About Hotel The One Shin-Imamiya

Hotel The One Shin-Imamiya bills itself as a stand-alone business hotel near the Shin-Imamiya station in Osaka that specialises in providing the full Osaka experience while maining affordable accommodation prices. From their website:

HOTEL THE ONE offers services specialized in accommodation. We want our guests to experience the charm of Osaka to the fullest, so we strive to eliminate unnecessary costs and provide affordable accommodation prices.

Hotel The One offers three types of rooms: double, deluxe double, and twin rooms.

Cleaning is not performed during your stay, which is why you get two sets. This is part of “helping to keep costs down”.

There are no common areas with furniture. In the lobby, there is a hot drink machine (paid, for coffee and tea), a vending machine for cold drinks, and a microwave.

Location

Hotel The One Shin-Imamiya is located in the Hanazonocho area of Osaka, between Shin-Imamiya train station and Hanazonocho underground station. Both of these connect to major transport lines in Osaka, so you will be able to go to most places easily.

Additionally, sites like Tsutenkaku, Namba and Dotonburi are all within walking distance of the hotel. In my opinion, this was the best part about staying here.

Hanazonocho is a somewhat more run-down area of Osaka. While it is not dangerous, especially for Westerners who have a different definition, the area has definitely seen better days and it is common to find rubbish on the streets – a rarity in Japan. There are some convenience stores and a few restaurants in this area, so you will be able to find any necessities that you need without having to go to a different area.

Gallery

About the room

I had a double room, which was the smallest one that they offer. The room had a separate toilet/shower/wetroom area (standard in Japan) and provided two sets of towels and hand towels.

The room also included a mini fridge, a television and a desk that was approximately the size of a nightstand. It does not include a desk chair. As someone who travels and works, this was very inconvenient for me.

The hotel also includes an air purifier, hair dryer and a kettle, although no cups were provided.

Additionally you can get a toothbrush, hairbrush, shaver and cotton swabs from reception.

There is very little room once you factor in the bed and the desk. It makes me feel as though you are only supposed to spend your time here asleep.

The review

Here is what I posted on Agoda.com:

If you are looking for a cheap hotel near public transport and places like Tsutenkaku, and you don’t spend any time there apart from sleeping, then this hotel will be ok. The common area (the lobby) was okay; usually, someone was at the desk. The bed was also comfortable. However, my bathroom had someone else’s hair on the walls. One of the towels also looked like it had been used and not changed before I arrived. It is also interesting that it describes itself as a business hotel but does not even provide a chair to go with the “desk” in the room (which was more of a night table). The soundproofing is also old or non-existent – you can hear people in the rooms beside you. Finally, the room has a lot of light, including the AC unit, which has a bright white power LED that lights up a dark room as though you had a night light. I ended up using an eye mask and earplugs to sleep.

I also had a bit of an interesting exchange with one of the staff who thought I was smuggling someone into my room. The person in question was a friend who had booked the same hotel (and had a separate room, reservation and everything). There was no apology afterwards or even acknowledgement that everything was ok once it was sorted out. I’m not sure if they were having a bad day, but even considering Osaka’s counter-culture vibes, it was a bit rude and abrupt. In subsequent interactions, he seemed to forget about it (or hoped that we had).

Suffice it to say, it was not terrible but unsuitable for my purposes as someone who works and travels at the same time. I will most likely stay elsewhere when I am in Osaka again.

Response to my review

Here is what the owners had to say:

(There has been no response yet)

What I did while there

Verdict

I would definitely choose to stay somewhere else. The price was good and the bed was comfortable but otherwise, I did not enjoy my experience. It was also very difficult to work there and I was unable to sleep well. There are other hotels in a similar price range that offer a better experience; I will go with one of those in the future.

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