Apa Hotel Midosuji-Honmachi-Ekimae

The room was very clean and had everything I needed. It’s very close to Hommachi station so that was convenient. The price was affordable.

The rooms were very small.

The hotel is just steps away from a subway line which will take you to any place in Osaka. The food in the area was wonderful with many small restaurants to eat at. It is also just two blocks from where the main Christmas lights are if you are there during the winter. Being centrally located it is easy to get to Osaka castle or to the train to Nara.

Unfortunately when I checked my bank account the price I was charged was higher than the quote. When I checked the receipt I saw that I had been charged in US dollars with an automatic 3.5% mark up and a poor exchange rate. As the hotel's credit card machine wouldn't accept my travel rewards card this also meant that I incurred a 3% bank fee on top of this. The receipt states that I have been offered a choice of currencies for payment and the choice is final, and that wasn't the case. I was not offered a choice of currencies, I was simply shown a number on a calculator which I naturally assumed was in Japanese Yen. As a guest of Osaka this gave me a bad first impression of the city. I understand that the first receptionist was frustrated with me because I could not speak Japanese, but the second receptionist spoke to me in English and he was the one to charge my card. At no point was I given an option of currencies, at least in a language that I could understand. In an APA in Kanazawa I encountered a similar language barrier, but there they printed out the currencies in English and asked me to choose one. If you are shown one fee on the calculator, make sure you know which currency it is in before accepting it. Always choose the local currency otherwise the cost will be much higher for you. I could not help but feel that I was taken advantage of because I was not able to speak Japanese.

Toilet was use

Clean, location,

The breakfast is not good! Don’t spend money on that. The staff are not are not knowledgeable about the facilities and are not good at explaining to you.