Review: Waldorf Astoria Osaka [Japan]
| Positives | Negatives |
|---|---|
| Beautiful & convenient location | Breakfast lacks variety |
| Captivating design by André Fu | Small gym compared to hotels within similar tier |
| Meaningful Hilton elite discounts and benefits, especially for Diamonds | No in-room Bluetooth speaker & universal socket |
| Bed length may be uncomfortable for tall people |
Osaka is my main base whenever I travel to Japan’s Kansai region, and I was excited when the Waldorf Astoria has opened in the city after seeing the hotel’s sign from my room in The Osaka Station Hotel.
After staying at the Conrad Osaka a few years ago, I’m very curious on how the new Waldorf Astoria would fare against it.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Booking
I booked a 5-night stay with a total of 480,000 Hilton Honors points. Waldorf Astoria is the most expensive Hilton hotel in Osaka with the rate of 120k points per night. Still, it costs less in points than in Conrad Tokyo in 2025.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Location
The Waldorf Astoria is located in Grand Green Osaka of the Umeda district. It’s a large shopping complex with a sizeable green space in the middle.
The nearest metro station (Osaka Station) can be accessed through the escalators down to Grand Front Osaka below Grand Green Osaka. Osaka Station is a maze, so I recommend following the signs inside rather than relying on the map on your phone to get to the train line you need to go to.
If you’re coming from Shin-Osaka Station via shinkansen, you’ll then have to take the Midosuji Line to get to Umeda Station that would then merge to Osaka Station through underground paths to get to the hotel.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Check-in
I got to the hotel around noon after getting off the bullet train from Tokyo. I got through the entry made for vehicles on foot, but the staff welcomed me and grabbed my stuff regardless.
This door shown below is from the pedestrian side just across the vehicle side that transitions to some branded stores of Grand Green Osaka.
You’ll have to take an elevator from the ground floor to the 29th floor and then walk down a path passing Tsukimi (the hotel’s sushi & teppanyaki restaurant) to reach reception.
In the middle of November, they’re already prepared for Christmas!
The lobby is beautiful with wooden slats that feel very familiar. André Fu oversees the interior designs of this hotel, and having stayed at HOTEL THE MITSUI in Kyoto before, it was no wonder I felt the familiarity! His design stands out with having a seemingly traditional, but modern look.
I was lucky to be able to get an early check-in which seems harder to get than late checkout in Japan from my past experiences. I then rode another elevator and was escorted to my room as well on the 36th floor.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Hilton Diamond Benefits
Hilton Diamonds will enjoy exclusive benefits here with daily 4000 yen hotel credit that can be applicable towards Jolie Brasserie, Tsukimi, Peacock Alley, Canes & Tales, and spa treatments. Unused credits will not rollover so you must use them each day to fully maximize. Just make sure to charge things to your room for the benefits to apply.
On top of that, a 25% discount on dining will apply to Hilton Gold & Diamond and is stackable with the 4000 yen benefit! In practice, the 4000 yen plus 25% discount can be enough to get 1-2 free drinks in either Peacock Alley or Canes & Tales. Just to reiterate, only Diamonds get the 4000 yen daily credit.
If you have credit cards with the benefit of Hilton credits, then those can add towards stacking more towards “free stuff”.
The credits can’t be applied towards minibar or in-room dining.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- King Premier Room
I was assigned to Room 3611. Because my stay was long and landed on Labor Thanksgiving Day, I was only upgraded one level above at the King Premier Room.
The King Premier Room is a bit larger than the base Deluxe Room (53 sqm vs 48sqm). It’s more than big enough just for myself and I was very content with the upgrade.
The room features a decently large lving space with the bedroom facing the windows for some amazing morning wake-up view and lounging space in the middle.
Behind the bed there’s Japanese abstract wood panel art along with lanterns for bedside lighting that looks both Japanese and Western inspired. Pretty cool stuff!
When it comes to the bed, it leans towards the firm side like other beds you’d expect in Japanese hotels. It’s also shorter in length, so taller guests might have their feet hanging out, or they’d have to sleep like a shrimp to have their whole body on top of the bed.
You are able to control the room’s lighting, curtains, and temperature with the tablet by the bed. You can also do so with the switches right next to the bed minus the temperature. There’s also USB-C ports and standard two-pin electrical outlets for your charging needs.
The lounging area has a sofa, round table, and a chair next to the skyline of Osaka. For the welcome gift, I was served some tasty grapes to snack on. Interestingly enough, I had a view of the JP Tower Osaka where The Osaka Station Hotel is in so it was a funny coincidence that I am on the other side now ever since my previous stay at The Osaka Station Hotel before the Waldorf Astoria Osaka opened.
There are also additional electrical outlets by the sofa. Unfortunately, there are no outlets for 3-prong plugs, so if you need to charge a laptop, you’d need an adapter.
Across the sofa is where the pantry and minibar are. All drinks inside the fridge and alcohol are chargeable. Remember, the 4000 yen credit for Hilton Diamonds don’t apply to minibar or in-room dining!
Next to the minibar is the TV where you can swivel it for a better viewing angle from the bed.
Backtracking to the front door, to the right of it is the ironing set behind a closet.
Then, to the left of the entry is the walk-in closet with luggage storage, safe, umbrella, slippers, and pyjamas.
The room next to the walk-in closet and just before the bedroom area is the bathroom. It’s laid out evenly with double vanity sinks placed across the tub and then the showers and toilet room just behind them.
