Holiday Inn Osaka Namba [In-Depth IHG Hotel Review]

My kids and I have spent the last 3 summers bouncing around Asia. When it came to planning our 2024 adventures, I hoped to celebrate their summer birthdays by finishing our travels in Osaka, Japan, and visiting Universal Studios Japan.

Not knowing much about the area, I knew I wanted to be in a central location. When Holiday Inn Osaka Namba came up as an option for a reasonably priced room for 4 people, I booked right away.

In my detailed review, you can see what we liked about the property, areas for improvement, and what we might have done differently when booking.

Booking the Holiday Inn Osaka Namba

I was thrilled to find a room at the Holiday Inn Osaka Namba that could fit my entire family, meaning we wouldn’t need to split into 2 rooms. The room type that could accommodate us was the 3SGL Beds Premium With SGL Sofa Bed, meaning everyone would have their own bed and I wouldn’t have to hear “Mom, he’s too close to me!” in the middle of the night.

The rate for my August 2024 stay was $162 per night and included breakfast. If the cheapest rate had not included breakfast, no worries, as kids eat and stay free at Holiday Inn hotels.

This room type was not available to book with points, but standard room award nights range from 18,000 to 58,000 points per night.

Though my 3-night total was advised at $486.24 when I booked, I was charged $542.39 when I checked out. The difference between these amounts was a ¥300 (about $2) nightly accommodation tax and an unfavorable fluctuation in the exchange rate.

What Credit Card I Booked With

I have the IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card, which earns up to 17x total points on IHG stays, though only 5x points are from the card itself. Because we value IHG One Rewards points at 0.5 cents each, I found more value in charging the reservation to my Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card to earn 2x Ultimate Rewards points on travel. Ultimate Rewards points are worth 2 cents each, so 2x points would be worth 4 cents vs. the 2.5 cents in value from 5x IHG One Rewards points.

BEST BEGINNER CARD

Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

U.P. Rating 

The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

A fantastic travel card with a great welcome offer, good benefits, and perks for a moderate annual fee.

Apply Now(at Chase's secure site)

Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

A fantastic travel card with a great welcome offer, good benefits, and perks for a moderate annual fee.

Welcome Offer

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

60,000 bonus points

UP's Bonus Valuation*:

$1,200

Annual Fee

$95

APR

20.74% - 27.74% Variable

Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

Good to Excellent (670-850)

Why We Like This Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® card is one of the best travel rewards cards on the market. Its bonus categories include travel, dining, online grocery purchases, and streaming services, which gives you the opportunity to earn lots of bonus points on these purchases.

Additionally, it offers flexible point redemption options, no foreign transaction fees, and excellent travel insurance coverage including primary car rental insurance. With benefits like these, it’s easy to see why this card is an excellent choice for any traveler.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 5x points on all travel booked via the Chase Travel portal
• 5x points on select Peloton purchases over $150 (through March 31, 2025)
• 5x points on Lyft purchases (through March 31, 2025)

Cons

• $95 annual fee
• No elite benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status

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Card Highlights

• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more.
• Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Travel℠. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.
• Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
• Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
• Member FDIC

Financial Snapshot

• APR: 20.74% - 27.74% Variable
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

Chase Ultimate Rewards

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card has a fantastic suite of travel benefits and protections, and compared to IHG points, Chase points have a much wider variety of flexible redemptions.

What I Earned

I earned 13,895 IHG One Rewards points for the stay: 4,211 base points, 1,684 Gold Elite bonus points, and 8,000 points for every 4 nights through August 31, 2024. According to our valuations, these are worth around $69.

At the Chase Sapphire Preferred card’s 2x category rate for travel, I earned 1,085 Chase Ultimate Rewards points worth about $22.

I also triple-dipped my earnings on this booking with a 10% cash-back Chase Offer for IHG Hotels & Resorts and 9% cash-back from TopCashback. The hotel charge did not properly trigger the Chase Offer, so I’m working with Chase customer service to get credited for the 10% back.

