Best Hotel in Seoul
Sep 15, 2015, 11:58 pm
#106
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 10,065
Diplomatic Suite: Park Hyatt Seoul
The suite itself:
Spacious, sprawling but just subtly different than the normal Park suites and Park King rooms. This is how the Korean PHs are, from Seoul to Busan. I think this suite is a bit of a disappointment for a Diplomatic suite because it just lacks the tenets of an upperclass suite from the pantry not having a large fridge, cooking components to lack of a phone in the living area. I would have liked the desk to be outside in the living area rather than occupying a space by the bed. Diplomats may want to store their own bottles of alcohol or special dietary requirements and emptying the same small fridge as a standard room is a disappointment.
Finally! A working desk! Anyone who has stayed here knows that work space is at a premium. You either run your AC cord across the room from the wall to the small table or work in the bathroom. This Diplomatic suite has a silm but feasible desk. I had problems with power supply and sockets. The alcove wouldn't open and I still ended up charging my devices in the bathroom because the bedside plugs didn't work for almost the entire stay. The desk chair is stylish but impractical, uncomfortable for anyone who isn't tall and/or skinny.
The living room's TV was a 4K UHD LG 65 inch and a nice change from the 40, 50 inch Samsungs present in almost every other room. There's also a fireplace on the lefthand but no need for that yet. Didn't bother lighting it up to see how it works. The table has more than enough room for breakfast and room service.
Cal-King bed with power outlets under what poses as a nightstand. They had intermittent voltage problems and didn't charge my devices overnight. Back to the bathroom improvisation. The red shiny surface as the bedframe cheapens the room look in my opinion. I guess Superpotato wanted to give it some color but I just think it's tacky and out of place. You'll recognize the same lounger as in every other room.
You have to go up to the Diplomatic suite to get dual vanities. The counterspace of the normal suite would have been more convenient during this upgraded stay.
The bathtub was a nice treat, overlooking the COEX area and Gangnam in your granite stone furo.
Food:
The breakfast and F&B at Park Hyatt Seoul was well done. Eggs benedict was superb and you can tell the care and quality of the ingredients. The French toast was moist and sweet. Not sloppy like other luxury hotels in Korea like JW Marriott Dongdaemun or PH Busan. The seafood noodles had the juiciest, biggests clams I've ever had in my life. You could taste the freshness and hats off to their sourcers and suppliers. This goes for all of their produce, seafood, beef, etc. Their Korean food is also excellent. The Gangnam breakfast set with rice, soup, fish and kimchi might not be everyone's taste but it is done well here. My partner enjoyed it.
Amenities:
Full sized, made in Australia Aesop bottles and with everything from face wash to bath salts. The bathroom was well-equipped. The toilet was the same older Toto washlet found in regular rooms and suites. No autoflush capabilities but had the control panel above the toilet paper.
Service:
Improved. English levels are passable to good and the rudeness from the front end staff has evaporated. Room service attendants were courteous, prompt and very exacting.
Verdict:
I still need to be at GH for work related reasons but PH Seoul has upped its game in the past year. Probably has to do with FS coming in less than a month and some of it due to the regime change. I've heard soft renovations will be happening to address some of the minor niggling issues we've all had with this hotel. This would be my choice for a Gangnam based luxury hotel over JW Marriott or RC by a country mile.
Apologies some of the pictures are stuck in the wrong orientation. Can't figure out how to adjust them in ImageBam.
Spacious, sprawling but just subtly different than the normal Park suites and Park King rooms. This is how the Korean PHs are, from Seoul to Busan. I think this suite is a bit of a disappointment for a Diplomatic suite because it just lacks the tenets of an upperclass suite from the pantry not having a large fridge, cooking components to lack of a phone in the living area. I would have liked the desk to be outside in the living area rather than occupying a space by the bed. Diplomats may want to store their own bottles of alcohol or special dietary requirements and emptying the same small fridge as a standard room is a disappointment.
Finally! A working desk! Anyone who has stayed here knows that work space is at a premium. You either run your AC cord across the room from the wall to the small table or work in the bathroom. This Diplomatic suite has a silm but feasible desk. I had problems with power supply and sockets. The alcove wouldn't open and I still ended up charging my devices in the bathroom because the bedside plugs didn't work for almost the entire stay. The desk chair is stylish but impractical, uncomfortable for anyone who isn't tall and/or skinny.
The living room's TV was a 4K UHD LG 65 inch and a nice change from the 40, 50 inch Samsungs present in almost every other room. There's also a fireplace on the lefthand but no need for that yet. Didn't bother lighting it up to see how it works. The table has more than enough room for breakfast and room service.
