S.Training Center Hotel

It's a really nice room just a short walk from central Umeda. Although it is called a Training Center Hotel and there are some slightly different practices (shared bath times, female floors?) it is a really comfortable place to stay.

Check-in. Despite living in Japan, registering my Japanese address and paying with a Japanese credit card, I was asked to show my foreigner registration card at check-in. While the staff were stiffly polite and acquiesced when I refused, they were not friendly. I have lived here for 30 years, run a business which employs 50, and speak Japanese. Requesting a foreigner registration card is not legal and is an example of discrimination that is most definitely not "omotenashi".

It was a bit small but nothing that's not unexpected. We love the bed and the comforters! It was very clean and the bathroom may be small but it has all you need. The toilet and shower are separate. Also, they have a public bath with schedules exclusively for women and exclusively for men. It's the perfect way to end a day of walking.

It was a bit small, but again, if it's just the two of you and you don't plan to stay in your hotel all day long? It's perfect!

Location was about 10 minutes walk from Osaka station, which while not the best, they offered a free shuttle bus either way in the morning and afternoon which was really handy. Staff were really friendly and helpful, providing concierge service until 11pm at night. Many of the staff were fluent in English which was really helpful. At one point I called asking for extra pillows/fresh towels and although the staff member at the time couldn't communicate with me in English, he brought another staff member to my room to ask me what I needed and they promptly came back with pillows and towels (they said they only had one spare pillow, but took the time to find another pillow which we greatly appreciated!). Bedroom was spacious with air conditioner and humidifier. There was a full sized sink which was separate from the toilet/shower. There was also a shared bath, but we didn't use it. The neighbourhood is actually really lovely and quirky with a number of fine dining restaurants, and some lovely homely restaurants too. We wish we had more time to explore it! Note that there are two buildings, one is the accommodation and the other is the reception/dining area (across the road). They also have a small store in the lobby which sells some snacks/beverages/stationery and other items.

Location was a little far from the Umeda Station (about 17 minutes walk), but the bus shuttle helped with this.

I like the ambiance of the room, it looks more expensive than what I paid for. It is small, but its room amenities and benefits are complete with toiletries, free water, and coffee. There is also a free Onsen bath which I didn't expect to get. I am pleased with the service and amenities. Their breakfast is very good too.

Service shuttles to the train station are scheduled only for a few trips.

The room is slightly small but very clean and smell quite good. There is a small bottle of water prepared in the room, which is quite helpful. Another good point is the table with an appropriate height close the bed, it is quite comfortable to temporarily work here.

Too many small lights inside the room during the night -- this a bit disturbing, especially for traveller with a serious jet lag... Perhaps some of them can be somewhat covered during the night.

The room had a really good size. I traveled to other cities in Japan, and comparing with the space and price of the others that I stayed, this was the best one.

Is not that close of the Osaka Station. Uber and Taxis are expensive, so I tried to stay the closes as possible of the subway, the hotel is not that far, it's about 12 minutes by foot in an normal speed, the problem is doing that if luggage, me and my boyfriend had 4, and they were heavy so it wasn't that easy to go from the station to the hotel with them. Besides that, there's no bus nearby the hotel.

Very clean hotel, fairly easy check-in procedure, incredibly easy check-out and free luggage storage. Unfortunately I didn't get to try the spa because I had a cold. Good Japanese breakfast and nice restaurant staff! The area around the hotel has good dining options and it is fairly close to Osaka Station.

The neighbourhood on the way to the hotel is undergoing huge restructuring (they are building skyscrapers), but no noise whatsoever in the area of the hotel. Check-in is not very intuitive because the residential building is separate from the check-in/breakfast building and a staff member needs to keep going back and forth to tell customers to walk (less than 20mt) to the other building for check-in. Breakfast is only Japanese and there are no continental options.

The location is decent. A walking distance from the main train station. The shuttle bus service is a great help especially when traveling with a luggage. The staff was nice and attentive. The room was clean and came with everything you need for a night. The bed was comfy and the pillows were firm and nice to sleep on.

The information on the hotel’s page is not updated. I spent quite a few minutes circling around the same spot trying to find the shuttle bus stop because the area shown in the pictures is under construction and those shops are all gone. The wall is thin. I was woken up at 3 in the morning from loud talking next door. The whole room is spacious enough for one person but the shower room and the toilet are tiny. I’m 158 and I can barely turn around without bumping the wall or door.

Rooms are straightforward and clean, location takes a little walking--they do advertise a free shuttle but it really doesn't run very often, only for a few slots in the afternoon and evening as of Mar 2023. The breakfast was simple but coffee was surprisingly good with a bean-to-cup machine that freshly grinds beans. Service, as with most of Japan, is consistently excellent and even mishaps are handled very graciously.

Do note that the accommodations (where the rooms are) are in a separate building across the street from the check-in/concierge, which is also where breakfast is. Not a huge deal for me but can be confusing at first. Check-in was a little bumpy as we dropped off our luggage prior to the official check-in time, but when returning in the evening there was some confusion/miscommunication among the staff as to whether the luggage was to be brought up by us or the staff, and the evening staff tried to repeat the check-in process with our passports and everything before another staffer found the paperwork from earlier in the day. They were super polite and apologetic throughout though, so this isn't a real negative.

The name might suggest to you, as it did to me, that there's something odd about this place. There isn't, it's just a standard hotel - and above average in just about everything too. They have rather high pretentions, as you notice from the large, grandly decorated reception, with classical music playing. Staff were very helpful. Rooms were excellent, spa is good, breakfast room is grand.

Not terribly easy to find from the station and it's not a nice walk either - however they put on a minibus, I suggest you use it (as I didn't on arrival). But I'm not sure you could do much better for location, since Osaka was generally a bit like that, i.e. massive, human-unfriendly streets, I wish I'd given it a miss really, but I was still pleased with the hotel choice.