The Westin Josun Busan — Hotel in Busan

I would not recommend this hotel, particularly during busy season. I am a Marriott Titanium (soon to be Ambassador) member, and had 105 nights year-to-date in late July when we checked in. They refused to give me any upgrade, and I ended up with the lowest level room in the hotel with no view. I doubt anyone else in the hotel -- or in South Korea for that matter -- had 105 nights year-to-date, and yet everyone in the hotel got a better room and superior view than me. Guaranteed check-in time was 3:00 p.m., but our room was not available until 4:30 p.m. and no concessions or discounts were applied for the 90 minutes that we had paid for -- but did not have access to -- our room.|The hotel is on the beach, but there is no outdoor pool and the hotel has no control over the beach and no dedicated space. They do not provide beach chairs or towels. The small indoor pool was incredibly crowded, literally shoulder to shoulder, and too packed to even float on one's back. At any given time there were 5-6 people within reaching distance; it felt like eels at the fish market. One-third of the pool was roped off for laps, but I never saw anyone swimming laps; they should clear that space when the pool is that crowded. No drinks at the pool in the late afternoon/evening, and the pool actually closes for an hour between 18:00 and 19:00. For Westerners expecting a resort-pool type experience, it is NOT that -- you will avoid the pool entirely and be forced to join the throngs of public beachgoers with no chair and no towel.|Platinum/Titanium members can only access the Executive Lounge for a total of one hour at night -- you have to choose one of two hour-long time slots (5:30-6:30 or 7:00-8:00). When you arrive for your time slot, there is a long line, and then a stampede for one of the too-few tables when the doors open. After about 40 minutes, the staff circulates to remind everyone that they must leave in 20 minutes. It was a very rushed, chaotic experience, and the lounge is supposed to be a place where loyal customers can relax. The extra charges for family members are outrageous for the scant food offerings.|The rooms were very dated, and they obviously had not vacuumed our room when we checked in, because there was a nest of black hair, which had apparently fallen from the prior guest's hairbrush, in the middle of the very worn carpet. |We ate dinner at the Korean restaurant in the basement, which was mediocre, and we had an 8:30 reservation for a set menu with several courses. At 8:50, the hostess came to our table to inform us that they closed at 9:00, and we did not even have our entree course yet. At 9:00, as they were setting down our entrees, the hostess returned and told us that they were closed and that they needed to clear the table. We explained that we had just been served entrees, and had not yet been served dessert. Between the Concierge Lounge and the Japanese restaurant, we felt very rushed throughout our time at this hotel.|Reviewing the folio at checkout, I discovered that I had been grossly overcharged, including $100 per day for two breakfasts that I was entitled to for free due to my Titanium status; it took nearly an hour to explain why they had to remove those breakfasts ($300 over three days) from the bill, but they finally did. |All in all, it was a hectic and stressful stay. Most of the staff members were very polite, and the view from the very expensive bars and restaurants was beautiful, but if you are expecting the typical beach resort experience, you won't find it here, and the whole place was...

The Westin is a 5-star hotel perched at the end of Haeundae Beach with great views of the ocean and neighboring hotels and apartments.

The rooms are a little smaller than I expected, but the room I had was still very nice. If staying long-term, you'll just need to arrange your possessions creatively to make everything fit because you don't get a full dresser and closet like in other hotels in Busan of comparable quality.

The Panorama Lounge offers great views of the beach and ocean just in case you did not get a room with an ocean view. In a hotel with lots of foreigners, it was a little difficult placing my order at times as I guess my accent was too strong for the server.  That was a little surprising (and frustrating) to me in multiple occasions.

The hotel has five restaurants/cafes, a gym, men's and women's spas, imdoor swimming pool, convenience store (brand new), rooftop sundeck, and a private garden.  Haeundae Beach is just outside the back of the hotel, so you don't have far to go to enjoy the beach.

The Camellia restaurant offers a wide array of western and Asian food for breakfast (sorry, I only had time to have breakfast there), and they offer different types of fresh juice such as melon cucumber and carrot apple on different days. If you stay long enough, you'll get to sample the entire collection.

