Conrad Osaka

The Hotel

Conrad Osaka opened on 9 June 2017 as Hilton's third Conrad in Japan after Tokyo (2005) and Tokyo Marunouchi-line — the brand's lifestyle five-star tier — at the top of the Festival Tower West, a 200-metre Asahi Shimbun-developed mixed-use tower on the central Nakanoshima island in the river-divided heart of Osaka. The building is the western half of the twin Festival Towers, and the architectural commission was Tokyo practice Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei with interiors by Hong Kong firm Hirsch Bedner Associates; the brief was for a deliberately contemporary Japanese-design vocabulary, layered around a 40-floor sky-lobby concept that takes the lobby itself to floor 40 — guests check in at the top of the building, looking out at the Osaka skyline through floor-to-ceiling windows on all four sides.

The 164 rooms — including 24 suites — are arranged across floors 33 to 39 with the lobby and food-and-beverage on floor 40. Standard categories at 50 square metres are deliberately larger than the Osaka five-star average; Premium categories add the river or city view; the Imperial Suite at 165 square metres on floor 39 is the milestone unit, with a 9-metre wide window facing the bay. Bathrooms are travertine and natural stone; bath products are Shanghai Tang, Conrad's signature.

The food-and-beverage programme on floor 40 is the building's headline operational layer. 40 Sky Bar is the cocktail-and-aperitivo programme with the 360° Osaka view; Atmos Dining handles the all-day French-Italian register under chef Tetsuya Hamada (formerly of L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Tokyo); Kura is the named teppanyaki and sushi room with three counter chefs working in front of the bay-facing window. The 40 Sky Pool — the building's signature wellness component — is a 19-metre indoor heated pool on floor 40 with floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides, the most-photographed hotel pool in Osaka and the principal booking image of the property. The Spa runs five treatment rooms.

The Nakanoshima position is the booking trade-off. Festival Tower West is on the eastern end of Nakanoshima island between the Dojima and Tosabori rivers, with Naniwabashi Bridge 60 seconds on foot to the front door. From the lobby it is two minutes to Watanabashi Station (Keihan Nakanoshima Line), three minutes to Yodoyabashi (Midosuji Line), six minutes to Kitahama (the financial district), eight minutes to Umeda by subway, and ten minutes to Osaka Station. The Festival Hall (the city's principal classical-music venue, in the same tower) is in the building. For business travellers needing the Nakanoshima financial-district address with the Hilton Honors programme, and for travellers wanting the contemporary-high-rise booking with the headline-pool proposition, Conrad is unambiguous.

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