Hotel MOXY a Osaka

Having spent the previous four nights at the excellent Moxy Kyoto Nijo we had high expectations of Moxy Osaka Honmachi but were disappointed from the outset. On the face of it the two hotels are very similar - same hip Marriott branding, modern building and young staff. However, unlike the check-in staff at Moxy Kyoto (with no masks) who greeted everyone entering or leaving the hotel cheerfully, the welcome (behind masks) at Moxy Osaka could only be described as functional best (We saw numerous large groups check-in, with cordoned off areas for breakfast, and suspect that independent travellers are not this hotel’s core business or focus - unlike Moxy Kyoto). We had booked two rooms - one twin and one queen for four nights. The twin room on 10th floor with floor to ceiling windows was terrific. Evidently all the rooms on each of the four sides of the hotel were similarly impressive…except the handful of rooms occupying the central void of each floor…including our queen room, which was a windowless box. To be fair, the room had been booked via our airline but our booking said nothing about us having one of the windowless rooms at the hotel. The helpful supervisor, Yang, eventually offered an upgrade for an additional payment, despite his colleagues insisting for 90 minutes that the hotel was was full (and their own website showing that it wasn’t). This issue was probably the airline’s fault but there was no empathy shown or help offered by front of house staff (not being able to see facial expressions behind masks didn’t help). Unfortunately this was a poor start to a bad experience that was to follow. The temperatures in Osaka were 40c+ and the hotel air conditioning, although controlled in-room, reverted to 25.5c after about an hour. This led to four sleepless nights having to get up and reset it. Each morning we complained and each morning they said they would look into it/get it sorted/call out an engineer. Nothing changed. I suspect that this was a known problem (both our rooms on the 10th floor were the same) or a cost cutting exercise. Either way, there was, again, no empathy or help from the front of house staff (all we got was a very un-Japanese shrug of the shoulders). The breakfast was the same buffet concept at Moxy Kyoto but the kitchen couldn’t cope with the volume - it was either a bun-fight or picking over scraps after the crowds had gone. The gym was virtually identical in size and offering to Moxy Kyoto but it was no surprise that it was at the Moxy Osaka that the water fountain ran out. A pretty terrible experience was topped off when they tried to charge me twice for a late check-out. It’s difficult to believe that two hotels in the same chain and only a few miles apart could be so different. Just goes to show the impact of impact of good/poor management.

This is a relatively new hotel in Shin-umeda area, the closest station is JR Fukushima station, while Umeda/Osaka station itself requires 20+ minutes walking. For the room is what you would expected from Moxy with everything you need and nothing you may don't want. The room is quite small but still big for Japanese standard. The good part is they have plenty of public communal area, as usual for Moxy hotels. But my major concern is the quality of service, which I could classified as one of the worst service I ever got from my over a decade travel back and forth to Japan, even when compared with other Moxy in Japan and even cheap Japanese business hotels. Normally what you can expect from Japanese hotel is their precision and informative. While most cheaper hotels may not go above and beyond in service, but they always get everything fundamentals right. They always be clear with you on what you can get and what you can't, at what time and which circumstances. However at Moxy Shin-umeda, non of those applies. During my check-in the font desk staff (where I found out later that he is in the 'supervisor' level) failed to inform me many crucial information like coffee machine service, housekeeping schedule, elite discount benefits or hotel laundry/gym facilities. I have to, by myself, discover each of those by myself during my 5-night stay one-by-one. Therefore missed many opportunities that I could make most of those facilities they may have, and in some case disturbing my work schedule. There're two more services issues in my concern. First is about F&B service where they decided to serve dessert with ice cream before udon, forcing me to eat ice cream before my main is it will melt. Secondly they didn't change my linens on my fourth day of the stay, arguing that I didn't put the change-linen sheet on the bed. While this could be my fault, I still find it very gross that their policy is to not change a linen, even after four nights, unless guest specifically asked to. (In my experiences most hotel will change linen every three nights regardless.) At first I decided not to write this review, however I just had another stay and stumbled upon another issue. So I decided that I should write this.