5-Star Hotels in Gangwon State, South Korea

Location was great, nice ocean view Room interior and bed was not as expected Seems like try to save money on interior And bed is not as comfortable

This was my second visit. Located between Gyeongpo Lake and the sea, the view here is definitely the best in the vicinity. The room condition is also good, and being able to enjoy swimming, fitness, and bathing all within the hotel is a great advantage. However, the service always seems to fall short of these excellent facilities, which is a pity. The lobby staff are generally all friendly. But the service from the ancillary facility staff was disappointing. I used the swimming pool and sauna, and the customer service was a bit lacking. Especially considering the considerable extra charges for using them… The hotel might be 4 or 5-star, but the customer service felt more like a late-night convenience store.

I stayed for three nights, and the hotel's overall environment was excellent. There's a shuttle bus from Jeongdongjin Station to the hotel, but you need to book it in advance. A taxi ride would be around 30 RMB, which is the starting fare. There are two buildings, an old one and a new one, called Sun and Beach. The Sun building is on the hilltop, a bit older, and I guess some rooms might not have sea views, only garden views. The Beach building is new and all rooms face the sea directly. Hotel breakfast costs extra, and it's just average. There aren't many breakfast options nearby, so if you don't eat there, you can grab something at a coffee shop outside. Lunch and dinner are available for an additional cost; they're not too expensive, and the quality and taste are decent. There aren't many restaurants in the town, but the ones we tried with high ratings on Naver were all pretty good. I highly recommend visiting the Haslla Art World Museum nearby; it's definitely worth it.

Our second stay over 4 nights during the cherry blossom spring festival. As before, the English-speaking reception staff was welcoming and met our room request as return guests upon check-in. We had a higher floor unit, just as clean but with some wear and tear in bathroom fixtures. Although Spring is warmer, the central system is still set to heating instead of cooling, so we left the balcony door open most of the time to prevent the nights from being stuffy. The sunrise and coastal views were just as magical with more clouds. This time, we enjoyed the indoor spa pools and outdoor pool, as well as the buffet breakfast with fresh and nourishing regional Korean and international ingredients. We liked that there is a GS25, patisserie, wine store, retail shop library, laundry room, gym, and stylish eateries in the Monogram complex. One unpleasant incident marred our stay, however. Our clear ziplock bag of medicinal tea and beverage satchets packed from home went missing from the coffee counter on the 4th day (the last photo shows where we had placed it). We suspected housekeeping staff might have accidentally thrown out this personal item during room cleaning while we were out that day. We contacted the housekeeping and front desk, but it was not resolved beyond a promise to search/investigate, and later a denial that they had touched our personal items. We were not planning to pursue the matter, but we would have appreciated more initiative or efforts to lessen our distress (the medicinal tea for our digestive health problems was crucial for our travels). Will we be back again? Probably, but this incident has made us realise that in this aspect, the Shilla team still needs to work harder to meet the 5-star hospitality standards it promises to Korean and international travellers.

For a one-night stay costing around 600,000 KRW (with check-in at 3 PM and check-out at 11 AM), I arrived 1 hour and 20 minutes before the official check-in time to secure my place in line. Despite this, it was already past 3 PM by the time it was my turn. When I explained the situation to a staff member who appeared to be a manager, I was curtly told that check-in was strictly by order of arrival and nothing could be done. My turn at the front desk finally came about 5 minutes after the official check-in time. Upon collecting my pre-purchased breakfast coupons, I was informed that only the first and last of the three available time slots remained, forcing me to choose between them. Eventually, I did receive a call that a spot had opened up for the middle breakfast time, and I was able to exchange my coupon. However, the entire system felt very confusing and inefficient. On a positive note, hotel guests have complimentary access to the facilities. The room and the view, however, were absolutely magnificent.

The overall facilities and environment are decent, but the check-in and check-out times are completely unreasonable. You can't check in until 3 PM, yet someone was knocking on the door by 11 AM the next morning to rush us out, and they were quite rude about it, which really soured the experience. On top of that, the air conditioning in the room couldn't be adjusted, making it very inconvenient. I really hope the hotel can improve its service procedures and room amenities.

I didn't have high expectations when we arrived, but we ended up having a fantastic 2-night, 3-day stay. We had booked a room in the hotel wing, and it was conveniently close to Ocean Play. The facilities were excellent, so we had plenty to keep us entertained without even leaving the hotel. Our room was also clean, and the baby crib and bathtub we requested were provided and very useful.

Positives - great view, great beach, wonderful swimming pools, tasty breakfast, kind and helpful personell, lots of lovely eating spots around the hotel. Negatives - extremely long elevator waiting time, no drying racks or hanger rails in the standard room bathrooms, one does have to get used to navigation between towers and all the elevators, and, ahem, the sound insulation is quite poor. This hotel is very good and popular for a reason, and lots of young couples are getting busy and loud in private, which becomes not quite so private to their neighbors. All in all, St John's Hotel is a wonderful Korean place for some seaside R&R.

Excellent stay. Better than expected. I was worried that it would be crowded at the lobby/ common areas due to proximity to casino which was not a preference. The lobby of convention hotel is grand, peaceful and modern. I was also worried that it would be inconvenient to reach the ski slopes however the shuttle buses were frequent and you can get to the slopes quickly. The bus stop drop off point is right outside the ticket office for ski passes Hotel service was welcoming and superb from check in/out to housekeeping. As foreigners we received discount coupons for ski rental and pass. View from room was nice and loved the cream and shower gel etc. Room service was quick and portions are huge. Also how it was delivered was really good too with the robot. Overall very good and comfortable stay.

This resort is great! It's not crowded at all, even on the slopes, so we had a truly relaxing vacation. Getting to the ski resort was super easy and convenient. We were lucky enough to catch the tail end of the spring snow, which made my child incredibly happy. The breakfast spread was excellent, and they even had good quality packaged juices and yogurts. It's really an ideal spot for beginner skiers to settle in.