Holiday Inn Osaka Namba Location

Holiday Inn Osaka Namba is in the lively Dotonbori district. The hotel is 1 block from the Dotonbori canal and on the same street as the rear entrance for the popular Don Quijote Dotonbori store.

If you arrive via Namba Station, walk through the underground shopping mall Namba Walk to exit B20 or B22. The hotel is an easy 10-minute walk from the station.

While Dotonbori is a bit like Times Square and the French Quarter mixed together, we never felt the area was too crowded to manage or unsafe.

Checking In

The check-in desk was spacious, and even though the lobby seating was full of guests, there was no wait to check in.

There did not appear to be a designated elite check-in area, but I was immediately helped by one of the front desk representatives.

The representative made scans of my passports and handed me a key card portfolio with the key cards, Wi-Fi password, a list of Gold Elite benefits, and 12 breakfast coupons (4 guests for 3 nights). She also reviewed the breakfast hours with me.

I mentioned that we would likely miss our first breakfast so we could make an early trek to Universal Studios Japan and asked if the hotel offered a takeaway breakfast. While the buffet did have food to pack up to go, the hours would be later than we would be able to take advantage of.

The representative also showed me a laminated card (available in several languages) with details on housekeeping, room key functionality, restaurant hours, laundry details, and more.

Elite Benefits

As an IHG One Rewards Gold Elite member, my on-property benefits were slim (as indicated by the fact that the hotel’s list of benefits fit on a small business card). I was entitled to free water and extended checkout until 2 p.m. (a benefit to all members).

Lobby

We consistently used the lobby entrance closest to the canal, and this area was always congested with luggage being stored.

The lobby had scant seating, mainly velour banquettes lining parts of a wall and circling a column. Older images of the lobby online seemed to indicate that additional seating had been removed to make way for the luggage storage operation.

I appreciated that the luggage area had QR codes to scan for train timetables and real-time statuses, as well as suggested routes and costs to Kansai International Airport (KIX).

A corner of the lobby close to the elevator also had a variety of things I’m not used to seeing in a lobby: a money exchange machine, a luggage scale, 2 microwaves, and a mobile battery rental station.

Bottom Line:

The lobby was not a comfortable place to linger because of the lack of seating.

First Impressions

While my kids hung out in the lobby with snacks and drinks, I headed up to the room to drop our bags off.

The elevator lobby on the ninth floor gave off immediate impressions, and they weren’t great. Similar to my experience at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile Hong Kong, the carpeting looked in dire need of replacement.

The neutral design showed debris, stains, and snags.

And the hallway to our room also had worn carpeting with lighter colors that really showed every imperfection. It’s hard to maintain a perception of cleanliness and a modern space when the path to the room looks so tired.

Room

I am instantly won over when hotel rooms are prepped for the number of guests in my party. The last thing anyone wants to do on a travel day is figure out how to turn a sofa into a bed, find linens, or call the front desk or housekeeping for assistance. Thus, I was superpleased that our room was prepared and ready for our group of 4.

Each bed was set with a robe and a fluffy down-style comforter in a duvet.

There were no nightstands between the beds, though the headboard ledge that ran the length of the wall behind the 3 beds served as a great spot for resting eyeglasses and charging my phone.

Each bed had access to a USB-A and Type-A outlet. Type-A outlets generally accept 2-prong U.S. plugs, but you need a travel adapter to use a 3-prong Type-B plug.

This ledge also held the phone and alarm clock. I was a fan of the indirect backlighting.

All of the room lighting could be adjusted from a master panel near the center bed.

Our window offered a generic city view, but the curtains caused us the most trouble.

The curtains were not only short, just barely grazing the edge of the bed, but they also did nothing to block out the morning sun. Here’s how illuminated the room was just after 6 a.m.:

A large, flat-screen TV was at the foot of the beds. Our stay coincided with the 2024 Summer Olympics, which were easy to find among the Japanese channels.

