Patina Osaka パティーナ大阪 — Hotel in Osaka

I really, really wanted to like this hotel. As a self-proclaimed fan of the Capella Group, I was super excited for Patina Osaka's opening, even went so far as to cancel my booking at the Four Seasons Osaka to stay here. While the hotel was indeed spectacular, our stay was marred by confusion, miscommunication and flaws with the room design. The staff, on the other hand, was more than welcoming and certainly made up for the otherwise frustrating experience. ||Prior to our stay, there were already issues that immediately jumped out to us. Given that this hotel has just been opened and it's not available on Amex FHR or GHA's website, I booked directly on Patina's website and subsequently reached out to have my TA added to my booking. I was, however, told by my TA that Patina informed her that there would be no perks associated with booking through a Virtuoso agent. I sent them an email verifying this claim, as I found several Virtuoso agencies offering standard Virtuoso perks. They quickly came back and told me that Virtuoso perks will indeed be applied to my booking. And then there was a pre-arrival survey so detailed and personal (e.g. you will be asked to upload a photo of your passport data page) and I had to check multiple times to ensure that it's not a scam. The hotel sent me a system-generated email after that, only to have erroneously sent another guest's email to me. ||There was a typhoon on our check-in day in Hong Kong and as a result, our flight was delayed by 1.5 hours. By the time we arrived at the hotel, we were already sweaty and exhausted. Despite arriving at a beautiful and empty lounge, we were led to the check-in desk with nowhere to sit. Luckily check-in was swift and efficient, and we were soon led to the room, only for me to realize that I booked a Twin Bed room instead of a King Bed. The Essentialist who accompanied us to our room, Kevin, quickly went down to check but confirmed that a King Bed was not available. Not an issue for us, so we thought. ||We woke up the next morning to a rather bad night of sleep. The duvet was way too thick and we felt stuffy throughout the night. My girlfriend was also not used to us not sleeping together, so we again tried to contact the front desk to see whether it's possible to switch to a King Bed for the remaining 2 nights. The front desk staff, Sie, went out of his way to contact an incoming guest who would like to switch to a Twin Bed of the same room type and kindly arranged for our room to be changed while we were away. 10/10 guest service. ||However, despite the otherwise wonderful hospitality that we've received, the room had several key design flaws. On the bright side, we booked an Osaka Castle-facing Junior Suite, and the view of the Osaka Castle when we returned every night was out of this world. Then it quickly went downhill from there: the carpet in the living room would trip us every time that we walked past it; there were virtually no shelves/drawers where we could put some folded clothes, so we had to leave our clothes sitting in our suitcases; the buttons had no backlight and we had to use a torch to see what was on each button after the master switch was turned off. Last but not least, the phone in the room did not have an option to contact the front desk/concierge/housekeeping. The closest option I could find was "Communications", and no one picked up the phone at about 11pm, when I found out that my iPhone cable was malfunctioning and I had to borrow a spare one. I tried contacting the hotel via WhatsApp messaging, but again no one replied until the next morning. I had to call dining services for someone to pick up the phone. I have honestly never had phone calls go unanswered at any luxury hotel around the world, so this was quite shocking to see. ||One final note on the location. If you have a packed itinerary in Osaka and plan to do a lot of sightseeing, the location of the hotel might wear you down after a couple of days, since it's about a 10-mins walk to either subway station. The hotel did offer a shuttle bus service that runs every 20 mins, but it stopped after dinner and if you returned to the hotel late at night, your only options were taxi or walking, which was really not ideal after a full day of walking around. This was not the hotel's fault, since I was fully aware of this when I booked it and it's a price you'll have to pay for the full-on Osaka Castle view, but just thought that I should mention it - it's a lot more annoying than you probably thought. ||Breakfast was rather average and had a limited selection compared to other luxury hotels I've stayed at. We had a lymphatic drainage therapy and it was good. Both the breakfast and wellness staff, on the other hand, were super kind and helpful. ||One final note and I'm nitpicking here. Patina is one of the few luxury hotels that do not provide a written welcome card. It's printed to mimic a handwritten card. I collect hotel welcome cards, so this was a big deal to me, but it might not be a big deal for others. I just thought that at this price point, a handwritten card is not a crazy thing to have hoped for. ||I think by now you would have already seen the pattern - an otherwise frustrating experience partially saved by the wonderful staff. I'm not sure if those issues related to the hard product can be resolved, since they are mostly design flaws, but hopefully the chaos in terms of communications with guests and between different departments can be ironed out soon and only then will I emphatically recommend Patina Osaka to...

