coljung

Yes, it is only for main member + 1.

Earlier this year, when it was a Gold benefit, me and my wife both had the status, so we booked the 2 rooms separately, and got the lounge access for 4 guests. If you book 2 rooms under one account, you still only get 2 passes to the lounge.

Too_Fly1

Is breakfast better in the lounge or Tavolo 24? Staying in mid-June, how likely are upgrades for plat?

Aventine

Tavolo but it's not complimentary for Plats. The Lounge is a perfectly fine breakfast. You should at least get a Sky Roof room, if, not a suite.

coljung

Was about to pick this hotel, but noticed the note about +18 to access the lounge.

If im travelling with my kid, what's out option for breakfast?

myperks

Aventine

Pays to come here with a child. Did not know that this benefit existed!

osubeavers01

MSPeconomist

Any recent reports from high tier elites? I'm going in about a month (fortunately I'll miss fashion week) and the only SNA room/suite category I can request is the executive suite, 1 bedroom, 1 king, 2 bathrooms.

The website still says only 18+ in the lounge, but does anyone know whether the lounge has extended happy hour/appetizer hours during busy weekend evenings? Westin Chosun tends to do this, although they attempt to force people using the lounge into either either the early or late sitting (but I've managed to avoid picking in advance or being kicked out, although arriving at the beginning of a sitting gives one the best chance of getting a table with a view there).

Also, from what I've found on the internet, there's a KAL limobus that goes directly to the door of the hotel for 16,000 versus 10,000 for the airport limobus #6002 for 10,000. Does this seem correct? I'm arriving into ICN T2 and with immigration delays plus a two hour bus ride, getting checked in before happy hour ends could be difficult.

mk712

I was there in April 2019, Platinum Elite, on a points reservation (so for a basic room aka "Deluxe Twin") and got upgraded to a room on the top floor with a better view ("Executive Sky View Twin"). I did not use SNAs, and probably would've had a better upgrade had I not specifically requested a room with 2 beds (they asked me to confirm again when I checked in that I wanted 2 beds in a way that led me to believe better upgrades were otherwise available).

I don't remember this - I think we only went up there once during appetizer hours although I do recall it being fairly crowded, yes (not enough that you don't get any seats, but enough that you don't really have a choice of which seats to get).

That'd be KAL Limousine 6702.

Here's all the info: http://www.jwmarriottddm.com/pdf/6702%20Bus.pdf

I found it to be very slow, although taking it from T2 is a major advantage because the first stop is T1 (where I took it from) and literally an hour went by between the time we left T1 and the time we left T2. I remember we had to completely leave the airport, drive all the way around it, then drive back into T2... looking at the schedule going from one terminal to the other should only have taken 20 minutes, so it may have been a temporary detour because of construction?

Regardless, according to my Google location history I hoped on the bus at 5:46pm (on a Tuesday evening) and arrived to the hotel at 8:17pm. We did hit some traffic along the way and again, we didn't leave T2 until ~1 hour into the ride. Sadly JW Marriott is the second to last stop so you do have to sit through stopping at over a dozen other hotels along the way.

You can buy tickets from automated kiosks at the airport (very easy to figure out), then the bus stops are well indicated through screens like these: https://imgur.com/74w3ep5

On the way back, you can buy tickets directly from the front desk at the hotel.

MSPeconomist

Thanks very much. When the Starriott booking page says that only a few suites are available, I'm not sure the extent to which this is bad news for upgrades.

I've taken the KAL bus to/from the Westin Chosun, including to/from T2, so I know how it works, although of course that's a different route.

I've also used the airport limobus (nonKAL) to/from close to the PH, although that would have been before T2 was open.

CO-PLAT

My SNA for a 1 BR Executive Suite cleared 6 days in advance. One night award this weekend.

jaejaez

Just had a disappointing stay here for five nights. I am a Titanium and stayed solo.
Just emailed Marriott of my feedback, which I have pasted below. Hopefully this will help shed light on this hotel for anyone looking to stay here, particularly for those who look to decent service from bellhops:

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Dear Marriott, I am reaching out to you to share feedback around my latest stay. I looked for opportunities to share this with hotel management during my stay, and also through the ‘chat’ option on my Marriott App but was unable to do so. I hope that sending these feedback to you would be put to best use in helping this hotel to improve, as to not further irritate future guests.



I had just completed a five night stay here on cash. Overall, I am thoroughly disappointed, particularly at their ‘bell desk’ situation or the lack thereof… to the point where I am baffled at how this could be.

1. Arriving to the hotel on my Uber midday, there was nobody at the bell desk (hotel entrance). I had heavy bags for this trip but had to unload and roll all into lobby on my own with car driver helping to unload. Different from other similar hotels in Seoul where guests hardly even touch the luggage until they get to the room (unless the guests insist of course).
   
2. Got to the check-in counter and complained to the FD agent that there was nobody at the bell desk to help with luggage to which he just shrugged “ah, I see…” and simply proceeded onto check me in. Not even the slightest hint of apologies. Ok fine. Not a big issue, I shall move on.
   