A side chair with a low table and lamp were in the corner near the closet. This is primarily where I worked on my laptop during our stay. It wasn’t an ideal setup, but it worked.

Across from the side chair were the controls for the air conditioner with translated explanations of the various functions.

When facing the door, a nook on the left had a shelving unit with 4 water bottles, a box of tissues, an ice bucket, and an electric kettle. I realize now that I neglected to examine the drawer above the safe, but I assume this is where the instant coffee and cups were.

Across from the nook was the closet. The right side held 4 sets of slippers, an iron and ironing board, and the pillows from the sofa bed. The left side held a luggage rack, laundry bag, and laundry pricing.

Bathroom

Before I talk about the bathroom itself, it helps to understand that there was a window between the bedroom space and the shower in the bathroom. This had a flimsy roller shade on the shower side that was mounted inside, so it wasn’t wide enough to fully cover the window, leaving side gaps. I don’t love thinking that I have an audience when using the bathroom, so this is certainly an area for improvement should the hotel ever update the bathroom design.

An unfortunate side effect of the roller shade was that anyone who used the bathroom at night ended up illuminating the entire room.

While functional, the bathroom was my least favorite part of the room. It looked like a prefabricated bathroom assembled as 1 unit in a factory, and it felt like a cruise ship bathroom. I do give props, though, for 4 towels of every type for each guest in the room.

As is common in Japan, the toilet had a variety of bidet options, including a seat warmer and an automatic whirring sound as soon as you sat down (to drown out any unpleasant noises).

The full-size shower had a grab bar and a retractable line for drying clothes.

The shower had a handheld wand that was height-adjustable. We had no issues with temperature or pressure.

Bath amenities from Dove were in full-size bottles resting on the edge of the tub and included body lotion, body wash, conditioner, and shampoo. No bar soap was provided.

Because the bottles looked so similar and were set at knee level, I’m pretty sure my kids used conditioner instead of body wash one day.

Complimentary toiletries were in abundance, including shower caps, vanity kits, dental kits, mouthwash, and combs. A sign next to the hair dryer indicated that additional complimentary items like a sewing kit, razors, and female sanitary items were available at reception.

I had no complaints regarding cleanliness, but simple, very visible details, like the lack of caulk around the sink, could have used maintenance.

And continuing the “this bathroom was ordered out of a catalog” vibe, the tiles seemed to have cling film on them, as if no one had noticed and bothered to remove this when the bathroom was installed.

Amenities

Holiday Inn Osaka Namba could not have been any lighter on amenities. No fitness center, no pool, no meeting rooms, no conversational spaces in the lobby … it was a functional place to sleep and have breakfast without additional fluff.

Wi-Fi

The Wi-Fi network required a password and speeds were incredibly high — 212.40 Mbps download and 11.76 Mbps upload — throughout the property. I had no issues connecting multiple devices or staying connected.

Change Machine

Among the more unusual things I’ve seen in a hotel was this change machine outside of the elevators on the ninth floor. It only took the old ¥1,000 bills (about $7), not the new ones. While I had no need for this during my stay (I never saw a nearby vending machine), I can attest to toting around tons of coins received as change during my Japan trip.

Umbrellas

Guests were welcome to borrow an umbrella, and I think these were intentionally clear to avoid people using them for sun protection.

Parking

Underground parking was available for ¥2,500 (about $17) a day.

Food and Beverage

Barkt was the property’s only restaurant and was open all day:

• Breakfast: 7 to 10:30 a.m.
• Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Dinner and Bar: Sunday to Thursday from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m.

The breakfast buffet was included in my rate. Otherwise, it was ¥2,200 (about $15) for adults. Up to 4 children under 12 years old could dine free of charge with their parents.

Outside of a slightly bizarre entrance with secluded, oversized booths facing away from the entry, the seating was mostly plentiful, with a variety of small and large tables throughout different areas.

An outdoor patio was a good overflow area when interior seating was limited.

