Asia - (reasonably) Upmarket hotels in SEL

I'm going to be passing through SEL in June and, since I've never been to Korea before, decided to take a stopover for 5 days.
Since I'm totally foreign to what the city looks/feels like, I thought it'd be a good idea to start doing some basic research from early on.

Any recommendations? As I usually do when trying to arrange accomm in an unfamiliar city, I've had a look at the Accor offerings, and the Sofitel looks quite alright, with "luxury rooms" (that's what you get with a hotel whose standard room is called "superior") available for 186k won per night (including breakfast and internet) on a prepaid rate.

Is there anything better/more interesting in this kind of price range- or even a bit cheaper? I don't require a true luxury hotel with Michelin-starred restaurants and 83127537 members of staff running after me. I'm after a reasonably nice place that's not too far from the centre (BTW, how is the centre defined?) and has clean, spacious rooms- inclusive internet would be nice, too!

Hopefully for visitors the Korean won will stay at its current low levels, as earlier rates made the lodging prices even less palatable.

Seoul being a sprawling city with notoriously poor traffic at peak hours, hotel prices are rather more closely indexed to their location than usual. Its two poles are the old downtown proper around City Hall, and newer Kangnam, literally 'south of the river', which should be of little interest to a tourist. Basically office buildings and endless apartment blocks, with the associated restaurants/shops/nightclubs, and upscale hotels (IC, Ritz, etc.)

I haven't been to the Sofitel, but my understanding is that it is a reasonably nice facility in a somewhat nondescript area.
The Grand Hilton Seoul (not the centrally located Millenium), the Sheraton Walker Hill, Marriott, are exemples of good but inconveniently located properties with usually decent prices.
Near the center, some 'value' choices would be the unafiliated Koreana hotel and the former Holiday Inn (I forget its current name).
The Sofitel is somewhere between those two groups in both distance from center and comfort, with prices roughly in the same ballpark, depending on various factors.

I'd say don't overspend on accommodations (nothing in this, or for that matter a 50% higher, price range will be truly memorable), pick a hotel within easy walking distance to a convenient subway line, wear comfortable shoes, use the inexpensive taxis if needed at non-rush hours, and explore an area roughly 2-3km in radius from City Hall, as there are some nicely redone neighborhoods with a Korean identity, nearby yet off the tourist track.

One alternative worth mentioning would be,in IMHO an excellent location for a tourist, the Somerset Palace (www.somerset.com/south_korea/seoul/somerset_palace.html) serviced apartments, which I find somewhat superior to a Seoul 4* hotel in the quality of its rooms, which have the added advantage of built-in fully equipped kitchen (not -ette), washer/dryer, free internet and cafeteria-style breakfast, much more area, etc. Maid service was IIRC (bi-?) weekly but available more frequently for a fee. Rates for June are comparable to the Sofitel's. One does have to pay in full upon arrival, not ideal if you decide 5 days in Seoul is too much, and a side trip desirable.

Further down the scale, I did see a non-dodgy looking (for some reason below 4* is viewed as dodgy by respectable Koreans ;))2-3* small hotel in the back streets of Insa-dong (the artsy but now overly commercial area of Seoul), which would probably halve your housing budget. No idea about its name, but you could probably walk into such places if holding a flexible booking elsewhere.

Great stuff, monahos. I've seen the Koreana on offer at flightnetwork, but it's not really cheaper than the Sofitel...and the latter seems to be quite near the metro.
Somerset sounds good, but it is also no cheaper than the Sofitel! Without you knowing the name of that non-dodgy hotel, it seems like there's a gulf in quality (as well as price) between really cheap hotels and upmarket ones...

A little googling has me reasonably convinced the 'non-dodgy hotel' is the 2* Sunbee hotel (http://www.hotelsunbee.com/). Their website is probably representative of their fluency in English, but it does list a flat rate of 77,000KRW for singles and 88,000 for doubles. Reports on the usual sites seem to be positive. The room decor appears closer to a local middle class living room than an international chain's, but that may be more memorable than say the standard green Marriott carpet...

Their location map is in Korean, but you can get an idea of its location by juxtaposing the relevant squares (4/5/7/8 as per a telephone pad) from this map (http://www.escortmap.co.kr/english/e_sdown.htm) and using the YMCA and subway stations as navigation aids (the upper one is Anguk).

The Somerset is nearby, next to the Japanese embassy.

Compared to the Sofitel, an advantage of this area would be the plethora of eateries of all ilks nearby (I recall going on a date in Insa-dong with a trendy local earlier this century :) ).

Koreans and Asians in general being quite image-sensitive, it all comes down to whether a hotel has representative public spaces and restaurants; those that do charge for the privilege. To a savvy tourist in a relatively advanced country, that premium may not be the best value, especially if not requiring services such as a gym, concierge, direct airport bus service, etc. I wouldn't be too concerned about safety, as crime rates are low and mishaps for westerners tend to involve drunken locals and US Army personnel (not unlike Greece at a time ;) )

That sounds positively great!
I don't really value a concierge etc, but what I am wary of in the Far East is the room size. I've slept in some seriously claustrophobic places (most notably in HKG), and I'm not willing to do that again!