, and you will have to work on the bed. If you are alone it's about ok, but with two people it gets crowded. These are the main or only problems, really. Everything else is good or very good. The bathroom is (relatively) more spacious than the room and has everything you may need. The washing machines down at the second floor work very well, 300 yen for washing and then 100 yen for the driers. The staff is nice. The convenience store across the street gets you covered on anything. ||On the question of access to the hotel, exit 32 is indeed the closest but has no lift,as many have pointed out. Some people wrote here that the best option with lift is exit 30, but I have found that exit 10 is much better. This is because exit 30 requires you to do a lot more of confusing underground corridors to get to the Midosuji line, while exit 10 is right there. Exit 10 is not that tricky to find: you need first to cross the street in front of the hotel and to make your way straight through the small streets (full of bars and small restaurants) in the direction of the Nankai Namba train station (not JR Namba), but you do not need to cross and get to the station. Pass by the place where the buses to Itami airport leave and then take a left turn at the main avenue heading north and pay attention to the signs. The entrance to the lift looks like an ordinary building, with a name in Japanese only above the door, but lower, on the sides of the buiding, the signs saying Osaka Metro are there. Walk inside the building and find the lift. I am uploading a pic where this is clearly explained. ||To add to the general difficulty for first-timers, it happens that, for reasons that I really cannot get, sometimes the maps on the stations and corridors are oriented to the north (as they always should be), but sometimes are to the west, east or even south: this is sooo very confusing!.. When you look at any map in Japan the first thing to do is to pay attention to...