Apartment Hotel 11 Shinsaibashi II

There's only one elevator for 13 floors, and the stairs are marked for emergency use only. You could be waiting half an hour to get up or down.

We hesitated because there weren't many Google Maps reviews, but decided to give it a shot. Glad we did. The room was clean and well organized, and it had pretty much everything we needed: a washing machine with detergent, a well-equipped kitchen, and a kettle. The team was really attentive over Booking chat, and they were very nice. The Wi-Fi worked great for video calls and meetings, and there's a Seven eleven right across the street. The metro is about a 10-minute walk, and you can get to Dotombori on foot in 15-20 minutes. You can leave luggage at the block's reception area, which has cameras even though there's no one stationed there. No complaints from us, and the price for what you get was incredible.

The room itself was fine, but the service left a lot to be desired. My 4pm check-in got pushed back two hours because the room hadn't been cleaned, so I couldn't get in until 6pm. Reviews said there'd be towels in the first-floor dresser, but it was empty. When I asked, I learned that for environmental reasons we were expected to wash the towels supplied on day one and use those for the rest of the stay. They were really thin, more like dishcloths than proper towels. They did reply quickly when I asked about it.

The room was clean and had a balcony. By European standards it felt average, though for Japan it was excellent. The train station is about a two-minute walk away. Check-in was self-service, and since we didn't run into any problems, I can't really say how the service is.