FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - JW Marriott Dongdaemun Design Square, Seoul [Master Thread]
Old Aug 4, 2016 | 6:31 pm
  #39  
oscarphl
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Programs: AA Gold, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2
JW Marriott Dongdaemun Review

Just returned from a 4 night stay with my wife and 17 year old daughter and 13 year old son. The hotel is beautiful and clean and the facilities are top notch, especially the gym. The subway is accessible from the basement of the hotel and super easy to navigate.

The hotel no longer allows anyone under the age of 18 in the lounge, nor is anyone under 18 allowed to use the indoor driving range. Both of these restrictions came as a surprise to me. Since my daughter could easily pass for 18, this was only an issue with my son. If you bring a 3rd person to the lounge, the hotel will charge you, even though we had paid for 2 rooms. Food in the hotel is outrageously expensive, the charge for a 3rd person to have breakfast in the lounge is almost $40.

What was really unbelievable, was we were told while returning to our room with a hot dog that we were not allowed to bring outside food to our room. I nicely told the guy at the door to go F--- himself and continued on to my room. I later spoke to management and asked to see the "no outside food" rule in writing. Not surprisingly, no such written policy was ever produced. We were offered free breakfast in the restaurant for all 4 of us for the rest of our stay and we continued to bring food back to our room without further harassment. However the hotel management while very nice, never backed away from the no outside food rule, they just stopped actively attempting to enforce said policy.

Having booked 2 rooms at multiple Marriott and Hilton properties all over the world in the last few years and never had a problem with all of us getting into the lounge, I was really surprised by the lounge restrictions.

I can honestly say that I have never been accosted by a doorman while returning to my hotel before. When my children were younger and pickier eaters, I was forever returning to our room with food and beverage for them, so I probably have several hundred data points here.

This one issue aside, I would stay here again, but only with one room and no more than 2 adults.
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