Seoul Hotels with Bars

This hotel is perfectly located! It's just south of Seoul City Hall Square and west of Myeongdong. The subway station is only a few dozen meters from the lobby entrance, and Sejong-daero is right to the west. It's also not far from the major palaces and Namsan, so the location couldn't be better. The staff are very friendly, attentive, and welcoming. While the facilities might feel a bit more compact compared to newly built five-star hotels in China, they are well-maintained and perfectly adequate. Overall, it offers great value for money.

The bigger the hope, the greater the disappointment. By domestic hotel standards, this place is essentially an upgraded budget hotel in terms of hardware. Regarding the service, every staff member I encountered greeted me warmly and proactively. When my ride-share dropped me off at ground level, two attendants helped me carry my luggage upstairs. Its location is absolutely unbeatable, right in Myeongdong. It's very close to Lotte Duty-Free, Shinsegae Duty-Free, and the Nanta show. My final conclusion is: Is it worth over 5,000 won for two nights? I can only say that the Wyndham I stayed at in Busan for just over 700 won felt more like a five-star hotel in terms of amenities, and it only cost a third of what I paid here.

The hotel employee was very thoughtful and provided us with free room upgrade and a slice of cake because of our wedding anniversary. That was very considerate and nice gesture. Also warm water in the pool was a big bonus. However, there are few things I would like to point out which are important for us as a family traveling with a kid: 1) children are not allowed to play screen golf. That was upsetting since we never had such issue at other hotels. Also you need to reserve time slot first, which doesn’t work for people who came to Seoul for tourism or leisure purposes. 2) children are only allowed to enter pool until 17:00. That’s extremely strange since many people check in after 15:00 and there would be no time to swim at all in that case. Also people mainly prefer to do shopping and sightseeing and relax at pool when they return in the evening. So this restriction is very strange for us. In that case hotel needs to either notify the guests during reservation or turn it into “adults only” hotel. 3) hotel has a very strict check in check out rules: 15:00 check in and 11:00 check out, not 30 min later/earlier; while standard international check in is 14:00 and check out 12:00. Usually hotels especially 5 stars hotels are very flexible and let guests check in 1-2h earlier if the guests already arrived and would allow them check out 30min-1h later without any issue. 4) Gym and pool close at 21:30. That’s very early compare to other hotels, where facilities usually work until 23:00 and sometimes even 24h. 5) Gym, sauna and pool are not exclusive to the hotel guests only. Anybody with paid membership can enter, which makes it crowded and inconvenient for hotel guests, especially on holidays and weekends. Also you need to take 2 different lifts and walk by the bridge to get there (basically it’s not the same building as hotel) I would say it’s not a 5 star hotel, but more like a premium residence, that is suitable for a long term stay without children.

This place is really, really shady. I was traveling with two kids, and they told me I had to pay an extra 550,000, claiming a room is only for two adults and one child, and an additional child incurs a fee. I accepted it, but then they tried to charge me again for an extra bed! Meanwhile, they were super friendly to foreigners – what a bunch of chameleons. The dust in the room's wardrobe was super thick, and the top surfaces were also dusty. The tissues in the room ran out on the first day and were never refilled; we went without tissues for the next three days. Oh, and when I arrived at the hotel at 12 PM, they told me check-in wasn't until 3 PM. But once I paid the 550,000, I could check in immediately, haha~

The hotel surroundings are nice, and the front desk staff speak basic English. On the first day, I found a midge on the curtains, but otherwise, the cleanliness was acceptable, and there was no drain smell from the bathroom. Disposable slippers were provided, but no toothbrush or toothpaste. Everything in the minibar, except for water, was chargeable. I booked a hotel in Gangnam because I was attending a concert at KSPO Dome. Pros: After the concert, it was usually easy to find a seat on the Express Line 9, and I could quickly reach Bongeunsa Station. There aren't many restaurants on the way back to the hotel, but there are several convenience stores. Cons: The walk from Bongeunsa Station to the hotel is really, really far, and you have to climb a gentle slope before descending! Cheongdam Station is about half the distance, but coming from Olympic Park, you'd need to transfer from Line 5 to Line 7, and Line 5 is usually much more crowded after events. Additionally, I had extended my stay through Trip.com before check-in, but the front desk initially thought I had only booked one night. After some communication, they found the extension order and processed it. However, on the second night, my room card stopped working and needed to be re-authorized. I hope the platform and the hotel can improve this issue.

The room is 30 square meters, which is quite spacious for its category. The surrounding facilities are excellent, with direct access to I'Park Mall, the train station, and duty-free shops via a connected walkway, so you're protected from wind and rain. There are two buildings dedicated to hotels: one is Novotel, and the other houses Ibis and Novotel Suites. All three hotels are interconnected and share a common lobby on the ground floor. The Ibis building has a GS25 convenience store and a casino on its second floor. The location is fantastic; it's quite close to everything. Yeouido, the National Museum, Myeongdong, Hannam-dong, and Ikseon-dong are all basically within a 10,000 KRW Uber ride. The value for money is good on weekdays, but the price doubles on weekends, which feels a bit too much of a jump.

This is not the first time I’ve stayed at this hotel, and everything has always been excellent — but not this time. It all started at check-in, when we were given a different room than the one we had booked. However, thanks to the reception staff, the issue was quickly resolved. Then we noticed that the toilet smelled of smoke, even though the room was supposed to be non-smoking. We informed the staff, and over time the smell became less noticeable. Housekeeping was done daily, and the staff responded promptly to all our requests. These minor inconveniences did not spoil our stay. We will definitely come back again.

The room is small and a little boring but you’re paying for the location, and it’s comfortable and clean. There’s a good beer bar, Seoulista, on the ground floor. There’s is an aerial walkway connected, which goes to Seoul Station. You can also use the metro Exit 7 (I think) but it will charge you just for walking through if you are coming from the AirPort Express. The breakfast arrangements are quite eccentric, but I had a good breakfast.

Excellent stay! The hotel was spotless, and the value for money was fantastic. I loved the thoughtful little welcome card. It's also super close to COEX, with supermarkets and bars all nearby.

Shocking! My first ever bad review goes to this hotel! 1. When we first arrived, I was pleasantly surprised by how big the hotel was. But then at check-in, they hit you with a ton of rules: no noise after a certain hour, you can't turn off the air conditioning – if you're cold, just turn on the floor heating? I honestly laughed out loud! The AC fan was roaring all night, and the soundproofing was terrible; you could clearly hear car doors shutting outside. 2. Even more shocking, the fire alarm in this building went off once at 1 AM, and then for a whole half-hour at 4 AM! Everyone was just standing around on the first floor in the middle of the night, staring blankly. It went off sporadically a few more times when it got light. The next morning, we asked the staff, and they said someone smoking had been taken to the police station. But I honestly don't really believe that, because it went off way too many times. Were people constantly trying to challenge the fire alarm or something!?! 3. We tried to book a hair spa via WeChat starting from the day before, but no one ever responded. No one responded in the morning either, and when we went to ask in person, it was all fully booked. Seriously, what's up with that?? We gave feedback on all these issues to the staff, but besides verbal apologies, there was absolutely no action taken to compensate or show regret. They have more demands for guests than for themselves, full of flaws yet they act like they're impenetrable. Absolutely a terrible review!!!