The St. Regis Osaka Review: Japanese Luxury

The St. Regis Osaka Review

The St. Regis Osaka is one of my top favorite stays in the world and I’m excited to review it. There, I said it. It’s a true 5-star luxury experience with a touch of what makes Japanese hospitality the best in the world. Imagine Japanese ryokan meets European luxury. I’ve stayed at a lot of nice places around the world, but this is one place I won’t forget anytime soon.

We traveled to Osaka this month to see the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. After over three years of living here in Japan, the sad truth is that Harry Potter ultimately brought us to this great city. Both my husband and I are avid Harry Potter fans, so visiting this new addition to Universal Studios ranked high on our list of travel priorities.

We took a three day holiday over the weekend from Yokohama, catching the Shinkansen to Osaka on Friday night. After the quick two and a half hour journey, we arrived at the beautiful St. Regis Osaka, just in time for dinner… or room service.

Truth be told, as excited as we were about visiting Harry Potter World, our three-day getaway at The St. Regis Osaka kept us truly giddy all week long. Both my husband and I are shamelessly guilty of indulging in the finer things in life, so we opted to stay at The St. Regis.

Hotels are so subjective. I’ve stayed at places half as nice for nearly twice the cost, but this place is a total bargain of luxury in my opinion. The service, design, and quality of our experience were simply outstanding. You know your stay was perfect when a week later, you’re still dreaming about the room.

Our 21st-floor room boasted a panoramic view of Osaka, easily accessible with the push of a button. It was somewhere between pressing the blue LED button on my nightstand “Curtain Open” and witnessing the elegant unfolding of the Osaka skyline, that I realized the importance of needing such a modern device. Suddenly, my new goal in life turned into owning a cozy penthouse equipped with automatic curtains, a dog walker, and panoramic views. Oh yes, you can’t forget the room service…The St. Regis Osaka outdid itself.

The bathroom was brilliantly large with two-toned marble tile, dual sinks, and a spacious marble bathtub equipped with a pillow for the back and a TV mounted onto the far wall. I took a soak there every night while flipping through the Butler Menu for room service while sipping ~~money~~ I mean orange juice, freshly delivered from the butler a few minutes earlier.

Ok, yea, I admit I almost wrote money right there because all I can think about is money while writing this post. I’ve got a lot of work to do in my future because affording this lifestyle on a full-time basis is a lot of fuc*king money. Perhaps I should just stop writing now. But this wouldn’t be an honest to God travel blog if I held back on the gory details, now would it?

The walk-in closet was nice and there was even a Butler Box – which allowed the butler to leave items for you without the “hassle” of opening the door. Unfortunately, the butler can’t deliver food to the box which meant I needed to inconvenience myself and make an effort to change out of my crested robe into something else before accepting my food on wheels.

The butler service is a trademark of The St. Regis brand, although I confess I would feel a bit weird calling them to unpack or pack up my suitcase, which they do offer. However, we definitely did utilize their complimentary garment pressing and beverage service. I highly recommend the orange juice or orenji jusu in nihongo.

I slept better those three nights there than anytime I can recall recently. The design of the room was the perfect hybrid of modern Japanese luxury, even equipped with a Nespresso machine and a couch I fell in love with. We ordered room service for all three nights and hibernated in our robes and watched TV until we passed out in happy bliss amidst the high thread-count sheets.

I especially liked the room service menu because I’m allergic to wheat and the hotel made sure my meals weren’t tainted. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact there was no pool or sauna. Even at their IRIDIUM spa, they simply offer services and no bath. Oh well. This truly was the perfect staycation.

I highly recommend The St. Regis Hotel Osaka.