The odd part was the toothpaste in small tear-open packages rather than tubes. Nothing wrong with how it was packaged, and I suppose it’s more environmentally friendly, but the toothpaste were too much for single-use so once it’s opened, I can no longer seal the remaining toothpaste.
The shower pressure was decent, and it came with both rainfall and shower handle. I was expecting more from it since I still remembered how good the shower pressure was at Conrad Osaka so I was hoping that it’d at least match that.
Across the shower is the toilet room where it’ll automatically open as you approach it. You’ll expect this as a feature on modern luxury hotels in Japan.
Overall, the room in Waldorf Astoria Osaka is very beautiful. The blend of art deco and Japanese style was thoughtfully well-done.
But, there are some quirks I didn’t like such as not having universal sockets for 3-prong laptop plugs and not having a Bluetooth speaker! It’s a personal gripe of mine since I enjoy listening to my own tunes while I stare down the skyline in high-rise hotels such as this one. It improves the atmosphere by a ton, so it’s puzzling that they don’t have it considering other high-end hotels do have them!
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Breakfast
Breakfast takes place at Jolie Brasserie on the reception floor just past the Peacock Alley Bar. Though Peacock Alley can be used alongside it on weekends and holidays when there’s more traffic.
Breakfast is buffet model plus one order of egg dish or Japanese breakfast set in the a la carte menu. Though, you can order unlimited drinks like juice, coffee, and tea.
The buffet section is kind of disappointing with the lack of variety and surprisingly lack of Japanese options. The buffet section leans heavily towards Western options. Though, I enjoyed the pastries here.
Miso soup station was the only thing remotely Japanese in the buffet section.
For the a la carte section, I got the salmon eggs benedict, Japanese set, and French omelet. The eggs themselves were fine, but the muffins were harder than I’d like them to be.
The Japanese set was good taste wise, but the rice to small dish ratio was off that could benefit from a separate small bucket of rice for another serving.
On one weekend day, I got to have breakfast at the Peacock Alley instead because the queue at Jolie Brasserie was long due to the struggle with demand. It offers much better view, but the spread remain the same as the one in Jolie Brasserie.
Overall though, I find the breakfast experience to be one of the weaker points of this hotel. It lacked variety and could use more Japanese options in the buffet sections, or even let us order more than one main dish from the a la carte menu. After the second day, I felt like I’ve seen it all and I ended up skipping some days because of it to make space for more interesting places outside of the hotel like Mugi to Mensuke and Kyomachibori Nakamura.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Peacock Alley
Peacock Alley is the hotel’s iconic bar where you can have breakfast, afternoon tea, and drinks while enjoying some of the most stunning views a bar can have Live music may play at certain days and times a well. The bar also has a deck for outdoor seating as well!
Unfortunately, I am not the best person when it comes to bars because I am not much of a drinker. I was hoping to at least just get some mocktails to try, but there was just not much non-alcoholic options other than non-alcoholic beer, ale, gin, etc., which I was disappointed by.
Though they at least had options they borrowed from other restaurants (possibly Jolie Brasserie) for non-alcoholic drinks and desserts, so I ordered those instead.
I got myself a coconut matcha drink and coffee jelly ice dessert which were both decent. After the 4000 yen credit plus 25% discount, only about less than 2000 yen came out of pocket. I also did order an extra non-alcoholic gin that I didn’t take a picture of and was accounted for in the calculation.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Canes & Tales
Canes & Tales can be accessed behind Peacock Alley after the grand staircase or by the elevator one floor down from reception. It’s behind the green door shown below.
It’s a much more smaller and intimate bar with moody lighting compared to Peacock Alley. However, it closes later at midnight (1AM on weekends) compared to 10PM at Peacock Alley. Menu wise, they’re pretty similar to each other, but have their own special cocktails here.
I tried their highball cocktail which costed 3500 yen before discount, so it was free against the daily 4000 yen credit given to Hilton Diamond. I was hoping that there was a mocktail menu here, but there was still none.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Pool
The pool is located on the 30th floor and is open from 6:30AM to 10PM. It’s a heated infinity pool with loungers facing Umeda’ skyline. A great place to dip and relax in!
Inside the locker room area is where the jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room are at.
There’s also a swimsuit dryer machine which you can expect at Japanese luxury hotels.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Fitness Center
The gym’s on the 30th floor and is open 24/7. There’s modern cardio machines along with few strength training stations. Comparing to other gyms of similar hotels, the one here is quite small.
Waldorf Astoria Osaka- Library
The library is located on the left-end of the 30th floor. It’s a quiet small lounge free for guests to use.
To be frank, there’s not much in here and I was expecting it to be like an executive lounge. There’s also only one window where you can see outside view, so in the end, it’s nothing special.
Just outside of the library’s door is where you can help yourself with coffee and tea with variety of flavors.
Conclusion
Waldorf Astoria Osaka is a pleasant hotel offering some of the best views of the city. The blend of art deco and Japanese design is very nice to look at and a unique combination at that. The location is also convenient for metro access and beautiful to be around on foot thanks to the newly built Grand Green Osaka.
However, breakfast could be better and I wish there are more dish varieties, and not having an in-room Bluetooth speaker is a personal gripe of mine.
Even though it’s a great hotel and one of the newest one in the Hilton ecosystem, I don’t think it blows the Conrad out of the water, and both hotels have their own pros and cons. Thus, some might feel they’d get better value out of the Conrad or even the Canopy across the Waldorf.