TonyBurr

How does one get to the subway from the hotel (frequent shuttle, walking distance?) and how far into the center of the city, and what part of the city on the subway line? It sounds like the hotel is outside the city. I am only there for two days. Can I get around Seoul from this hotel? Are there local, small restaurants or food courts near the hotel?

Thanks

andante81

Yes, there is frequent shuttle (every 10min) from the hotel to subway station. However, for sightseeing the location of this hotel is not perfect.
If you want to go to korean traditional places like old palaces, westin chosun seoul hotel is recommended. There are much more small local restaurants near westin than Sheraton. You might check hotel hompage for more info.

http://www.echosunhotel.com/

JCBR

Stayed here a few weeks ago for one night. The location seems to be the midle of nowhere in particular and surrounded by a sort of Casino enviroment. I doubt you could comfortably walk anywhere interesting from here as it seems to be several miles from the centre.
The rooms and service were all good. The restaurants and public areas seemed a bit dingy to me - the food was ok but nothing memorable about the place.
I woudl rather pay the extra next time and go to The Westin

skrosvik

Had two stays here last week (both two nights). Upgraded to club suites at both stay - had booked cheapest annex room. Hotel was pretty much fully booked, but was upgraded anyway.

Location - It is in a little remote location, but there is a free shuttle every 10 min which connects to the subway system. Another option is to take a cab. It is a 30 min ride from the city center by cab, which costs around 20000 won one-way. Not too expensive. Cabs are cheap in Seoul.

Staff - are eager to please and fulfill your requirements, and they are not allowed to accept tip (just like Japan).

Suite - club suite, located on "Sheraton Club Floor" - 12th till 17th floor. It was an open suite, not separate living/study area like traditional suites. Living area had a sitting group and desk and large LCD-television. There was a small toilet stall connected to the living area. There was a small wall separating the bedroom and living area. The bedroom had one queen bed and one single bed and a LCD-television. A larger bathroom with separate shower and bathtub, and a toilet stall as well. Wonderful toilets - that clean and dry, so no need for toilet paper, hehe. The suite had nice views over the river. A nice suite, not very private though with the open solution and also lot of glass/windows used in the bathroom.

Lounge - large lounge with nice views. Breakfast is very limited though. Happy hour was nice, and had some warm dishes as well.

Health club - nice pool and gym, but on the more tatty side, was pretty tired. It closed at 9:30PM every day, which was a huge inconvenience. Should at least be open till 10PM or 11PM.

Food and beverage - a lot of restaurants/bars and lounges located in the Sheraton and in the connecting W Hotel. But the kitchen closes at 10:30PM sharp! So it is impossible to have food after this. Not even the bar serves sandwiches after this. Kinda strange for a hotel of this calibre! There is some kind of bar on the 16 floor, but they serve expensive snacks only (caviar, lobster, etc etc). Room service is open 24 hours a day however - and the food was good.

All in all a pretty good hotel. Would return here any day!

spectzix

i'm staying here in November

trying to book with cash and points, 2800 + $45

with 4 people, i would like to have the room with two single beds

however as platinum member i might be upgraded?

if so do all the suites have a single bed + queen bed?

jjbc

The club suite with the queen and single bed are called club family suites. I am pretty certain they have other suites with a king bed (as I was assigned one but moved at it is a smoking room). You should email the hotel to find out what sort of rooms they have. In my last stays at this hotel in the past year, I have always been upgraded, even when the hotel was fully booked and I was not expecting an upgrade.

dyung

I just finished up a 1 night stay here and was upgraded to one of the "club family suites". I thought it was an interesting layout, and it was kind of cool to have 2 bathrooms in the room. The only thing that bothered me was the carpets in the "living room" half seemed really rough and scratchy. As someone who likes to walk barefoot, it was quite painful to walk on. I tried the provided slippers, but they kept falling off my feet.

jaejaez

Has anyone actually stayed in their "ANNEX ROOMS" before?

I know that plat recognition has been very good here but just in case they are booked out and I get put into one of these rooms, what should I expect?

ddsohn

I was wondering if any SPG Gold members were upgraded at this property from the "annex" rooms. Any other amenities given to SPG Golds at this property? I will be traveling in March.

Thanks in advance!

MTHTravel

Does anybody have an update about the treatment for Gold members? Were you upgraded to the renovated rooms?

newshound

I had a recent stay at this property and was generally very impressed. As there haven't been any recent reviews on this thread I thought I would make a contribution...

First up, the property is roughly 90 mins from the airport. I got there with the limo bus which was cheap and actually very cheerful! The Sheraton is literally right next door to the W so ideal for matress runs if that is your thing.

The property itself is more of a classic Sheraton style, it is quite big and has imposing atrium and lobby areas. Due to the size of the property and the casino/duty free shopping in the mall below it, there also seems to be a high prevelance of tour groups.

I got caught behind a massive group of mainland Chinese tourists all headed for check in and the elevators. Fortunately I was spotted by lobby staff who quickly established I was a plat and whisked me up to the to the club lounge for check in.