3. But then for the next five nights (six days), I never saw anybody at the bell desk in all my trips in and out of the hotel. This sometimes led to the hotel entrance kerb area becoming an absolute chaos… especially on one weekend morning when there was a wedding happening at the hotel with endless stream of cars stopping to unload guests, minivans filled with package tourists trying to get out and regular guests trying to hail taxis all at once in a seemingly small kerb area. With a permanently empty bell desk, there was nobody to coordinate this mess and guests/taxi drivers etc were expected to work it out on our own. You wouldn’t believe it if you had seen it yourself.
   
4. This also means that for those who chat with doorman/bellhops/belldesk captains for a quick Q&A (which way to the nearest pharmacy? Do I turn right or left to get to the department store? Etc) before heading out, they actually have to line up at the concierge desk to ask these questions. Inconvenient.
   
5. Fast forward. Nobody helped me with my bags on my way out to Uber away after checkout either (as I somewhat expected). There were five staff behind the checkin counter/concierge desk and as I was wheeling my bags away after checkout, they all just pretended to be busy, including the person who JUST checked me out (don’t they usually ask if they can help with bags at this point?). At this point I finally approached a staff at concierge desk to ask why there was nobody EVER at the belldesk. To my surprise he said that due to hotel’s “cost-cutting measures”, they had gotten rid of the bell desk staff and the guests needed to help themselves. I asked back somewhat sarcastically, saying “So at this five star hotel, the guests are expected to ‘self-service all their luggage handlings’ and ‘taxi hailings’ etc? to which his answer was ‘unforunately, yes.. we are sorry’… and he stood still as I ‘self serviced my luggage’ onto the car and left the hotel.
   
   
   
   A few other things not related to bell captain:
   

1. Nobody picks up the phone on perhaps ~50% of the time when pressing the ‘at your service’ button. Perhaps more cost cutting measures here? When they do pick up, they’re helpful and friendly but it’s very difficult to get hold of them. Sometimes they pick up after 20+ rings. For this I did some things that I never did in other 5 star hotels like going to the kitchen myself with my ice bucket to ask for ice because I don’t have to wait endlessly for someone to pick up the phone to get ice.
   
2. Speaking of concierge desk, not only are they unable to book seats in difficult-to-book restaurants (like what one may expect from a concierge desk of a 5 star property), they don’t even realize that this is an expectation. When you ask them to help secure a seat at a sought-after restaurant (Michelin star establishments), they simply dial the same number that I would dial and if the restaurant says there are no seats available, they will simply acknowledge and inform you that there are no seats. When I asked if there is anything the concierge team can do to help, they gave me an answer that sounded like “what else do you expect us to do? They say they have no seats”. If they’re going to call the same number as I would, why would I bother going through them to book for me?
   
3. Service was generally terrible at the BLT steakhouse, the hotels’ signature in house restaurant. It was obvious that the staff there did not want to work there to the point where I wished they didn’t bother explaining the food to me as they brought out the courses. One lady actually started walking away in the middle of explaining the main dish. The restaurant was only half full on the day.
   
4. The “valet parking” service here is weird. Usually when you valet your car (here it costs you 27000 won), the staff will park your car for you and when you are ready go leave, they will bring and ready the car for you. Here at this hotel, when you ‘valet’, they park the car for you but you must go down to the basement parking lot to find your own car and drive it out yourself. I had never seen a ‘valet’ service that operates like this and if I had known it, I would not have used it.
   

All in all, a huge disappointment. I would recommend to my colleagues coming to Korea to not consider this hotel as it may look and smell nice, it fails to serve the basics.



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For those who are curious, I got a executive room on a higher floor.
Happy to answer questions too - lemme know!

CO-PLAT

I was there a couple days ago and noticed the same. I was pleased as I hate it when the hotel people insist on taking my luggage from me. We wheeled our two large bags + 2 briefcases over to the check in counter on our own. After check-in was complete, they asked us if we wanted help with our bags and I declined.

We checked in with the app several hours prior to arrival. Had been pre-upgraded to 1 BR suite with SNA. After we unloaded our luggage we went out for 2 hours. Upon return, we had a baby crib, baby slippers and a baby robe in the room along with extra towels (in my profile). Kind of weird. My wife called the front desk and they apologized.

The bus stop is outside the hotel. It was pretty damn cold and I didn't want to miss the bus so we waited outside for 15 minutes. It was about 35F. The lounge offerings weren't as great as I'd expected.

The view was pretty good, but the corner we were on was a heavily traveled bus route. We were on the 3rd floor and the noise was noticeable. I think the whole building is only 10 floors.



My wife prefers the Westin Chosun over this JW. We were there the prior week where we ran into MSPeconomist!

Aventine

This hotel has gone so downhill over the years. They cut the bell desk staff because of the Korean government regulated hike in minimum wage. Just awful.

cager

I just came back from a trip to Seoul with my wife and I had to decide between this JW and the other JW Seoul in Gangnam. Ended up choosing JW Seoul in Gangnam although we walked by the JW Dongdaemun many times as it is in a very convenient location.

I must say, the location of Dongdaemun is much better than Gangnam, although the JW lounge and service at Gangnam was beyond my expectations and we also had a fantastic suite upgrade.

Maybe I'll try the JW Dongdaemun next time for its location, but I would highly recommend the JW Seoul if you haven't been there already.