The SMH is a nice hotel, which with a little bit of investment would be a great one.

Firstly the rooms. Not over impressive! Extremely dated decor, with horrible black marks across the ceiling where the AC pumps out: yuk! However nothing that a lick of paint wouldn't solve. Beds were fine, but the room had a sofa-bed settee that must have been 20 years old!!

Bathrooms were standard and well appointed. TV was good and the fridge proved handy.

The hotel is conveniently located next to the subway, and it was easy to get a cab.

Did not try the restaurants as they looked expensive compared to what was available locally.


Sheraton need to invest a few yen and turn this average hotel into somthing much nicer.

The hotel has rooms below Sheraton Standards. They try to make it up by putting lots of bathroom amenities in the bathroom.
My main concerns are:
- very poor lounge catering (no diet soft drinks, no wine, no snacks)
- limited TV channel selection (just 2 international staions)
- terrible breakfast (undrinkable coffee, canned fruits, very busy atmosphere)
- limited english knowledge of staff
- only twin bedding in Junior Suites
- no complimentary water provided in Guest rooms - not even in the suite!
- charges for coffee in the room
- swimming pool was overheated and barely useable

On the positive side:
- very reasonable price
- close to public transport (Subway, Kintetsu Line and Airport Bus at the doorstep)

Those pictures posted by travels certainly look nice, but the reality can be rather different. The hotel has renovated rooms, and very old, shabby rooms in desperate need of renovation. In my room the furniture was from the 70's, a part of plastic bathrooms flooring was loose (mold?), bed was rock hard and I could easily hear the traffic light sound in the 12th floor, not to mention the talkative people walking past my room. Television had only newschannels in english. There was a vcr, but who uses a vcr nowdays? No safe in room. Small television. Depressing alltogether!!!! On the bright side, the room was clean, and there was a functioning although slow internet connection with a cable. The location of the hotel is good, with subway practically downstairs, a department store next door, and many restaurants in the neighbourhood. Even if the hotel belongs to the Sheraton-chain, western travelers are clearly not the target group, only green tea in the rooms and very narrow selection of western breakfast items. It's time Sheraton Miyako renovates all their rooms, offer softer mattresses, and consideres also other needs of western guests!

The hotel is located away from Shinsaibashi and Amerika-mura, so you need to take a train or taxi to get anywhere. There are some sights nearby, I believe, but I did not visit them. You should know that there is not really much to see within Osaka's city limits, but rather in nearby historic Kyoto or Nara. Osaka is mostly for shopping, eating, and drinking. Nevertheless, the hotel is connected to a train station and a department store. So it has its conveniences.

I reserved my room through Expedia and when I checked in, the front desk staff kinda snickered. Otherwise, the service was excellent. The staff, though young, look professional and are very well-mannered.

The lobby is somewhat elegant and the restaurants looked very expensive. That's okay because the department store next door has an excellent selection of take-away food to choose from and at very good prices (700 yen for a bento lunch box). When I visited, the guests were mostly Japanese businessmen and well-dressed tourists from other cities.

I have stayed at this hotel twice and both times the rooms were very nice and spacious by Japanese standards (especially compared to the tiny standard rooms at the Rihga Royal Hotel). However, I noticed the second time the room was a bit larger. I was not an SPG member at the time and reserved each time through Expedia, so they could not remember me and so I thought that was curious.

Anyhow, the rooms were great, especially the second time! They were well-furnished and slippers and robes were provided. It was very comfortable and nice. I wouldn't say luxury, but close enough to it.

I was surprised at the high quality of the hotel compared to the low price.

SUMMARY: I enjoyed my stay very much and would stay here again. I was very pleased with the value here. The size and quality of the rooms compared to the price is top-notch!