Mercure Tokyu Stay Osaka Namba 4 stars

I arrived by taxi in a very seedy lane behind the hotel, and as it was before the 2 pm check in time I left my bag at the reception and took a walk to find lunch. The hotel is surrounded by expensive brand name shops and no eateries. When I returned at 215 pm to check in the man on reception told me to take a seat while he collected my bag. The staff then continued to check in many groups of guests but ignored me. I asked to check in again but still no sign of my bag and room details. At 3 pm I asked again and I was finally given my room key. The staff cannot speak much English which is unusual for a large city in Japan. I have previously travelled around Japan several times. The hotel was new and seemed to be very clean, but poorly designed and not well lit. The lift, the halls and the rooms are all very dark and gloomy with dark fixtures and fittings. Very depressing. I could hear sirens and hooning all night, even though I was on a high floor. I only stayed for one night and ate both dinner and breakfast at the hotel restaurant which were excellent. The restaurant and bar staff spoke very good English and were very competent. When I checked out I asked reception to book a taxi to the bus station, which was nearby, but the staff told me to walk as the taxis were too busy. I ended up asking a policeman on the street to give me directions to the bus station, but he could not speak English, and the phone translator app was unable to help. He eventually understood and walked down a side lane and found a taxi for me. Very disappointing experience especially in a country known for it's great hospitality and manners.

Green and dark decor themes. Impressive vertical garden along the length of one long wall and an atrium the opposite side. My wife said the wall was artificial but I couldn’t tell. Looked beautiful. Staff very efficient and courteous. Excellent location for restaurants bars shopping and Dotonbori. We only stayed one night but it was a good experience.

The hotel building itself is quite dark and the room itself is dark The hallway is too dark to see anything There was a vacuum cleaner on the floor on the way to the room after getting off the elevator, but I hit my shin because I couldn't see it I could've put up with that, but when I came out of the shower on the day I checked out, I saw a man outside the window The man who was cleaning the outer wall made eye contact with me, who was naked, for a long time, and then disappeared When I went down to the reception and asked what was going on, the staff didn't say anything and said sorry I really can't stand it The hotel has no consideration for guests and ruins the sight of travelers

Our stay at this hotel left much to be desired from the way we were checked in, to the rooms, to the service which was not characteristic of Japanese hospitality. First is the check-in process. Our group of 10 people had emailed well in advance of our arrival for our reservations and to have rooms that would meet our needs. Upon check-in, we let my in-laws (5 adults) go first as they were staying fewer nights than my family was. They were given 2 rooms in the same floor. When it came to our turn, we needed 2 rooms because we were 5 (we had a 13, 11 and 9 year old with my husband and I). They gave us separate rooms on different floors in spite of knowing the age of our kids (from the email). When we asked to trade rooms with our in-laws, they said it was impossible. We asked to be upgraded and we would pay the difference, but they were unable to accommodate us due to the hotel being fully booked. However, it wasn't the lack of availability or the inability to trade rooms that cast a shadow on our hotel stay at this place, but rather the way the front desk personnel handled the situation which made us feel like we were troublesome and asking for something very unreasonable. Granted there was a language barrier, but proper non-verbal communication, would have made us feel better about the situation. But sadly, they had someone at the front who didn't speak English and who seemed to not be up to the challenge of welcoming guests. So we accepted our rooms but were inconvenienced moving from one room to another because the elevators needed a key card to move between floors. Now for the rooms. My husband took the bigger room and the 2 bigger kids, while I stayed in the smaller room with our youngest. The rooms were very, very dark, necessitating cellphone lights to unpack our luggage, and in my husband's room to navigate the kitchenette and laundry area (yes, his room came with that!). The bathroom in his room had a separate shower/tub, toilet, and sink area, which also needed extra light to see well. I kid you not, it was like entering a bat cave, even for the children with excellent eye-sight. The rooms had very little closet space and hangers. Now for the housekeeping service which also needs a lot of improvement. There were 2 days wherein we left the room at 8am and returned well after 7pm. We dutifully placed the make-up room sign on the door. Upon our arrival, the sign was still there and the rooms hadn't been fixed at all. We needed to call the front desk to change the towels. They seemed to not know how many people were staying in the room because they would send too little or too much bathrobes or towels. When housekeeping cleaned the room, the replenished the bar incosistently, sometimes only giving 1 coffee or 1 sachet of sugar. Bottled water was also very limited. The one shining light here was the lady manager (I forget her name) who tried to really make us feel welcome. It was a case of too little too late. All other personnel need so much more training. This is not the first time we've stayed at a Mercure in Japan, and in we have stayed in Mercure in other countries. But this is the first time we were not quite happy with this chain. I hope they improve because the location is great.

Location is excellent with key attractions in the vicinity and lots of food and shopping options. Staff are helpful and responsive and the breakfast is fantastic. However, the room is dark and existing lightings are not sufficient. While the intent of the design (eg. ambience and clothes hanger) may be good, they should be functional.