Hotel the Grandee Shinsaibashi — Hotel in Osaka

Our preferred hotel in Shinsaibashi was fully booked, so we had to find another option. Osaka is packed with hotels (and shops, and restaurants...) but finding a good one in a convenient location can be tricky. In my opinion Shinsaibashi is a good location to be in, when you're in Osaka. It's close to a good subway station (Shinsaibashi), Amemura and the biggest department stores. It's not in the hustle and bustle of Dotonbori, but you can easily walk there (5-10 min.). Namba is a bit further away (one subway stop on the Midosuji line), but it's not a problem. You're also not too far in Osaka - in my opinion Osaka Station, Umeda etc. are not convenient locations for a tourist, although the public transit system takes you anywhere really easily. ||The Grandee looked very nice online, so I decided to book it. Overall, it's a good, modern, very clean boutique hotel in a convenient location. ||Here are some pros and some minor cons:||PROS |+ Overall: a very good boutique hotel in a good location in the middle of Shinsaibashi. |+ Sizable rooms (had the Premium Twin, there are bigger and smaller ones) with a sofa, desk, separate toilet, a jacuzzi bath with mood lights (with another TV), small wardrobe, Bluetooth speaker, tons of free VOD and a big TV. The room also had a small foyer with a closable door (helps with noise). The room also had a Nespresso machine, which we used daily. Nicely stocked with various amenities. Pajamas and slippers! |+ Cleanliness: the room was immaculately cleaned and refilled every day. One additional plus was that you have until noon to leave your room (some hotels clean relatively early)|+ A lounge area with free beer, wine, coffee, juice and some small pastries|+ Free water bottles every day||CONS|- The room we had (412) was probably one of their dullest interior-wise. It was a bit of a disappointment since we stayed so long (8 nights), and the website showcases some beautifully designed unique rooms. Someone said you can pick the room you want, within budget, but I think we were just assigned one upon check-in. |- There were some questionable stains on the dark couch. The room had also a bit of a musty smell, but having a humidifier and the air circulation on helped. |- The front desk was always super friendly and helpful in true Japanese fashion, but unfortunately didn't speak much English. Translation apps did get the job done, though. |- The room didn't have proper windows. At first this was a bit of a shock; turns out one of them was behind a movable wooden piece. The windows were frosted, though - this is common for almost-street-level Japanese hotels. |- No proper breakfast room. You can pre-order a breakfast pack, but it needed to be ordered days in advance. There are cafés, 7-Elevens and Family Marts all around the area, though. Or you can use Uber Eats. |- Need to pay fully upon check-in without seeing the room. |- The Japanese style short shower with "onsen style" bath stools was a bit funny for a tall...

Very spacious and nicely decorated rooms at this hotel. We had two double beds in our room, as well as an L-shaped sofa to relax on. The decor was tasteful and the bathroom was so luxurious! It was the kind of hotel room you enjoy spending time relaxing in, but of course being in Japan with so much to see and do, you don't do a lot of that, especially not when you're as conveniently located for Dotonburi as you are in this hotel. ||We had breakfast included in our rate, and it was served in the cafe bar at the front of the hotel. Impeccably presented and delicious, it was Japanese style, and a really good start to your day. We also had a free drink included in our room rate every evening in the same bar, it was a nice relaxing end to the day to do that.||Special mention for the staff who were lovely, and who arranged our luggage transfer back to Tokyo for us. We were going on to a ryokan in Hakone and didn't want to trundle big wheelie cases on the ropeway, so we sent our cases back to the hotel we were staying at in Tokyo a couple of nights later, and packed overnight rucksacks for our trip to the ryokan. This service was very reasonable price-wise, and reliable - our cases were waiting for us when we got there a couple of nights later. Would definitely recommend using this service to make your life easier. ||One thing I would recommend is making sure you have the address and phone number of the hotel with you the first time you go to find it. The streets are maze-like and we (predictably) got lost when we came out of the metro. We felt slightly better about this when the taxi we flagged couldn't find it either, and our driver ended up phoning the hotel reception for directions. Once checked in and with the hotel staff's advice, turned out we were much nearer another Metro station so we found it easy to get about after that - it was just the first time getting there that...

My colleague recommended this hotel so we booked it thru Rakuten Travel online. When we arrived, we parked our rented car at their parking and then check in. The receptionist doesn’t speak and understand much English. She told me we can’t park the car there because it’s full. We need to move our car to elsewhere parking. ||After long run communication, we finally get our room key. We went to our room and is so cold inside it. We dropped our luggages and then went out for shopping. ||When we back after dinner around 10pm, the receptionist called to our room and said they need to charge my son’s fee. My son is 6 years old and sleeping together with us (no extra bed), they need us to pay an extra 5000yen per night. I am so angry that why they didn’t tell me in advance when we check in. This is not professional at all.||Our room is terrible because at the back of the bed is the window and when I laid down on the bed, the freezing cold air is directly blow in on my head and I called the receptionist to come up and feel it. She just apologized and couldn’t do anything. She just brought the blanket and tried to use it to cover the window and didn’t let the cold wind coming in thru the window gap but it didn’t work. I asked if she can change another room for us and she said no. ||We are so disappointed with this hotel. I seldom complaint or write review like that. This is really first time!! ||The staffs of this hotel ruin my trip!! No services no assist and just keep asking me to pay the extra of my son’s charge!? This is ridiculous hotel I ever stayed. ||I booked 2 nights and I really want to move to another...