PackJetRoam

This was not my intended hotel to stay originally, however ALL (Accor) launched an offer a few weeks out from my departure for a fast track to a Gold Status, so I scrambled to find a hotel with a flexible cancellation booking and a long enough stay that I can get this offer, which lead me to this stay.

Ibis Budget Osaka is situated 15 minutes walk from Osaka station, it is not a particularly high tourist concentrate area, but it does have a good mixture of restaurants, shopping, and a short distance to the LGBTIQ+ district.

Now I want to start off by addressing the biggest issue I have with this property, it is the fact that the property condition is not good, everything is very old and outdated, stained, dirty, stinky, I don’t think I would have stayed here if it wasn’t for the fast track offer or if there was another property with a similarly priced range.

The room is quite small, measuring at 13m² (139 sq ft), right as you enter on the left is a small closet space followed by a full length mirror. Then there’s the toilet and bathroom combination, which is also a little bit more compact than the other hotels I stayed at, the lighting design made the bathroom dark and damp, during shower I had to open the blind slightly as I wasn’t able to see what I was doing in there.

Next to the double bed is a combined work desk and mini bar area, with a wall mounted TV. It did feel cramp with a suitcase open and I wouldn’t suggest having more than 1 person staying in here as it would probably be very chaotic. They did provide 2 complimentary bottles of water during the stay.

Throughout the room I could see stains on walls and scruffs on carpets, which are signs of age of the hotel. For the 3 nights I have stayed I paid a total of 18000 yen, which is not super expensive and is roughly the expected price for this brand, but I have stayed in an ibis budget hotel that is of much better condition than this.

The hotel also has a restaurant on site but I didn’t have breakfast included in my rate, there’s a vending machine, microwave and laundry facility located on the first level. A shuttle service is available to get you to the Osaka station if you are not bothered to walk, but you’ll need to book on the same day in advance and it’s first come first serve, I only utilized this service during checkout so that I don’t need to drag my suitcases to the station since it’s not a very long walk to the station. If you’re going to other parts of Osaka, you can get down to the Nakazakicho station which is right next to the hotel and hop onto the Tanimachi Line, but it doesn’t go to Osaka Station so you’ll have to transfer or save some money and walk which might be quicker. A Lawson convenience store is also next door so you can get food and such easily, or a 7/11 is a few minutes across the road where I found out they do self serve smoothie if you fancy that.