Four Seasons Seoul, October 9-10 stay.
2. Premier Room
We were originally booked into a Club corner Premier Room but switched our reservation up from the middle of the month. Was told that the original room was sold-out this weekend. It turned out that the hotel is in a "soft opening" phase with controlled rooms capacity.
This room was the cause of one of my worst ever hotel stays. It smelled like drywall, construction dust and really went to work on my sinuses. The whole stay had sinus pressure and headaches. It was a relief to check out of the hotel and breath Seoul city air (first time for everything)! My sinuses still feel a bit irritated from the continual bombardment at FS Seoul but I feel a lot better being at PH Seoul.
Mr. Barta told me that the construction was done for three months and the hotel was continually cycling the air through rooms, etc. I only know what my poor sinuses were telling me and that was the room had some sort of hazardous fumes in there. I toured another room and it was fine.
I would ask to see and smell your potential room before anyone checks in. You'll know if the construction smell is there because it hits your nostrils immediately.
The hotel's pathetically, teeny air cleaner couldn't even take care of a sneeze. It certainly didn't help me in 2613 either. The weirdest thing was even a hot, steamy shower didn't alleviate the sinus pressure. I'm no stranger to sinus problems here in Korea but even drinking lots of water and keeping sinuses moist did nothing. Mr. Barta said the hotel will go out and buy the biggest, baddest air cleaners on Monday. I suggest Sharp plasmacluster ones.
This hotel has gone to an iPad format for its room menus, in-room dining orders, hotel details, specifications, etc. The only paper in the room is a notepad. The app works quite well, doesn't freeze up but is too rigid for a hotel like the Four Seasons. Where's the vaunted FS creativity and innovation? I should be able to mix breakfast items at will.
For example, my partner would have wanted a healthy body juice from their Healthy choices breakfast menu but it couldn't be selected with a Korean breakfast set. You have to settle for orange, grapefruit, carrot or apple.
The app also didn't convey special requests and the notes section from the bottom. I write detailed comments on how I like my breakfast items and was all in vain. My preferred egg white omelette came as a normal omelette and with a lot of items I did not ask for or want. The French toast got lost as well.
The rooms are very well appointed. Everything feels and looks quite luxurious. Italian marble is used in the bathrooms and there is the East Asian obligatory heated seat, washlet. One quibble, I have, with this Premier Room was the lack of privacy for the bathtub and bathroom. No separation from the entryway and you have to bathe with a view of the bedroom. The light switches were poorly conceived as well. They don't light up in the night and you can have an interesting time trying to figure out which one is which in the dark. They're also far from the bedside, tucked in behind those thin metal shelves flanking the bed. Those with long arms might do better than myself.
http://www.lorenzovilloresi.it/en/lo...villoresi.html
The toiletries here are unique to FS Seoul. Wasn't a big fan of them because they smell kind of cheap to me. I prefer the Aesop products used at PH Seoul. Aesop's just feel more substantial.
This really didn't make sense when there were three HUGE closets on the left handside. All of which, capable of swallowing our giant suit case and not obstructing the walkway. Another questionable judgment and service lapse.
Double tap the function then use the arrows to make adjustments. Daelim toilets are not nearly as intuitive as Toto washlets in my experience. My partner thought the hotel was cheaping out by disabling the heated seat function. Took a little time to figure out the hang of things.