The staff there were polite and helpful, making the whole process sppedy and painless (great after a full day of travel!). One note is that laundry collection ends at 6pm which was a problem as I had a suit that needed pressing for a buisness meeting the next morning. Despite it only being 6.10pm I was made to feel they were doing me a huge favour arranging to get this done. Perhaps they were but my expectation is that laundry at a business hotel should always be open late to service exactly this need.

I booked the cheapest possible rate in the annex and was upgraded to a 'family suite' in the main building. I had asked my ambassador to see if she could swing me a renovated room so getting a renovated suite was a nice bonus.

The room itself was bright and airy, seperated into a living room and bedroom by a 5ft high divider, which gave a nice feeling of space as light could travel across both sides. The family suite was composed of a king size bed with a smaller single bed next to it. I guess if a family was using this, the fact that the room divider didnt seal the two rooms would have mean the kid sleeping would have heard a fair bit of noise from the living room if the adults were to be watching TV later on.

The bathroom had a glass wall between it and the bedroom, which I found a bit weird given this was a family room but there was a sort of batch curtain on the inside and out that could be drawn to make the bath room private. One note is that you need to remember all your toiletries or you will be charged at this place... no free tooth brushes or razor blades.

Being a plat I had access to the club room facilities which were nice. The evening snacks were great and there was all manner of wine/soda/beers on tap. Breakfast was OK, not massively impressive but served the purpose for a quick bite before hitting the road. The club room itself was fine (similar ambience and set up to the Westin Tokyo) but not outstanding - the staff were great though.

Location-wise ymmv, totally depends on where you need to be in the city. Personally I am not at all familiar with Seoul but have been told that the Westin is a better location for my office so will probably try that next time. The preperty is a little away from any local action so you're confined to the amenities at the Sheraton or W unless you take a shuttle (I didn't try that).

All in all a very pleasant stay, the location may be an issue for some but if you get a good rate and the opportunity to enjoy the club facilities you shouldn't be dissapointed.

IluvSQ

Staying here for a 3 night stay, as usual here upgraded to a 2 room suite on the
Executive floor. Everything is good with one exception - I find the Club food offerings
have gone downhill. Breakfast selections seem much more limited than before,
and evening offerings are definitely reduced. Each night there is only 1 hot offering,
along with salad, a few cold canapes, a few jellos and cakes, nuts and corn chips.
While wine and beer are copious, no soft drinks are available. I had to beg for a bottle
of water. Compared with other Asian lounges, the food offerings are very meagre.

CIT85

I just found out my AMEX was charged in USD directly, not in KRW then exchanged into USD by AMEX, for my recent 4 night stay at Sheraton Grande Walkerhill. The difference was about 3.5% extra above what the charges would have been if they had been in KRW.

When I checked out, the invoice was itemized in KRW, room charge, service charge and tax. However, the AMEX slip, which I did not sign, had the total in KRW and USD. I suppose I should have paid closer attention to the actual AMEX charge receipt, but usually the merchants in Seoul would ask me if I wanted the charge in KRW or USD and I always said KRW.

This was a business stay, so the extra payment is not out of my pocket. But I felt I was ripped off since I am careful about company funds. I'm more pissed because I knew about DCC problems and still got ripped off.

Other than the rude DCC surprise, the stay was pleseant. Hotel was close to sold out the first night and no suites available, so I was assigned a River View room as upgrade from cheapest room in annex building. I was moved to a Family Suite the second day. The Suite was one large room with the TV stand separating the living area from the bedroom. The bedroom had a Queen bed and a Single bed. The Single bed was clearly designed for little kids along with the little slippers.

The Executive Lounge breakfast and evening offerings were OK, but not nearly as good as the Lounges at JW Marriott Shenzhen, JW Marriott Beijing, and Sheraton Grande Taipei earlier in my trip. In reference to ILuvSQ's previous comment, there was a small fridge with soft drinks and water. They actually had Perrier the last night of my stay.

Hotel fitness center and normal restaurant (not the expensive buffet restaurant) were closed fro renovations. Platinum breakfast benefit was not offered for the restaurant, I asked. Fitness center alternative was at the W next door, which was very nice.

Overall, the stay was as expected and I would stay here again. But the DCC is annoying as hell.

lcpteck

I didn't realize Amex can get hit with DCC cause I've never had such problems before.

I thought that only Visa and MasterCard is prone to DCC.

CIT85

I called SPG and requested Plat Concierge to open a file on this issue. Hotel responded in less than 24 hours on a Saturday, apologized for the inconvenience and stated that Finance will correct this on Monday. The email also said they will note my preference in my file for future stays.

The original USD charge was refunded to my AMEX and the correct charge in
KRW was applied. The difference was $29. As I mentioned earlier, it's the principle. The hotel responded to my complaint exactly what I wanted them to as soon as the case was filed. I am very satisfied with how the hotel handled this issue.

I will definitely stay at the Sheraton Walkerhill in the future.