Hi all

The new Westin Seoul Parnas has started taking reservations from September 15th 2025!
This hotel was previously the InterContinental COEX but ceased operations in July 2024. (Not to be confused with the Grand InterContinental COEX near the same location)
Parnas group signed a deal with Marriott to rebrand the hotel and completely renovate it sometime in early 2024.(?) Either way Parnas Group now operates both IHG and Marriott hotels in Korea.

I booked 8 days this coming October 2025 and hope to report my experience!

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotel...rnas/overview/

Love to see a new Westin!

More information about the Westin seoul Parnas Hotel

1. "Parnas" stands for 'Premium Urban Wellness'
2. Total rooms: 564, (Intercontinental was previously 656 rooms)
3. Nine room types: Standard King, Standard Double Twin, Premier Suite King, Studio Suite Double, Studio Suite King, Corner Suite King, Executive Suite, Ambassador Suite, Presidential Suite
4. Westin Club Lounge: 30th floor , 702 square meter lounge with panoramic views of downtown Seoul including the Han River
A. Breakfast, Snack, Evening cocktail hour, and Westin Night will be served
B. Private meeting rooms offered
5. Cosmopolitan fitness club: 3rd floor with a pool, sauna, gym equipment, yoga room, screen golf, putting training systems,
6. Restaurants: Lounge & Bar "The Logue," wellness concept all-day dining.
"On: Table," International buffet, breakfast lunch and dinner
"Asian Live", which showcases authentic cuisine from five Asian countries (this is a holdover from the InterContinental)
"Edit" Bakery

Stay: October 17th - October 25th
Marriott Status: Platinum
Room Booked: High Floor City King
Upgrade: None

Starting off this hotel's quality is higher than any Westin that I have stayed at. In fact it is better than the JW just half a mile from the location, and for the cost of the room there is no better value in all of Seoul.
BUT, there are some oddities about the Westin Parnas that if you are not aware of them and how to avoid them, then you will have a bad time.

1. They seemingly do not do room upgrades and they have Suite Night upgrades blocked. My buddy who also stayed is Ambassador level and he also got nothing. From what I understand they consider Westin Club access as an upgrade, so unless you booked a room with Club Access then you have no chance.
2. Low floors directly face ugly rooftops. Rooms start from the 6th floor up to the 37th floor. Highly encourage to book a high floor room.
3. The King room is a little cramped for anything more than a 5 night stay. I like to hang my suits and shirts to get the wrinkles out and there was barely enough room for me and my wife. Still bigger than most domestic Korean hotel rooms but nonetheless still feels cramped.
4. The Westin Club is the highlight of the hotel. Best club I have ever been to. But they only allow you to invite up to 2 outside guests Mon-Thurs for a fee. Friday - Sunday NO outside guests are allowed.

Now the bad is out of the way lets talk about the good.

1. The Westin Club here is amazing! It is bigger than most airline lounges, has incredible food for breakfast and cocktail hour with generous hours, and incredible views. The best Club in all of Korea and at the top of my list world-wide of any hotel.
   Not pictured but in the evening they have TWO full DIY bars, a selection of 6 wines, and a selection of 3 beers. My only complaint is the beer fridge is locked until cocktail hour.
   For breakfast they have an egg your way station and during cocktail hour they serve grilled lamb shank.
2. The lobby bar features live piano jazz in the evenings and seating for up to 100 people. They have an ample amount of servers to attend to you and a selection of pub food such as burgers and light snacks.
3. On Table is the hotel's buffet restaurant. Platinum and above have the option of having breakfast at the buffet or the Club (you can do both in one morning if you like). It is a huge selection that competes well with the Grand Hyatt in Itaewon, JW in Dongdaemun, and the Josun Palace Hotel.
   They prefer you to order coffee and hot drinks from a server, there is no coffee machine that customers can access on their own unlike other buffets.
4. Regrettably I did not try the other restaurants on the 2nd floor. Morton's Steakhouse was not open yet and I was not interested in the Chinese restaurant although I am sure it is very good.
5. The fitness center is enormous and unfortunately I forgot to take pictures. Virtually anything you can imagine. Yoga room, Pallates room, Cardio Room, Free weight room, full size pool, jacuzzi, and sauna room. Everything but the sauna room was free for hotel guests to access. They also had personal trainers available and on the floor.
   It was way better than the JW Gangnam's or Conrad Seoul's fitness centers.
6. Location is very good within the heart of Gangnam Seoul. Besides having direct underground access to the COEX mall and conference center you also have access to Bongeunsa subway station on Line 9. You can also walk through the COEX mall to Samseoung station on Line 2.
   In the future this location will also be right on top of the new KTXGTX bullet train station currently under construction and set to open in 2030. Also the new Global Trade center will be attached through the underground.

Entrance to Club

Inside Club lobby with Club desk for check-in/out for platinum and above

Entrance to Club dining area

Club dining

Club dining

Club dining

Club dining

Club dining with a view of the Han River

Other side of the Club with even more seating

Dried pork leg shaved at the Club cocktail hour

Club cocktail hour

Club cocktail hour and breakfast

Club cocktail hour

Club cocktail hour and Tea time

Club cocktail hour and Tea time

Club cocktail hour and breakfast

Club cocktail hour. Amazing Norwegian brown cheese!

