Check In

The Lotteworld Tower is the 5th tallest building in the world and home to Lotte hotel's new luxury brand, Signiel.  Lotte was smart enough to put their hotel on the top parts of the building.

Check in was done down in the lobby.  I just felt like one of the numbers filing in...

Maybe booking through LHW might lead to something more VIP-ish but this was done through their website.  

The lobby shares space with a patisserie.  

Room

There's still a bit of a new hotel smell here.  It wasn't as bad as FS Seoul's opening but sensitive people should let it air out a couple of months.  

It's a lot of muted colors with a heavy, heavy dose of granite overload for tabletops and the bathroom.  Greys, olive greens and beige.  The most colorful thing is the Korean plum blossom mural they put above the bedstand.  A lot of the fixtures remind me of Four Seasons Seoul (probably used the same suppliers).  This is a suite but it still feels really small to me. Think it has to do with the low ceilings found all over the hotel. 

The sofa, desk chair and bedroom chairs were all uncomfortable. Hard pleather and difficult to find a comfortable sitting position.

The bed wasn't typical Asian hotel rock hard. Supportive and actually comfortable.  Sheets were better than your usual hotel whites. 

The views are high enough but you're just looking down on fellow apartments and the Han River.  

I think this is the same kind of panel from the Lotte hotel in Myeongdong.  

Service

Service was terrible all over.  English was non-existent (housekeeping gophers) to average (front desk) at best. Signiel is clearly geared towards the affluent Korean market with many, many Korean speaking attendants around.   It wasn't the server's fault that the hotel oversold breakfasts and everyone wants to get their fair share in.  But, the waitress shouldn't say that Koreans like to eat breakfast for a long time and we just need to wait like everyone else.  We left the hotel and just ate brunch at bill's. 

The hotel should be able to store luggage on the first floor.  We wanted to check out the Lotteworld tower so we left our luggage with the bell staff.  I expected it to be on the ground floor because who wants to travel 79 floors up again for their bags? We had to go back up for our bags and my blood was boiling at this point.

Lounge

This Lounge was pathetic.  Signiel wanted to make a lounge for everyone to enjoy but they forgot that this is supposed to be 6* one.  My expectations were something along the lines of FS Seoul's executive lounge.  It became overcrowded with families and kids looking to score a free meal off their room rate.  It's sad when I've been to better airport lounges than this one.

The saran wrap sandwiches say it all...

I actually thought the Salon was really well designed.  People would hog the window tables and seats, especially, at sunset and dinnertime.  

Only two types of wines offered...

Bathroom

I hated the bathroom and hated even going near it.  The use of dark marble and dark wood was depressing to look at for this weekend stay.

The bathtub was very normal for a premier level suite.  I expected a bigger, standalone one at the very least.

They're the only hotel in Korea using dipityque toiletries.  I only knew them as a candle maker so this was a new experience for me.  The linens were plush and soft.  A nice change from hard ones at almost every other luxury hotel in Seoul.

Location

Signiel is located at one of the busiest intersections in all of Korea. Frequent traffic jams. It's poorly situated for most business travelers in southeastern Seoul.  If you have business with the Lotte affilates that moved in downstairs then this is the best choice for you.

Overall

This Signiel Seoul weekend easily ranks in my bottom 5 worst stays in my life. Overpriced and poorly executed.  No sign of service recovery from management either.  Emails went unanswered and nothing from social media either.  Maybe I'll have to eat crow if this Lotte luxury hotel chain becomes the next MO or Lexus but I don't really see that happening. This is just going to be the highest floor hotel stay in Korea and not much more.