Happy hour is just ok. Monday through Thursday it's available from 1800 - 2200. Friday through Sunday it's broken up into 2 periods because it gets REALLY crowded. So happy hour is truly 1 hour in each period during the weekends, not ideal if you're an upper tier Marriott member with expectations that you can relax on your own schedule. The menu changes daily and besides domestic and imported beer, there is a small selection of vodka, gin, whiskey and other alcohol.

Because the hotel sits at the end of the beach, you are farther away from other restaurants, shops, and interesting things to see, but it's still a great hotel.

Now for the bad stuff...  I had several bad experiences at the Westin Josun.  The first was a front desk employee that said something very disrespectful towards me.  I had to meet with a lower level manager to discuss that issue, and that produced absolutely no results or resolution.  The next thing was that the customer service at the Panorama Lounge and O'Kim's bar was terrible.  I visited each during my long stay, and the customer service was the worst. I looked around, and other customers were getting service, but not me.  I finally figured out that because I am not Asian I was not going to get the same service.  The last straw was when I saw others in the hotel lounge that were getting special attention because they were asian or white.  At that point, I had to reach out to the general manager.  But that was not easy.  You see the front desk staff wouldn't provide the general manager's contact info (email) so easily.  That presented yet another problem.   I was finally able to meet with the general manager, and he definitely took swift action because the staff began noticing me and treated me like the other paying guests.  I wish it didn't have to go that far, but I appreciated that the general manager took my concerns for action.

Just like the other 5-star hotels in Busan, Westin can be quite expensive, but it's worth...

I’m gonna give myself an honest review here. I’m a South Korean National and I have been coming here as both leisure and business guest for about 6+ years. I’m no better than any other guests coming to stay here, but I want to pride that I have been able to be a part of both giving and receiving end of this busy hotel field since working for it for about 10 years.

But I have decided to write my review here for one reason only, to state that I was let down by the exceptional level of service this properly was legendary in giving all these years. I have stayed with my parents this past weekend for one night at the executive park view room, and a few rudimentary steps were missing due to “high occupancy.”

Firstly, I’ve called about 15 times to the designated reservation line, on the day of check in, from 8:30am; when the line is expected to be for 24 hours availability, it is extremely frustrating to not be answered once after trying to space out the calls over a 5-10 minute intervals. When I have gotten a hold of the front desk representative, I did let her know that I had tried about 15 times on the phone. I do understand that this is peak season and hotel might be short staffed? At any rate, our stay was still about 500,000 KRW per night stay, with an extra bed request that was definitely not followed through even when I was prompted by the front desk representative to request prior to checking in.

When I checked into the property quite late around 6-7pm, I was quite peeved that no extra bed was set up; I was quickly notified in my room by a staff with an extra bed for about 10 minutes to watch him set the bed and get other intercom frantic requests on setting up extra beds. He was professional, but boy did he look frazzled and restless, just like the start of my stay.

Next day, I was okay with the late checkout at 2pm, but what really tipped me over the entire stay was the very last check out moment with the staff’s 5-star, or LACK THERE OF, luggage first over customers mindset. He was so busy that he had to squeeze his trolley full of 6-7 luggages into my almost 70 year old mother and father and my elevator down to the lobby. Just to come down 3 floors?! How is this a 5 star level service worth 500,000 krw? When I was checking out, I have never shed a tear to anyone but I managed to check out and speak to a front desk manager on duty at the time; he gave me his card and gave me his utmost apology on behalf of his staff. His name was Henry Park. I am not trying to shame the hotel but because I care about the legacy of the brand and how amazing Westin Josun the Busan property have been keeping its value all along, for someone as young and vivacious like myself to reason so much over price here is just embarrassing.

I do understand that everyone is going through a lot right now during this time, but if 5 star luxury brand with the 5 star service rating and price are what your property would like to ask of us loyal members, please grant us your due diligence and train the very basics and not let this slip during the “busiest” of times. My heart sank the...