I was curious to find out how staying in a Patina hotel would be and in particular, how it would measure up to the Capella brand which I am more familiar with (both are owned by the Capella Hotel Group), and decided to book a couple of nights at the newly opened Patina Osaka during a recent trip there. ||I had a wonderful time.||The rooms were very well appointed with understated luxury in warm and neutral palettes. Nice subtle touches (multiple charging points at the resting areas, great bath robes, pillows and slippers) are found everywhere, and the premium payable for room where you wake up to an amazing view of the Osaka Castle is something I would highly recommend. ||Great-looking pool and well-appointed gym with complimentary daily activities will resonate with fitness enthusiasts, while the vinyl bar is super cool and will surely feature on the posts of many Instagrammers looking for that "money shot". ||Location-wise, apart from being directly across the Osaka Castle (where a 3.5km run around the castle grounds is also something I would recommend), a frequent shuttle service will also bring guests to and from the train station which is a only a couple of stops away from Shinsaibashi and the other hotspots of Osaka. ||While the Japanese standards of hospitality are generally very high, I think the staff at the Patina have brought this to another level. What I particularly liked (and this is something I think stands out within the Capella Group) is the sense of empowerment that I suspect every single employee is entrusted with: in other words, instead of a cookie cutter negative response to the usual slew of request from guests, the Patina team tends to make that extra effort to accommodate your every request, often on the spot and not having to go through multiple chains of command. Words really do not do justice to the excellent service levels and it is simply something you need to experience for yourself. ||Special mention must go to Ellen Franke who as the general manager oversees the team there admirably; Ikuko san who brightens up every room she enters with her engaging demeanor and smile; and Bek san who attended to my every need and who was a stranger when we first met and ended up as a friend. ||Although newly opened, the Patina Osaka is set to become not only the go to hotel in Osaka, but probably one of the most prominent hotels in Japan itself. And that is certainly...

I was curious to find out how staying in a Patina hotel would be and in particular, how it would measure up to the Capella brand which I am more familiar with (both are owned by the Capella Hotel Group), and decided to book a couple of nights at the newly opened Patina Osaka during a recent trip there.

I had a wonderful time.

The rooms were very well appointed with understated luxury in warm and neutral palettes. Nice subtle touches (multiple charging points at the resting areas, great bath robes, pillows and slippers) are found everywhere, and the premium payable for room where you wake up to an amazing view of the Osaka Castle is something I would highly recommend.

Great-looking pool and well-appointed gym with complimentary daily activities will resonate with fitness enthusiasts, while the vinyl bar is super cool and will surely feature on the posts of many Instagrammers looking for that "money shot".

Location-wise, apart from being directly across the Osaka Castle (where a 3.5km run around the castle grounds is also something I would recommend), a frequent shuttle service will also bring guests to and from the train station which is a only a couple of stops away from Shinsaibashi and the other hotspots of Osaka.

While the Japanese standards of hospitality are generally very high, I think the staff at the Patina have brought this to another level. What I particularly liked (and this is something I think stands out within the Capella Group) is the sense of empowerment that I suspect every single employee is entrusted with: in other words, instead of a cookie cutter negative response to the usual slew of request from guests, the Patina team tends to make that extra effort to accommodate your every request, often on the spot and not having to go through multiple chains of command. Words really do not do justice to the excellent service levels and it is simply something you need to experience for yourself.

Special mention must go to Ellen Franke who as the general manager oversees the team there admirably; Ikuko san who brightens up every room she enters with her engaging demeanor and smile; and Bek san who attended to my every need and who was a stranger when we first met and ended up as a friend.

Although newly opened, the Patina Osaka is set to become not only the go to hotel in Osaka, but probably one of the most prominent hotels in Japan itself. And that is certainly...