Travelodge Honmachi Osaka [トラベロッジ本町大阪] — Hotel in Osaka

This hotel was nothing short of a nightmare. Travelodge Osaka only has one Elevator for 14 floors, that is just insane. Only at Checkin we got informed that out rooms would not get cleaned, because they only clean it after 4 days (we „only“ stayed for 3 nights).

We did not get new towels (although not without specifically asking) and they did not even take out the trash. However, in the mornings the trash bags from other rooms were lying around in the hallway for hours!

They only have two washing machines and two dryers. There‘s a sign that says that laundry that occupies the machines for too long will be brought to the front desk. However, the staff did not take away laundry that had occupied the machine for hours, even after I‘d told them.

On our last evening we wanted to ask the staff to send our luggage to the next hotel, as this is a service they apparently provide. However, the first staff member, a small Chinese man that has been mentioner in other reviews as well from what I have read, immediately put up an attitude and was visibly pissed off after I had told him that I had not understood what he meant by his single word answer „travel information“. A second staff member came to „help“, but insisted that we had to bring the luggage at 7 in the morning, bc their check out times were so busy. We told him that we had a long day ahead of us, so we didn‘t want to get up three hours before our departure. We agreed with him that we would leave our luggage at 08:30 (still 1,5 hours before checkout). HOWEVER, although we had told him that we needed a good night of sleep, he CALLED our room at 23:00 to tell us that he wouldn‘t send our luggage if we‘d bring it after 7! We told him that we wouldn‘t bring it under those circumstances. However, when we came down the next day at 08:30 there wasn‘t a single soul in the lobby for checkout, so the staff would have clearly had the time to manage it. The staff was very rude and constantely chit-chatted in Chinese behind our backs.

The last point was the poor breakfast. It looked like they forgot half of it and the choices were not only poor but absolutely inconsistent (pasta, mashed potatoes, curry, white bread, etc). For our last breakfast, a man from facility management decided to clean the ceiling, which meant that he dusted of the AC vents which meant that the dirt flew directly down onto the buffet. Would never...

Room Our a/c was moldy and sounded like a tractor most the time. On our departure day they put up a sign that they do a regular a/c maintenance. Maybe a known issue or a coincidence. I wonder how long it takes to form mold in an a/c.

Service It is not allowed to est food in the lobby. Somehow understandable to avoid any bad smell. Once we have ordered some food everything worked fine, we went to the lobby to pick it up and at this exact moment like 20 people were checking in and waited for the elevator. There is only elevator for 13 floors. Then we decided to eat our dinner in the furthest corner to not disturb anyone. Wrong decision, the receptionist took the chance and nearly sprinted towards us to tell us it is not allowed to eat food in the lobby. Told him I don’t want to eat my food cold and if there is a second elevator so we can go to the 10th floor as the staircase is no option at 32°. So we stopped our dinner and waited until it was our turn to board the elevator which took nearly 15 min.

Another time we asked the receptionist if he can tell us how much it costs to send an international postcard. He either did not understand, did not know it or did not know where to check this information. In the end we went to the homepage of the Japanese Post and checked our self.

So don’t expect any help outside the ordinary.

Location It was quiet and it felt like a business area. 2 stations away from the central and like 15 min away from Shin-Osaka.

Bath Actually quite big compared to the room itself. However, they have to clean the fan in the bath frequently, this has not been...

Pretty decent place to stay with a few caveats. I stayed in a deluxe queen.

Pros Space wise these rooms are bigger than what you would see at most Japanese hotels.

The bathroom is relatively huge compared to most other hotels.

Hotel internet was pretty good. A/C worked really well.

Location is great, right on the Midosuji line gives easy access to Osaka Station/Umeda, Namba and Shin Osaka. Also there is a post office nearby if you accumulate too much and need to send it home.

Staff were very helpful.

So so notes Rooms are not cleaned everyday but you can choose you cleaning days if your staying more than 4 days, including the time so great if your planning to sleep in.

Breakfast was fine though nothing stellar.

TV had local channels, no monitoring the washing machines but it's a modern smart TV so you can login and go from there (be sure to log out though)

Some caveats Bathroom is huge but while the tiling looks nice it shows mould pretty easy.

Only one elevator so it can get a bit congested.

At the time I stayed the fridge in my room was pretty bad, was a peltier based fridge which is not good. (management if you see this please get normal fridges, peltier fridges are so much worse than normal units)

Overall pretty good only real issue for me was the fridge. The reception/lobby is up a flight of stairs but there is a lift. Closest konbini is a Mini Stop but there is a lawson, 7/11 around certain station entrances and family mart close by. Location and room size are probably the big...