In a first for me, the hotel proactively offered takeaway boxes for people to box up breakfast to take to their room. When I inquired at check-in about a to-go breakfast, I think this is likely what the front desk representative had in mind, assuming the timing worked out.

I did not find the breakfast overly appetizing. Hot options included miso soup, potato gratin, bacon, sausage, fried noodles, meatballs in sauce, and fried spring rolls. The scrambled eggs looked absolutely gloopy.

I enjoyed the fresh takoyaki (a pancake ball filled with octopus) and okonomiyaki (a savory vegetable pancake), both local delicacies.

My kids stuck with the fish nuggets and french fries. For breakfast.

I tried the meat bao, and next to this were room-temperature teriyaki chicken, cold cuts, sliced cheese, and sliced tomatoes.

More traditional, room-temperature side dishes included fried bean curd cake, simmered seaweed, grilled mackerel, boiled greens and pumpkin, braised burdock root, tamago (Japanese omelet), and green beans with sesame. I could not resist a bowl of chewy udon noodles.

An iced-down salad bar featured lettuce, egg salad, broccoli, hard-boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, edamame, cucumbers, and corn. It also offered plain yogurt, canned fruit cocktail, canned peaches, canned pineapple, fresh orange slices, and fresh bananas cut into pieces.

The bar area offered standard juices, a self-serve coffee machine, cereals, and pastries. I was happy to see a Coca-Cola fountain, as I tend to start most mornings with a Diet Coke. My kids enjoyed trying a lactic drink called Calpis, and the machine also dispensed a combo of Calpis and Fanta Melon. The combo was apparently much more palatable than the Calpis alone.

Bottom Line:

Barkt’s breakfast was a real smorgasbord. I didn’t love what was offered each morning, but I did enjoy some of the local dishes, and my kids didn’t complain.

Miss Breakfast? There’s Always Lunch.

I noticed a sign in the elevator about swapping breakfast tickets for lunch, and the front desk representative showed me the options. If you miss breakfast, you can redeem your tickets for pasta or pizza at lunchtime.

Service

My interactions with the front desk staff were limited but cordial. I was easily checked in, and any questions I had were politely answered.

I found the service at breakfast quite confusing. No one was staffing the door to seat guests or proactively take meal tickets. On our first visit, a staff member walked past us from the bar, and I handed them our tickets. On the second day, no one greeted us or interacted with us whatsoever, and I actually forgot to leave my tickets behind.

Bottom Line:

Breakfast service was nonexistent and could have been an opportunity to enhance the guest experience.

Surrounding Area

With the hotel’s prime location in Dotonbori, walking along the canal to take in the neon signs or a quick cruise was easy. Restaurants in the area were also plentiful.

Osaka Castle was about 40 minutes away by train. My family had lunch nearby and enjoyed walking around the grounds. While we didn’t go inside the castle itself (there was a huge security line), tickets are reasonable at ¥600 (around $4). Children 15 and under get in free.

One of the main reasons we were in Osaka was to visit Universal Studios Japan, which was under 40 minutes away by train. While the commute was quite easy, I should have considered staying closer to USJ the night before our park day and the night of our park day. We left Holiday Inn Osaka Namba just after 6:15 a.m. to get to the park to rope drop at 7:30 a.m., and we left the park 25,000 steps later after it closed at 9 p.m. Zombie-walking past several hotels at Universal Citywalk Osaka on our way back to the train had me instantly regretting not being mere steps from a bed and pillow.

Final Thoughts

My family’s stay at Holiday Inn Osaka Namba had more pros than cons, for sure. We enjoyed the room setup as a group of 4, though it would have benefited from blackout curtains and a more private, opaque bathroom window. The buzzy location was phenomenal, and I loved being close to shopping, dining, and public transit.

I was satisfied with the hotel for the price we paid, and while a gym or more lobby seating might have been nice, they weren’t necessary. I’d recommend Holiday Inn Osaka Namba to those looking for a convenient Dotonbori location, but for those visiting USJ, I’d definitely advise staying at or near the park on the days it’s in your itinerary.