Hotel Review: Osaka's Airport Hotel - Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport

It was an early morning flight out of Kansai to Manila for us; And the worrier Mama in me (too scared to be late for our flight), made me decide to book our last night in Osaka at the Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport. 

This hotel is a full service hotel, connected to Kansai Airport Terminal I.  It is near impossible to miss your flight from here (And if you are a sound sleeper, you can make use of a wake-up call just to make sure).  From Kansai Terminal I building take the lift to the 2nd floor and take Exit D or E.

Hotel Nikko will just be in front of you...

My boys kidding around (lol)

And directed to the hotel lobby on the ground floor.

Check in was easy.  

It took me only a minute or so and was immediately handed out our room keys.

Our room for our last night in Osaka is a Super Triple Room about 29sqm in size.

It fits three semi-double sized bed and comes with an air-humidifier and flat-screen TV.  There is also a complimentary WiFi, but I prefer using the one we rented via Klook, which was a lot faster than the hotel's.

Bathroom amenities were very good too...

The sachet facial wash and cleanser made their way to my hand carry bag.

Most of the available channels were in Japanese though, but that was fine since we were only there for the night and will be leaving early the next morning.  Besides, we were too exhausted from all the walking we did in Osaka (80+kms according to my eldest who was monitoring our walks) to even bother watch something on TV.

Look what's on TV... "Pokémon".

(Note: My eldest did a bit of Pokémon hunting in Osaka and was fairly happy with his catches).

After check-in, we toured the airport's department stores/outlets for last minute "budol" shopping.  However, I still ended buying most of my take home stuffs from inside the restricted area (after airport check-in).  I have compared prices and it most items sell cheaper inside.

Dinner was at  KYK Tonkatsu which was one of the best Tonkatsu I have tasted.   

Food is really so good, it deserves a separate write-up and a wonderful way to end our tour of Osaka's tasteful cuisine.

Breakfast which was part of our hotel package was at the Brasserie.   It was nice that breakfast was spread as early as 5am, giving us ample time to prepare for our 9am flight.

Breakfast was buffet-style and consists of Japanese and Western dishes using domestically produced ingredients.  Food is wonderful.  I love that everything is fresh and nicely prepared. 

We had awesome stay at Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport and could only wish for at least another day's stay. 

We will definitely miss Japan.
 
For booking inquiries, visit Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport website:
HOTEL NIKKO KANSAI AIRPORT


For travel tips, please check and follow our Osaka
and Tokyo adventure: 

>>>OSAKA JAPAN - SAYING HELLO TO TAKOYAKI
>>>TOKYO JAPAN - HELLO JAPAN

Honest Review: Golden Phoenix Hotel

I scored a free hotel stay from rewards earned using my Citibank Cash Back Credit Card. I used the points to book a room at the Golden Phoenix Hotel (GPH).

My expectations were high since we've visited the hotel before (just last year, if I am not mistaken) when relatives stayed there for a halfway hotel for their early flights out of Manila. I remember it was still a new hotel and there were on going construction, but that was fine (understandable).

Golden Phoenix Location is perfect , if you want to save yourself worrying time, whether you'll make it to your flight or not, as it is near the Manila airports.

I reserved a deluxe twin room, thinking

there will be 2 twin beds (as shown in the hotel website), 

Deluxe Twin Room from GPH website.

There is obviously no way (a family of 4) would fit in a twin bed,

There was really no other options but to upgrade and pay an additional P1500. 

I was really surprised at check-in that we are having just one (1) twin bed. My fault for not checking bed configuration

Our room after the upgrade. 

Our room is really small - quite far from the website photos. There was hardly enough room to move (much more take a photo of the entire room).

Even the bathroom is small.

I initially can't find the toiletries.

I found them  under the bathroom sink.

The room size was forgivable, however, the linens and  towels were not.

They were old and needing replacement.

 

 

I didn't like the bathroom and didn't use it much, so I can't comment if its clean. 

Pool needed major cleaning too. 

The fountain was not working when we got there and a section or two of tiles were broken. Really unattractive.

Definitely, NO swimming for this staycation!

VERDICT:

• Check-in was just fine.  We were the only ones checking-in at the time so that should be expected.
• Management should do something about the hotel upkeep.  It smells like cement in there.  The carpet running through the hotel corridors also filthy. 
• Not much to do as it is a long walk from SM MOA. In the website it says they offer free shuttle service to nearby attractions. However, we were not informed at check-in and didn't see any during our stay either.

Staff were quite nice and friendly though, but that's the only good thing I can think of right now.
Breakfast was fine, nice spread but nothing exceptional. 
We looked for the gym (the website says there is one), but can't find that one too.

Let us just say, I am not thinking of heading back anytime soon. 

-The End-