In most cities of the world I tend to mix things up rather than exclusively go to the same hotel every time, for example in Bangkok we have tried about 25 different hotels.  In Seoul it should be telling about how I feel about Conrad that it’s completely the other way around: we keep coming back to Conrad rather than shop around.  The options from Marriott are not that appealing to us, Park Hyatt is not getting very good reviews, plus the fact that we are always treated very well at Conrad, bottom line we have very little reason to try another hotel.  Our most recent stay was lovely as usual and I can highly recommend this hotel as one of the best Conrads in Asia.  We have not tried all of them, but I would say Conrad Seoul is a notch above Conrad Bangkok, Singapore, Manila, and Tokyo; based on our experience an argument could be made that Conrad Hong Kong, and Macau are quite good as well but we probably like Seoul the best of this group. 

Location

The location of Conrad Seoul might not be ideal for some tourists because it’s located in the Yeouido business district.  Access from ICN airport is easy however – you can take bus #6030 which is once or twice per hour from the airport and it drops you off right at the hotel door for 15k KRW one-way.  Conrad is connected to the IFC mall which is convenient particularly in the winter; you have easy access to several shops and restaurants without setting foot outside, and it also links underground to metro lines 5 and 9. 

Room

For this latest stay I booked a premium river view room and we were upgraded as Diamond to a grand corner suite river view, which is one of our favorite Conrad rooms in the world, at least among city Conrads (excluding resorts).  The suite is still in good condition like it was in our previous stays, with slick and modern design including electric blinds and curtains operated by the electronic panel by the bedside, which also controls lights and room temperature.  The suite has 1.5 bath however the half bath is probably a bit too small as you have to squeeze between the door and the counter to get in and the sink’s diameter is not a lot longer than the length of a toothbrush.  This is a bit odd given that the entire suite is very spacious at 96 square meters – much better than many other hotels which have suites in the range 50-70 square meters, which means the corner suite at Conrad would be considered a premium suite in many other hotels.

Toilets in both bathrooms are Japanese-style with heated seats and the main bathroom is very well designed especially the walk-in open-ended shower which you can access from both sides and there is a TV in the bathroom mirror.  There is also a large window in front of the bathtub to ensure the room gets lots of natural light with blinds for privacy as needed.  The bedroom also has windows on two walls with great views of the river although that view is now partially blocked by the high rise tower which was recently built right next door and which is higher than even the executive lounge on the 37th floor. 

As great as the corner suite is, they even found a way to make an improvement since our last visit: there is now a Dyson hairdryer in the room.  The new Rosewood Bangkok hotel is one of the very few hotels that comes to mind which also has Dyson but it is otherwise quite rare as far as I know. 

The only downgrade I can think of about the room is that like other Conrads in the world, bathroom amenities are now the Shanghai Tang brand which is not my favorite and not as good as Aromatherapy before, but this is not a change that was triggered by the Seoul property itself.

Dining

We did not have breakfast in the lounge for this stay because from previous experience the spread is ok but in the restaurant it’s one of the best.  Even for Asian standards the breakfast in the restaurant is stellar: glass noodles, mee goreng, tofu, tonkatsu, grilled fish, whole grain rice, dumplings, a noodle soup station, several choices of veggies to make a salad, etc.  Fruits are perhaps less interesting than in some other Asian countries in the south which offer more tropical choices but other than fruits it’s hard to find faults to the buffet.  The restaurant itself looks nice including high ceilings, good seating arrangement and not too cramped.  This all contributes to the fact that we don’t feel the need to take refuge in the lounge for breakfast just to get some peace.  However it should be noted that it depends at what time you go to breakfast: at check-in they indicate with a green-yellow-red scheme that breakfast between 8am and 9:30am can be busy.

Happy hour in the lounge is 5-7pm and even there it’s above average for Asian standards at least as far as food is concerned and I found the offering improved relative to our previous stay; there are no sign of cutbacks, quite the contrary.  They have a daily rotation of hot dishes some of them being high quality, for example salmon, chicken satay, roasted pumpkin, heck one evening they even had scallops stir-fry with vegetables - we rarely see scallops in any lounge for happy hour.  The choice of alcohol is a bit more standard compared to other hotels and includes Cava, two red, and two white wines along with liquor.  The lounge is very large and we particularly like the room in the back corner with sofas and a fireplace.  However the hotel is victim of its own success; the lounge tends to be very crowded despite being expansive so it’s not the most pleasant and exclusive environment for drinks and hors d’oeuvres, particularly on weekends there are several locals on staycation which make the lounge overflowing with guests.  

Gym

The gym is very large and has lots of weight machines and a full line-up of elliptical machines and treadmills.  They even received a few new treadmills recently, the ones with the large glossy screens which I like, so even the gym was improved compared to our previous stay.  In some cities it looks like very few guests are interested in exercise because the hotel gym can be quiet, but in Seoul it is the opposite.  On some mornings the gym starts to be busy around 6am so thankfully the gym is large, in fact it needs to be so, in order to handle the number of guests going there for a workout.  

Service

Service was good as usual - for this stay we even received a nice gift: a personalized protective cover for a small suitcase, marked Conrad Seoul with my initials embroidered!  What a nice gesture and a great gift to give to a frequent traveler. 

Wifi

Wifi was blazing fast with speeds of 120-130 Mbps, among the best for any hotel anywhere.

Overall

Overall we had another great stay and we will plan on returning.  There is a new Andaz that recently opened in Gangnam and I would be curious to try it because I generally like Andaz hotels but I would be hesitant to stray away from Conrad just for the sake of trying Andaz.  Right next door to Conrad there is a Fairmont which should open soon.  It will possibly be strong competition to Conrad, and it would be easy to do a quick mattress run to compare since it will only require to cross the street.  In the mean time, apart from the Four Seasons hotel, an argument can be made that Conrad is one of the best choices in the city.