Cal-King bed with power outlets under what poses as a nightstand. They had intermittent voltage problems and didn't charge my devices overnight. Back to the bathroom improvisation. The red shiny surface as the bedframe cheapens the room look in my opinion. I guess Superpotato wanted to give it some color but I just think it's tacky and out of place. You'll recognize the same lounger as in every other room.
You have to go up to the Diplomatic suite to get dual vanities. The counterspace of the normal suite would have been more convenient during this upgraded stay.
The bathtub was a nice treat, overlooking the COEX area and Gangnam in your granite stone furo.
Food:
The breakfast and F&B at Park Hyatt Seoul was well done. Eggs benedict was superb and you can tell the care and quality of the ingredients. The French toast was moist and sweet. Not sloppy like other luxury hotels in Korea like JW Marriott Dongdaemun or PH Busan. The seafood noodles had the juiciest, biggests clams I've ever had in my life. You could taste the freshness and hats off to their sourcers and suppliers. This goes for all of their produce, seafood, beef, etc. Their Korean food is also excellent. The Gangnam breakfast set with rice, soup, fish and kimchi might not be everyone's taste but it is done well here. My partner enjoyed it.
Amenities:
Full sized, made in Australia Aesop bottles and with everything from face wash to bath salts. The bathroom was well-equipped. The toilet was the same older Toto washlet found in regular rooms and suites. No autoflush capabilities but had the control panel above the toilet paper.
Service:
Improved. English levels are passable to good and the rudeness from the front end staff has evaporated. Room service attendants were courteous, prompt and very exacting.
Verdict:
I still need to be at GH for work related reasons but PH Seoul has upped its game in the past year. Probably has to do with FS coming in less than a month and some of it due to the regime change. I've heard soft renovations will be happening to address some of the minor niggling issues we've all had with this hotel. This would be my choice for a Gangnam based luxury hotel over JW Marriott or RC by a country mile.
Apologies some of the pictures are stuck in the wrong orientation. Can't figure out how to adjust them in ImageBam.
Last edited by Aventine; Sep 16, 2015 at 12:19 am
Sep 16, 2015, 1:09 am
#107
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 443
I'll be returning to the Shilla later this month. I will be with people who place great weight on the quality of the fitness center. I remember reading that the Shilla was to have the best in Seoul. My travel companions, however, said that TripAdvisor says it's a membership only fitness center and hotel guests are charged a fortune for the privilege of access. Can anyone confirm?
A particular favorite to watch was the old fashioned machines that would place a belt around the waist and shake
Sep 16, 2015, 1:54 pm
#110
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: AC SE 2MM, too many others
Posts: 1,415
Updates from Seoul:
- GH's Chinese restaurant was closed down and temporarily serves as a Grand Club lounge for all the summer packages they sold.
- PH's service levels have gone up since I last came here
- Light sleepers beware as PH's front glass is thin and the building gets bombarded by Gangnam traffic at all hours of the day.
- GH's Chinese restaurant was closed down and temporarily serves as a Grand Club lounge for all the summer packages they sold.
- PH's service levels have gone up since I last came here
- Light sleepers beware as PH's front glass is thin and the building gets bombarded by Gangnam traffic at all hours of the day.
Sep 16, 2015, 6:36 pm
#111
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 10,065
I'm curious to see how the service is at FS in the beginning. Probably teething problems like every luxury hotel at first.
Sep 21, 2015, 8:39 am
#112
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: AC SE 2MM, too many others
Posts: 1,415
Who knows ? Part of it depends on who is available to lure away from the other hotels, and in Seoul, that pool has got to be limited. So I would think that it might be sort of hit and miss off the top.
Sep 21, 2015, 9:05 am
#113
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 10,065
The assistant FS Seoul guest relations manager emailed me last night enquiring about any special needs for our stay. I guess being proactive is part of their Seoul luxe differentiation strategy.
Sep 21, 2015, 1:19 pm
#114
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Europe
Posts: 2,609
Sep 21, 2015, 6:54 pm
#115
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 10,065
I'll be sure not to bring the hammer down too hard on them. Hoping they use something better than the Malaysian made Western brand petro chemical crap.
Sep 30, 2015, 10:38 am
#119
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Here there and everywhere
Posts: 6,303
Sep 30, 2015, 9:10 pm
#120
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 10,065
Only joking. I've never heard of Fedora ( http://fedoracosmetics.com/ ), but I'm glad they are using Sodashi!