Club breakfast

Club breakfast omlet station

Korea beef at the Club

Club cocktail hour sala bar

Club lamb shank at cocktail hour

Club breakfast and view

Club dishware

Lobby bar area

Lobby check-in area

Hotel buffet entrance

Hotel buffet

Hotel buffet

I noticed my upcoming reservation has a note that they won�t upgrade to suites - just enhanced rooms. That�s annoying but doesn�t deter me from staying a single night to try out a newly renovated Westin.

They upgraded me to a suite. They mentioned the policy at check-in but said they wanted to give me something special since it was my first time. YMMV - I can already tell I�m going to really like or maybe love this property,

If you like this one, try the Interconti next door - that was always my favourite property in Seoul.

I thought this hotel was fantastic. I would 100 percent come back here. Here are my impressions and photos:

Pros:

• Upgraded to a Premier Suite and placed on the top guest floor (29)
• Bed is comfortable - medium slightly plush yet supportive mattress, plush pillows, plush enough covers
• Shower pressure is good (I used the rainfall) - plenty of water flow
• Beautiful views
• Great welcome gift of chocolates - talk about a win for yours truly
• Offered late checkout proactively - no issue with requested 3 PM
• Staff was really friendly and kind at the desk - there is a normal desk, sit-down Ambassador desk, and club check-in, I believe - I just did normal check-in as there was no queue and Ambassador desk check-out as there was a queue for the normal desks
• Lounge on floor 30 is truly fantastic - massive - great offering
• Afternoon service had macarons and great chocolate cake along with yummy tortilla chips
• Evening service had lots of options - great truffle potatoes au gratin and black pepper beef - great smoked salmon and good guacamole with tortilla chips - lots of other options, too, and plenty of spirits (I didn�t partake) - I actually skipped dinner, which I never do
• I picked restaurant breakfast as my welcome gift - benefit is that the restaurant does barista coffees - loved the New Year design on my cappuccino - omelets were good, delicious hashbrown, great smoked salmon and grilled salmon
• Lounge breakfast (I went to check) has egg chef but no barista coffees, I think
• AC does work (though, is a bit slow to cool down during afternoon sun)
• The main gym is massive with so many options (I only used one of the many treadmills)

Neutral:

• Property needs destination dispatch elevator system so that you don�t get the crowding on the lobby floor - not horrible, but it would help

Cons:

• I don�t like the published no suite upgrade policy, but they did upgrade me, so�.

I would come back. The lounge mixed with the hard and soft products make this a really easy sell.

Photos (please expand the Spoiler tag):


What the.... looks like somebody read the Marriott manual to this property regarding upgrades finally. I'm jealous!
Also you got the city side room which honestly isn't a bad view at all. Funny, I pointed out Josun Palace directly across the park to my wife also. I think the 1910 bar at Josun Palace directly faces back to the Westin.

They definitely got dinged after my visit from Marriott because neither myself (Plat) or my friend (Ambassador) got welcome gifts during our stay.
We were flabbergasted at no upgrades and no gifts. Glad to hear they course corrected.

I think the buffet restaurant barista also upped their game, I remember getting generic heart shaped cappuccinos and it seemed to take them forever to bring to my table.
To be fair they had just opened in September a month before my stay.

You also forgot to take pictures of the fitness center... lol
That place is massive right? There were at least 5 personal fitness trainers at the ready for anything I needed.
I felt bad because they were just standing around and probably paid on some kind of quasi commission system and all I wanted to do was use the treadmill.
But they had legit olympic training equipment the fanciest Technogym equipment there is. You could just push your badge to it and it would begin learning your physic and training goals. Very impressive setup.
The only weird thing was the shoe shine guy was inside the gym area. I assume people buy a membership and have their shoes shined as they work out, but still odd.

I am definitely coming back to this hotel later this year.
Josun Palace is really nice, but they don't have a lounge and convenience is mixed. I still might come back someday but the Westin Parnas is only a stones throw away.
The JW Gangnam and JW Dongdaemun do not hold a candle to this property. Sure their lounge rules are much more relaxed, but unless I have a distinct need for their location I just dont think I would return.

I didn�t take photos of the fitness center as it had other guests working out, and I wouldn�t want to be the person taking photos in a gym while others are there. It is massive, though, as you said. I would come back here over Josun Palace, for sure. Much more convenient location and honestly better breakfast - not to mention the lounge.

Despite my better judgement on location, I decided to book this place for the latter half of my trip to Seoul this year. Didn't like the Gangnam area very much and also made it a little annoying to get around to places but at least it was right next to coex mall and subway wasn't far. My friend stayed here on his recent trip and he said it almost ruined their vacation because the lounge food was so good that they stayed in most of the time

I understand that upgrades are super stingy here but I assume they still follow the T&Cs and allow lounge access via status (Titanium)? I've also read that club floor guests get complimentary access to the bathhouse facilities. Normally I tend to get upgraded to club floor rooms before arrival anyways but in the event that this doesn't happen here, does this get extended to Plat/Tit status holders as well?

And any data points on NUA success here?

You shouldn't have issues with lounge access, no matter what room, with status. IIRC, there are no suites in the NUA pool here.