Back in February this year, I took my youngest daughter on our first trip to Kyoto. The whole trip happened all because I booked five nights at the St. Regis Osaka prior to Starwood’s 2016 category adjustment. We really enjoyed our stay at the St. Regis Osaka. It was a great base to visit Osaka and surrounding area.
[SEE ALSO: My 6 favorites from 3 days in Kyoto]
St. Regis Osaka, a steal at 12,000 points per night
Prior to this trip, I have never stayed at any St Regis hotels because I just cannot justify the price, using cash or points. Whenever I travel, I am usually out and about, and barely spend enough time in the hotel room to use the hotel’s amenities. For that reason, I am unwilling to pay $400+ or 30,000 points for one night at the St. Regis, which is the price you will find for St. Regis in North America.
But outside U.S., St. Regis had a few properties at category 5 costing just 12,000 points per night, including the St. Regis Osaka. So for years, I had the idea of doing a trip to Osaka and staying there . When Starwood announced its annual category adjustment in 2016, St. Regis Osaka was moving up to category 6, costing 20,000 points per night. I jumped on it and booked five nights for my daughter’s winter break in February 2017. I paid a total of 48,000 SPG points. Our first trip to Kyoto was built all around the five-nights at St. Regis Osaka.
Beautiful hotel at awesome location
We arrived at the hotel after dinner. We were led immediately to the reception area which was located on the 20th floor. Check-in was very efficient and we were on our way to the room shortly.
Lobby check-in area at the St. Regis Osaka
I booked a standard room, but as SPG Gold member, we were upgraded to a deluxe room on the 24th floor. I did email the hotel prior to the trip informing them we would be traveling with two kids aged 10 and 11 at the time.
Hallway, quite and elegant
Room is fairly big for Japan, with two queen beds, a sitting area, a small table, and a walk-in closet.
Bathroom is huge with separate tub and shower area., his and her sinks. Fancy!
Unbeatable city view from our window. You can see the covered shopping street that is a mile long.
Before our arrival, I was concerned that the hotel was not close to any subway station. As it turned out, the entrance to Hommachi Station was just right next to the hotel’s front door! On rainy days this came in handy. There are three subway lines (Chuo, Midosuji, and Yotshubashi) stop at the Hommachi station, and you can easily reach pretty much anywhere in Osaka and beyond!
Breakfast is delicious
We enjoyed a leisured breakfast every morning at La Veduta, the hotel’s elegant Italian grill located at the reception floor. Choices were plenty with both asian and western style food, as well as the Japanese breakfast set that we could order from the menu. My favorite was the steamed egg and the bread station. Croissant was among the best I ever had outside of Paris! If there was one thing to complain, it would be that coffee took a long time to arrive after we ordered it. For a coffee addict like me, the wait seemed forever. Then when the coffee finally arrived, it was a small cup! After waiting “forever ” again to refill the cup, we asked the waitress to bring us a big pot and leave it on the table. That did the trick for the rest of the trip!
Breakfast buffet is served at the Italian restaurant.
Steamed egg with crab meat. It was a real treat!
St. Regis Osaka – I will be back!
Our stay was short and sweet. I enjoyed every minute we spent here. The staffs were friendly and many spoke excellent English. It was my first time having a butler to help with our needs. He tried his hardest to find us a reservation at the steak restaurant we wanted to visit on the last night. He also made my daughter very happy by delivering the stuff animal she left at Hyatt Regency Kyoto. Every evening, he bought in a pot of hot tea so that we could enjoyed the chocolate from the hotel. We didn’t visit the gym during our visit as we were out pretty much all day. We didn’t visit the famous St. Regis Bar either as my friend and I don’t drink.
The location of St. Regis Osaka was just perfect, making it a great home base for visiting Osaka and surrounding cities. For whatever reason, I found myself liking Osaka more than Tokyo, perhaps St. Regis Osaka played a big part in that. I will definitely stay here again when I return to Osaka. At 20,000 points a night, the hotel is still cheaper than most other St. Regis properties. It is an oasis in a busy city!
[Featured image: hotel photo by St. Regis]
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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