Originally Posted by Tenk

After having a wonderful stay down south of the river at the Grand Intercontinental (I think one of the best IC I've stayed in Asia), I decided to check in to the FS out of curiosity for 4 nights as I had time left before my trip to Thailand.

What a letdown. I can't believe I'm saying this, but this may be my worst "luxury" hotel experience ever. And I'm only on my 2nd night.

Firstly, check in. As I got out of my uber with my luggage, no bellboy offered to help carry it into the hotel. Off-putting.

Entered the lobby. No greetings from anyone. One hotel employee just staring at me like, "what are you doing here?"

I go to the left to the check-in counter, the first time I ever had to do so in a FS, and try to get checked in as the hotel employee bungles through the entire thing like its her first time. Eventually, I ask for a room check-in. She disappears for a bit to the back and comes out with a young man, probably in his late 20's, to take me to my room and finish the check-in there. Nobody has yet to offer to take my bag upstairs for me. Its only one backpack, but still.

Finish the check-in in my premier suite corner room, and its one of the least helpful check-ins I ever had. Dude just asks for my name and passport and gets me to sign, before hopping out of there. Doesn't bother to explain anything about the room. At this point, I'm ready to just go back to Gangnam, where as a longtime IC ambassador, they treat me as a valued guest. Coming to FS, its like I'm hopping into a soft-opening of a boutique hotel with a fancy lobby. All the raves by local Koreans seem to be based on the hardware, which is nice, but nothing special. You can find interior design like this in any major city in the world in a decent hotel. It's service what makes a luxury hotel a 5 star experience.

The room's design is okay, but highly inconvenient. I won't go into details as others have mentioned it earlier, but it looks like they sacrificed user experience for design. First time I've ever been in a hotel that puts room slippers underneath the sink in the bathroom.

I get unpacked and settled. It looks like this hotel doesn't do turn-down service. The base internet here is complimentary, but they charge you 20,000 WON (approx $15)/day for fast internet. The sauna downstairs is 55,000KRW ($45-50), for one-time use which I found ridiculous. Facilities are nice, but charging hotel guests $50 for a bath in Seoul is highway robbery. The attendants there are also some of the most unfriendliest and least service oriented people I've met in a hotel spa.

At 7:30 PM, I go downstairs and across the lobby to access the other elevators that lead to the famed Japanese restaurant, Kyoku. The sushi here isn't awful, but certainly not upto the rest of the city's omakase such as Sushi Sunsoo, Kojima or Sushi Mai. The interior design is nice, but service was lacking compared to other omakase restaurants (Don't refill your green tea without asking, doesn't pour your sake for you).

Back to the room, as I'm getting ready to sleep, I remove the large fluffy pillows to get comfortable and lo and behold, there is brown powder and hair all over underneath. Lots of hair. It was disgusting. I immediately call housekeeping who comes and changes the sheets. I couldn't believe an FS would allow this to happen. This was ridiculous.

Apparently, they change the sheets every two days.

So anyways, here I am. Had a meeting earlier with one of the managers. She promised to make everything up and comp me on the internet and spa. Still have 3 more nights to go, ready to call it quits and just move to another hotel. This FS is a pass. Unpleasant service, cold and uncaring in addition to inconvenient room, spa, and location. I can't believe the manager had the gall to mention to me that they think their service is on par with other FS's around the world. LOL.