Imperial Palace Boutique Hotel — Hotel in Seoul

The Imperial Palace brand should distance themselves from this sham of a hotel. The first problem is the lack of cleanliness, which in the time of a pandemic, isn’t very reassuring. The carpet is very obviously not cleaned. I opened the closet- and very quickly shut it again as there was hair inside. It’s evident that the cleaning staff only does the bare minimum to make it look like they’ve cleaned- but are really only re-folding towels and sheets.

On my first night, when draining the tub, the drain flooded the bathroom with 2cm of black-specked water pushed up from the drain. After an hour, the water drained, but here were still bits of dirt and leaves on the bathroom tiles.

After the room was cleaned, I checked the bathroom tile- dark bits and leaves still there. I checked the tub- still dirty from last night. Is the closet still- oh yes, those hair strands are still in there. The folded bedsheet on the other twin bed in the room that I hadn’t slept in- not my hair under the duvet.

I had asked the front staff to move my room because of the flooded drain but they only sent in a technician to unclog it. Then they said if it flooded again, they could accommodate my request. Why must I go through the burden of a second bathroom flooding for them to move into action and move me into one of the many vacant rooms available? How is that, in any way, protocol for customer service? It did flood the second night, but by that point, I was familiar with their protocol- call the technician, have him fiddle with the drain, pretend it’s fixed, waste an hour of my time- so just decided to bypass the charade and check out in the morning.

At checkout, the shockingly inept hotel manager danced around the issues, prevaricating and pushing a narrative that it was my fault for not pushing a change of rooms with the staff. I asked twice, over the phone and in person. How much more time should I take out of my stay and pay for the displeasure of outlining their issues? Also, English-speaking tourists may have difficulty as this hotel does not accommodate anything beyond the precursory check-in English.

Unhygienic, unhelpful, deceitful/lazy. Four stars is an absolute joke. I find it galling that this hotel is tricking people into thinking their affiliation with the prestigious Imperial Palace brand carries over to the quality of service here. Don’t be fooled. Find...

If you get this hotel under $50 USD per night, this is one of the best values you can find in Seoul. This was by far the nicest hotel I’ve ever seen under $50 USD – that’s a really key point here for the rest of the review.

The hotel’s design and vibe is similar to the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas….very modern chic and has a boutique feel to it. For the low price I paid for this hotel per night, it’s hard to beat the value here anywhere when you’re doing the price to star rating equation. Keep that in mind if you get a similar deal as I did.

Beds and amenities in the room are very nice. It also had a workout facility inside the premises which was an added bonus since many of my hotels on my travels didn’t have one. The staff was very nice and helpful with any issues. You can definitely tell that pre-tragedy, this was likely a popular hotel in Itaewon. The location here is excellent…you are only a short 5-minute walk to the shopping, clubs, and subway. The added bonus here is that you are just far enough away from hearing the booming sounds of the clubs on the main strip, but close enough to easily walk back to your hotel from a late night out.

There’s only one negative here (and again keep in mind what I paid for this per night) is that the carpet in the rooms desperately need cleaned. Everything else in the room was really nice and clean, except for the carpet. It seems like such an easy fix for the hotel to get a carpet cleaner for the rooms, since the rest of the room is in great shape. I saw three different rooms and all of them had obvious carpet stains (that easily could be fixed with a standard house carpet cleaner vacuum). As a solo traveler, I was ok with the nice room but stained carpet tradeoff, but I could see other travelers/families having an issue with it. If I’m hotel management, it’s a minimal cost to have the carpets cleaned – it’s not like the hotel needs major surgery to keep it up to standards.

TL;DR: This is an insanely good value for a hotel with one minor inconvenience. 5-star if you get this under $50 USD....4-star if you paid...

This is the worst hotel experience i have ever had. Checked in for a weeks stay, The first night i awoke at 7am to building construction work right out side my window. room 1207. It was so loud it woke me up very startled. They then moved us to the other side of the hotel to room 1007 what was the worst decision ever. Every night 10:30pm till 6am club music. Boom Boom Boom of bass and you can even hear the Dj on the Mic sometimes. it was that noisy it was vibrating through my pillow. This RUINED our christmas holiday. I went to the pharmacy for sleeping tablets what didn't work. Each night i was sat up reduced to tears as i couldn't sleep because of the noise. We didn't move rooms again because what is the point? After moving twice already the 3rd room would of been just the same. On day 5 with a terrible cold and cough i believe due to the lack of sleep and stress this room caused me i booked another hotel and left. As i checked out early on the verge of tears the woman at the desk told me the manager was not in but she would pass on my details and they would email me with in 24hrs. Of course iv not heard from this hotel at all. They just took my money, ruined my holiday and washed their hands of me. So please if you are reading this review. DO NOT book this hotel how ever nice it may look in pictures they have to make the hotel look nice due to the poor sleep...