The hotel is very nice but is on the side of a relatively small mountain and pretty much isolated from Seoul. One, however, can find plenty of restaurants by either walking down the mountain or taking the hotel shuttle (a walk back may be more exercise than you want, however).
I was in room 1457 which was billed as a king, mountain view (as opposed to a city view costing a little more). In fact, I could see some of the city and the city is plainly visible from the lobby which is all glass on that side of the building. The bed was actually queen size, not king, and it was extremely hard. It had four feather pillows which got pretty flat as the night wore on. The room was clean and very well appointed but very small. My major complaint with the room proper was the total lack of drawer space for clothes. The room had drawers and cabinets but they were used for hotel property, such as the electric kettle, laundry bags, bar glasses, coffee/tea service, safe, shoe care items, etc. I ended up putting my folded clothes on the bottom of the nightstand. The room has good lighting that can be controlled from the bed. There is a desk chair, padded stool and a love seat that faces the head of the bed, so it’s worthless for watching TV. The closet is large with a good number of heavy wooden hangers, ironing board and iron. There is an extra charge for wired and wireless internet. One old school feature of the room that I really liked was a small bedside analog alarm clock with a push button that would cause the face to be illuminated. The desk is a long glass shelf that ran along the window side of the room.
The bathroom didn’t feel cramped and had a long vanity with shelves above so that toiletry storage was not an issue. The towels and wash cloth were thick and more than ample in terms of size. There was no tub, only a shower stall. Curiously, I had little gnat-like bugs in my shower. I’d kill all I could see every time I showered but more appeared the following day. I didn’t report it because they weren’t bothering me and I didn’t want insecticide sprayed in the room while I was there. The floor to the bathroom was elevated about 3” from the room and had a metal lip along the length of the threshold to keep errant water from leaving the bath. I stubbed my toes on the metal lip for a day until I got used to it being there.
I’ve uploaded photos of my room and the view.
I believe there are four restaurants in the hotel. Breakfast was a buffet that was excellent in terms of variety and quality. The only problem was the cost – about US$36. Local beers in the lobby were about US$11 and pints in one of the lower level bars started at $14. We ate at one of the lower level restaurants one evening and the food was fine. It wasn’t cheap but was a bargain in comparison to breakfast.
In summary, if you don’t want to be in a completely urban setting, don’t have a lot of clothes to store and you get reimbursed for meals, you should find this hotel a pleasant retreat.
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- Seoul Grand Hyatt
- Hyatt Seoul
- Seoul Hyatt
