traveler1919

Thanks for the pic

kiwifrequentflyer

Is the breakfast buffet back? The "Notice" about the change to a-la carte says that the notice ends May 22, so I'm a bit confused!

Aventine

The buffet is always on weekends and public holidays. A la carte (weekdays) is somewhat better food but still the poorest Andaz breakfast out there.

kiwifrequentflyer

What about it makes it bad? The reviews online from recently were mostly praising the breakfast so I am just trying to set my expectations right!

For a breakfast buffet, what my family just needs is some eggs, wholegrain toast, plain yoghurt, fruit & some sort of veggies. Does it have these things - or is it just continental?

Aventine

It just lacks effort and quality. Nothing is made to order and no signature Andaz dishes. Shows the hotel’s penny pinching when comparing to its sister hotels. Probably the worst 5* luxury breakfast buffet in Seoul.

The buffet has what your family needs and it’s not continental.

kiwifrequentflyer

Perfect, thank you we were going to stay at the Park Hyatt, but we got a great deal at the Andaz. Will have to try the much superior Park Hyatt some day!

Aventine

PH is not much superior. I would say only slightly better and wouldn’t pay a 100,000 won premium to stay there.

kiwifrequentflyer

Then we made the right call! Because we actually saved about 130,000 won per night per room there with the long stay discount

Aventine

Better location and newer hardware too.

Troopers

Here now. Re breakfast buffet, we think it’s pretty good…comparable to pre covid at other Asia hotels (can’t offer opinions at other Seoul hotels). Decent selection of food with daily changes. Americano is good.

Troopers

We (4 adults and 5 children ranging from 10 to 16 yrs old) stayed for 6 nights and checked out several days ago. Some random thoughts/comments:

- I book 3 base rooms all on points and applied a TSU to 2 rooms. We got exactly what we booked. An Andaz suite and another Andaz Suite connecting to two twin beds. Rollaway bed was 55,000KRW daily.

- Complementary breakfast was extended to all 3 rooms. Buffet breakfast offered daily. Daily rotation of Korean foods. Decent selection of foods and drinks, even champagne. No made to order eggs but eggs were constantly being prepared in different ways (over easy, omelet, sunny side up, etc).

- in-room non alcoholic drinks (sodas, sprinkling water and juice) and snacks were complementary, and restocked daily.

- Parking in the basement was free on award stay.

- Property was pretty full, especially on the weekends.

- Direct access to the B1 (subway) is from ~9am to 10pm. Not a big deal at all.

- Service was casual but very professional and polite. We called for an ice pack daily (daughter broke her toe prior to trip and needed to ice it) and staff brought it up within 5 mins.

- We would definitely stay again.

Aventine

The subway entrance is just outside the front door too. Literally 30 secs to 1 min walk.

Definitely a must to use a TSU for suites on stays extending over weekends. I haven’t seen a suite in over a year without using one.

kiwifrequentflyer

So I stayed there recently. I had a nice stay but something took me by surprise. As a relatively new Hyatt Globalist, I had heard that if you purchase two rooms, Hyatt properties usually give both rooms Globalist benefits are a courtesy.

This was not the case here. I purchased two cash rooms for my family. Only one room got the Globalist benefits. So the other room didn't get free breakfast, didn't get late checkout and of course, didn't get an upgrade, although the Globalist room didn't get that either, the hotel had no upgrades spare.

In practice, it didn't really work like that though. For buffet days it did, for buffet days (which were 4/7 days a week) I paid OOP for the room with the least guests for breakfast. For non buffet days when breakfast was being served ala carte, we could order whatever we wanted and they would charge us only for one random main entre per person who was in the room with the least people. Just a heads up for anyone coming.

My family really enjoyed the buffet but we aren't accustomed to luxury buffers.

Edit: just read that complimentary breakfast was given to someone above with three rooms! Is that because they were a points stay and not a cash stay?

Aventine

I’m actually surprised this hotel was generous enough to give it for 3 rooms. They’ve been sticklers for the rules lately and getting cheaper every year.

Globalist benefits for a second or third room is at their discretion. That’s why most people would do a GOH booking to ensure full benefits have to be extended.

Braswch

That's logical as if it's a points stay you can always call and change it to a guest of honor booking to someone's name that is staying in the room. I think hotels know this so extend it to avoid that hassel. So if you have 3 rooms, and only 1 is cash, put the cash in your name and the awards as guest of honor in others names.