Review of Caption by Hyatt Namba Osaka

Stayed at the new Caption by Hyatt Namba Osaka a couple weeks ago just a few days after it opened on June 12. Booked two adjacent twin rooms for family and wanted to share a few pics and thoughts on this category 1 property.

The hotel is in the Namba area of Osaka, Japan. We thought the location was good as it was on a main road and within easy walking distance of numerous markets, restaurants stores, etc. A bit of a taxi ride to popular sites like the aquarium or Universal Studios, but that wasn’t a huge deal to us.

The hotel itself has a very contemporary design and is a bit quirky, in some ways. However, rooms were very small and seemingly not well thought out. For example, the “nightstand” on one side of the bed was an 8”x8” shelf that held a phone and not much else. The twin beds were mattresses atop immovable wooden boxes which meant they couldn’t be pushed together. The outlets next to the bed were one USB-A and one two-prong Japanese style electrical outlet without a ground, which is somewhat understandable, but other Hyatts we stayed at, even category 2 Hyatt Places, had universal outlets that worked for a variety of countries. If you wanted to work in the room, which I did, the table by the window was too small for both a laptop and mouse. Bathroom and shower were decent size, however.

The restaurant was…interesting. For breakfast, there were items like granola & yogurt, Belgian waffles, and bacon & egg quiche, but none of those were options for the Globalist benefit. Instead, you could choose either a bacon, egg & cheese “fluffy” sandwich with a sweet sauce, two pastries from the display case by the register, or one of a few soup or rice bowls without meat. All three came with a few sides. None were particularly great and there were added charges if you veered from the basic three options. One rainy night we wanted to stay in, so I took the kids to the restaurant for dinner, having noticed they had a pizza oven. They indeed had pizza, but just one kind, “Osaka vegetable” which was nothing my kids wanted. They also had pasta, but again one kind, “whitebait” with chunks of fish. I tried to get them to make a simple pizza with mushroom or meat or something, but had to settle for plain cheese. Of course, I understand that different countries have different tastes, but some of the menu options, or lack thereof, were odd, especially given what we experienced at other Hyatts in Japan.

Fitness center was fine. There were two all-in-one laundry machines which would have been convenient except they didn’t take coins or cards, only a few different Asian-based pay apps we didn’t have, such as PayPay, R Pay, au Pay, etc. Asked if they could pay it for us then bill our room or something, but were told that wasn’t an option.

Overall, nice to have a Hyatt in Osaka, but I wouldn’t stay there again. Although with a few simple fixes like additional Globalist breakfast options, broader restaurant menu, and laundry machines that take cards or coins, I’d consider it.