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Old Oct 14, 2018, 11:16 am
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ellie_nz mentions: "There's a train line running along one side of the hotel. We were allocated a room on 16th floor on the train side and we could clearly hear the trains passing. The trains were frequent, stopped at maybe midnight or one am and picked up again early am. Make sure to request a room on the other side of the hotel if you're bothered by noise at all."

Contrary to brand standard, this hotel does NOT provide free breakfast.

shonanroger: 'Coming from ICN you want to take bus no 6008. The terminal station of this route is just 2 minutes walking distance away from the hotel entrance. It’s KRW 9,000 for the one hour ride. Further, the 20 minute taxi ride to GMP costs approx. KRW 16,000.'
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Old Mar 29, 2018, 4:12 am
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Fairfield Seoul [Master Thread]

Marriott International, the world's biggest hotel chain and the operator of 16 properties in Korea, is opening up two new properties on Friday and Sunday.
Four Points by Sheraton, Gangnam, in southern Seoul has 199 rooms, buffet restaurant and a bar, while Fairfield by Marriott Seoul, near Yeongdeungpo Station has 572 guestrooms catering to business guests.

"Fairfield by Marriott is the second biggest brand among a total of 30 Marriott brands and its debut is the fourth in Asia following those in India, China and Indonesia," the Marriott International said in a statement.
I wonder why they have a 572 room hotel at Yeungdeungpo station when the Courtyard Times Square is right there too.
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Old Mar 31, 2018, 8:26 am
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I'm disappointed in no installed toilet washlet. Even Four Points come equipped with them.
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Old Mar 31, 2018, 8:32 am
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Is that a toilet area open to the room on three sides??!
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Old Mar 31, 2018, 10:05 pm
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Originally Posted by darthbimmer
Is that a toilet area open to the room on three sides??!
Open concept.
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Old Apr 8, 2018, 5:31 pm
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I'm looking at Marriotts to stay in Seoul but I dunno about this. Looked at the JW but they want like $300 a night which seems excessive compared to other options. The Courtyard Namdaemun looks promising as a gold though.
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Old Apr 29, 2018, 6:54 am
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The GM of the Times Square CY was seconded to overseeing the Fairfield launch since early 2017... Marriott's presence in Seoul is quite significant and I doubt they intend to slow down any time soon.
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Old May 28, 2018, 10:37 pm
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It looks like this hotel is only providing complimentary breakfast until July 18th. I thought all Fairfields provided breakfast as a brand aspect. Does anybody know if there's any word on whether that will change?
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Old Oct 14, 2018, 9:09 am
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I spent a night here. It's a decent hotel if you can get a good price and I really liked the food options on the next street to the hotel.

However... there's a train line running along one side of the hotel. We were allocated a room on 16th floor on the train side (oh the perks of being a plat although we did only reserve at 5pm for same evening!) and we could clearly hear the trains passing. The trains were frequent, stopped at maybe midnight or one am and picked up again early am. Make sure to request a room on the other side of the hotel if you're bothered by noise at all.

Room was exactly as per pic above. When you enter you step into bathroom and then bedroom - you can pull a sliding panel for some privacy in the bathroom. Room is small (much smaller than CY Times Square or Namdaemun) but well designed and has storage.

Breakfast was good but busy, we were told hotel was full when we enquired about switching away from trains. I'm not sure what the deal is with breakfast, we were given vouchers when I asked. Staff were really strict about taking food outside the breakfast room.

On check in we were given 500 points plus a drink and some toiletry options (small moisturiser or ear plugs or dust mask). Parking underneath hotel was included.

I'd probably stay again if I had a short one or two night stay and got a great rate compared to either courtyard TS or Namdaemun.
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Old Oct 14, 2018, 9:50 am
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A property with 572 rooms seems huge for a Fairfield. At least in the USA, most/all of them seem to have only c couple hundred rooms at most.
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Old Oct 14, 2018, 3:21 pm
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
A property with 572 rooms seems huge for a Fairfield. At least in the USA, most/all of them seem to have only c couple hundred rooms at most.
I'm surprised, would have guessed there are a few hundred! Elevators are controlled by key card and were very quick so it didn't get noticeably busy in the common areas.
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 9:31 am
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I spent here one night recently. Upgraded from basic entry room to Deluxe Premier. However, except the family roms, all rooms have the same size. The differences are "better" view, higher floor and espresso machine. The rooms are fine for one person, but too small for more than one person for more than one night.
This hotel is one of the culprits providing no breakfast for Elites. Apparently it's (American?) Fairfield brand standard to provide breakfast for all guests regardless of status or membership, but this Fairfield is an exception. If you'd like to have full breakfast in the Bistro 879 you need to pay KWR 22,000 for adults (or KWR 11,000 for children 3 to 13). For welcome amenity you might choose btw. 500 points or drinks or toiletry options.
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 9:45 am
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Originally Posted by shonanroger
I spent here one night recently. Upgraded from basic entry room to Deluxe Premier. However, except the family roms, all rooms have the same size. The differences are "better" view, higher floor and espresso machine. The rooms are fine for one person, but too small for more than one person for more than one night.
This hotel is one of the culprits providing no breakfast for Elites. Apparently it's (American?) Fairfield brand standard to provide breakfast for all guests regardless of status or membership, but this Fairfield is an exception. If you'd like to have full breakfast in the Bistro 879 you need to pay KWR 22,000 for adults (or KWR 11,000 for children 3 to 13). For welcome amenity you might choose btw. 500 points or drinks or toiletry options.
Luckily, there's no dearth of Marriott options in Seoul that DO provide breakfast.
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 10:31 am
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I'm shocked that this property's breakfast policies are permitted since most people booking it would assume that Fairfield means free breakfast for all and moreover top tier elites expect breakfast (at least in place of the welcome amenity points) in all nonresort hotels that aren't RC. [I realize that MR always had a few exceptions such as the downtown Philadelphia Marriott at Convention Center/City Center, but most of us aren't accustomed to looking for them.]

How much time must we waste doing research on such issues to stay with Bonvoy?
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 11:29 am
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist


How much time must we waste doing research on such issues to stay with Bonvoy?
Well, thank goodness for FT. Now FTers know if they stay at this particular property it does not provide breakfast, contrary to brand standard.

And if folk don't want to do research to stay w/ Bonvoy (understandable), there are the Hiltion/Hyatt/IHG chains they can move to & leave Bonvoy behind.

Cheers.
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Old Mar 11, 2019, 4:55 pm
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Originally Posted by Aventine
Luckily, there's no dearth of Marriott options in Seoul that DO provide breakfast.
Still, at the usual price tag I would consider staying again. The cheapest rates are approx. KRW 75,000, and all paid rates include some kind of breakfast. The rate I booked included a Grab&Go mini breakfast consisting of a sandwich and coffee or juice. The problem is that while the breakfast buffet starts at 6:30, the Grab&Go breakfast is usually available from 7:00. I asked at check in to get the sandwich at 6:30, as I needed to leave early and fortunately they made it possible.
The hotel is just a waste of points considering that there are five other category 3 properties in Seoul which offer much better value (incl. free breakfast for Elites) at the same 17,500 points level.
Two more data points: Coming from ICN you want to take bus no 6008. The terminal station of this route is just 2 minutes walking distance away from the hotel entrance. It’s KRW 9,000 for the one hour ride. Further, the 20 minute taxi ride to GMP costs approx. KRW 16,000.
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