Shin Osaka Washington Hotel Plaza — Hotel in Osaka

The location of this hotel is great and the train station is very accessible from here. The rooms are livable and a great view of the city of Osaka. However, the reason I'm giving this hotel such low stars is based on my experience with the management. I'm not sure if anyone else here is aware of this or has mentioned it so I'm just going to stress this; I was told by the front desk that check-in time is "only at and after 3pm in the noon. Hotel policy." Their words, not mine. Then a couple days later when our trip in Osaka is finished and we were to check out, I get a call to our room 30 minutes before 10 am when some of us were still in bed saying that our check out time is at 10 am and that any stay past 10 is additional charge. This would be fair, however here is the issue: The hotel DID NOT specify nor refer to any checkout time whatsoever when we were checking in. Now one might say that "I could ask the front desk" and that is correct I should have asked and I will take responsibility for not. However, me having to ask is already problematic enough. A customer having to ask just goes to show how much they care. Some of our folks were in town getting some breakfast and running last minute errands picking up some stuff to take for the plane ride and when I notified them about this they had to drop everything, run all the way back to the hotel in the cold while we at the hotel had to hurry and get started packing. We then made the hotel aware that they failed to specify a checkout time in the beginning. All the front desk lady did was shove a calculator in our faces showing the amount of the extra charge we have to pay (which I'm not paying) even when I was explaining this issue repeatedly. I finally got in touch with the manager 10 minutes after I asked for him and listen to this: right away this staff goes on the immediate defense and he said that the checkout time is "written in a black book in the room," which the front desk also DID NOT mention earlier because they refuse to be cooperative. On top of that, the book was written in Japanese! Am I suppose to be a mind reader or something? I had no idea that you are required to look for a black book in a hotel room to find out what time you check out without being made aware of it by this careless staff.

I am a person who is willing to accept the penalties and pay whatever it is I need to own up to. I am completely reasonable for fair reasons. However, I am not going to stand here and allow this hotel to rush people through the morning and have 60-70 year old people run blocks away back to the hotel in 40 degree temperatures and suck money out of us because this management refuses to cooperate with customers. I WILL NOT ALLOW senior citizens to be put through that! What about customers first policy. It doesn't exist in this hotel? I have two close family members who have worked in the hotel management business before and they said that the front desk is ALWAYS required to notify the checkout time to the guest at check-in. "The customer is always first and if you work in a place and you go on the defense against a paying customer, you are wrong. Period!" But next time we will learn to save ourselves the hassle and...

The followings is the terrible and horrible nightmare we’ve had with this hotel.

We are a family of four (two adults and two kids) and we checked into this hotel on 15 Feb 2018. On that night around 11:30 pm (Japan standard time), we were at the room and made couple of phone calls to our family to send our regards. Then we were interrupted by several huge bangs on the door. We checked through the peephole and recognized it is the service staff in uniform so we opened the door in order to understand what’s wrong. He then walked into our room in a huge rage and pointed at us and shouted “Noisy, be quiet” (In English). The atmosphere was soon frozen . In order to calm our kids and let him leave our room , I immediately apologized by repeating sorry. Afterwards, kids were traumatized and dared not to make any sound or voice. They were really frighten!

The next morning, we adults went to the counter and told the staff what happened last night, then the counter staff (a lady) went to see the male service staff, so the male service staff came to us. However, his attitude was still bad as he simply shrugged and repeated “noisy” to us. He then asked us if we could speak English and then put us on the line to the customer service (I guess?). So my husband talked to someone of this hotel through the phone and clearly told him/her “ I like your hotel but not the service”. As no further friendly gesture from this hotel, we then decided to checked out immediately instead of 21 Feb as we originally planned.

In hindsight, I did recall what have happened and maybe we were wrong or too loud over the phone inadvertently. However, we are sensible tourist and we are communicable. If we made offence, the housekeeper could knock the door gently or give us a ring and surely we would feel embarrassed and sorry and then correct our behavior. We have had our family trip to Japan for more than ten times and we have relatives in Japan, we do know Japanese’ culture and we are fully aware that one should not interfere others in public and this is how we teach our kids. It is to anyone’s surprise that the male housekeeper just rushed in to our room, pointed us and shouted at us. Such a rude and humiliation treatment is really hard for us to accept and we didn’t get any positive response from Shin-Osaka Washington Hotel Plaza so far.

To anyone who would like to stay in this hotel in the future, please refer to my horrible experience above and maybe you should think twice...

Was in Osaka for a conference back in June 2019, and this was the nominated hotel to stay at. The location is good, a short walk away from Shin Osaka station. There was a convenience store incredibly nearby the hotel, as well as ample dining options within a 10min walking radius. ||||The hotel staff spoke reasonable english, and checking in was a smooth process. They were also helpful in terms of any baggage storage needs as well as helping to call a taxi. The hotel is a bit dated, however some parts of the hotel seem to be refurbished. I unfortunately was given a room that was a bit dated, and while you can feel the tiredness of the decor and furniture, cleanliness in both the room and common areas was of a good standard. Staying at a upper floor, the view from the room was also excellent. ||||I had also booked for breakfast as part of my stay and this was a very pleasant surprise. The cuisine was more of a Japanese style, but the selection was great, and the quality of food was incredibly good. ||||From the breakfast crowd, it seemed the hotel catered towards more of a domestic and business travel crowd rather than international tourists. Additionally, while the location is close to a main station, it is not necessarily the most tourist-centric area. I'd say it'll be a good place to stay if there's something you need to do in the area, but otherwise, may not necessarily be a go-to. The breakfast though is something I will...