Toyoko Inn Shin-osaka Chuo-guchi Shinkan in Osaka

Quite disappointed after staying here for a week last week. Had been a recurring customer of Toyoko-inns for decades, this particular one is quite disappointing.

First, expect no usual Japanese style healthy breakfast that’s served in all other Toyoko-inns (even the one just next door!). I don’t believe it was explicitly made clear during booking, so I naturally expected the same style of breakfast as all the other ones I stayed in. They only offer three “soups” (1 miso soup, 2 cream soups), fruit juices, a pot of yogurt with syrup, and hot dog buns with the same set of fillings every day. Other toyoko inns all had Japanese rice balls, fresh vegetables, meats, etc. not this one. It was quite a big let down for me. Also they did not allow me to go dine in the one next door.

Another huge problem was sound isolation. Two major areas:

On the interior: I could hear other people speaking in normal volume, sneezing, SNORING in the middle of the night, their ALARM CLOCKS, opening and closing their doors… I am honestly grateful that’s all I heard. That this is a business hotel only. Imagine.
Isolation from the outside: every few minutes there are trains rushing by - which gets tolerable after maybe 3 nights when I got used to it. But I guess I expected them to pay more attention to sound isolation given they’re a large scale chain and their location so close to the station.

Consequences of such poor sound isolation:
1. Hindered my sleep SO SO BAD.
2. I feel super self conscious of what noises/sounds I make in my own room. Yes, I am the kind of person who loves to sing when i’m alone - I didn’t feel comfortable doing that. I couldn’t turn up my music/podcast in case it’s going to disturb others.

Also WIFI WAS VERY BAD. Super super slow. I wasn’t able to load even pictures on instagram, let alone videos on youtube. Told the staff at counter - they said “oh, sorry.” With no follow up actions/suggestions, nothing. I don’t think this is acceptable in this day and age tbh.

Few positive things: staff was okay. Location was close to the station. There’s a nice Thai massage place at the doorstep and it was a lifesaver after one of those crazy walking days.