This hotel is directly above the JR Namba Station so it was very convenient for us to locate it when we headed down from Kyoto. Just about what it was stated: 2 minutes' walk from JR Namba Station.
I chose to move to Namba on the night before our departure to the airport for a few reasons:
1) I wanted to save on the cost of JR Pass.
If we had stayed in Kyoto till our last day, we would have to buy the 7-day JR Pass, which would increase the cost by quite a significant amount.
2) I wanted to save on the travelling time to the airport.
Staying in Kyoto would mean an additional 1 or 2 hours of travelling to the airport since we would need to return to Osaka to take the Nankai Express. I wanted to keep the stress of travelling to the airport low.
3) I wanted to spend more time shopping in Namba, anticipating that I might not have the time to shop when we were in Namba.
The hotel had a grand entrance but we were directed by a signage to Level 22 where the concierge was.
The first staff I talked to was not the most polite. When I said,"Check in." He replied,"Give me ALL your passports, PLEASE!"
In hindsight, perhaps I was a rude customer in his eyes to utter just 'Check in' and not a complete sentence of 'I would like to check in, please.' However, I still feel that as a frontline staff, he ought to have better manners than his guests! And this is Japan. I was quite unpleasantly surprised and perturbed that I had met a few unfriendly or not-so-polite service providers on this trip. My last Tokyo trip had raised my expectations for Japan service providers and I had held them to a higher standard compared to their counterparts in other countries.
It was the poshest hotel we stayed at during the trip. I booked this hotel thinking that it would be convenient for our return to the airport since JR Namba is connected to Nankai Station. How wrong was I! We were just short of running with our luggage in the crowded underground in a bid to catch our train to the airport.
The beds were large!
The room was the most spacious in terms of walking space. The one-night stay cost about $270 (20, 769 yen)
I had come to appreciate a dressing table when there was none in Hotel IL'Cuore.
We really needed one to put our chargers and devices, not to mention our skincare and make-up.
We liked the bathroom but this hotel missed the 'child' occupant out when it came to toothbrushes and towels
We even liked the room number.
The only hotel among the ones we stayed at with a glass door security at the room level
Huge lobby
We had finished checking out the hotel on Day 11. Baby went to the toilet at the lobby and realised that she had lost her handphone. She immediately returned to the cubicle she had used to find that it was gone. We tried to look around for the 'short hair lady' who had gone in after her to no avail, so I approached the counter to ask if they had seen the handphone. To our utter surprise, the staff whipped out Baby's handphone to return to us!
I have read about how honest the Japanese are but that was many years ago so it surprised me that even their hotel guests practised the same value!
It was nice to end the trip with a more-than-pleasant experience.
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