Sejong Hotel — Hotel in Seoul

We booked Sejong Hotel this for a six-day trip to Seoul and was looking forward to seeing a new city. We arrived late into Incheon airport and took a Uber to the hotel, we arrived just after midnight, first impressions were good, we when up the escalators from the street into the main lobby. At reception the person behind the desk must have guessed who we were and new the name it was booked under without being prompted. The lobby was clean, bright and spacious. Across from the main desk was the restaurant, this was used for both breakfast and dinners. Not that we tried it, the prices were rather high compared to the abundance of places around to eat. The next day we were up early and could hear drums beating outside and some sort of chanting. Anyway, we went out and explored the city, as we left there was people outside the entrance with banners, and notices protesting. Not really stopping to find out what they were protesting about we headed out for a tiring day exploring, then we headed back to the hotel. To find people still there. In the room it was overly warm, so we tried to get the Air conditioning working. That night it was not getting cooler, in fact it felt like it was getting hotter. As we left that morning, we mentioned this to the reception desk personnel, we were told that the AC in the hotel was not working, but would send a fan up to us. Strange as the AC was working in reception. We left and again the protesters were outside, upon our return that night they had gone, but left all their banners and information there for all to see. So I looked and found that the hotel was at one point run with over 200 staff, post covid it was run with about 22 staff. The protestors were protesting to get there jobs back and were pointing out that the hotel was now unsafe for staff to work at and just as unsafe for customers. We went to out room and again the room was roasting, so we went back to the desk to to find out where the fan we was promised was. A different person was on reception tonight, so we explained again to be told that they call this time of year (Late March/Early April) as winter, so they do not turn the AC on in the hotel. Anyway, this guy said to cool the room open the window, I pointed out that the signs in the room say not to open windows to prevent Mosquitoes coming in. Anyway, after a but of a debate he said that he would bring a fan up himself, I guess as they didn’t have any staff to do it for them. Anyway fan was delivered and we had more of a comfortable nights sleep. To conclude, the hotel was clean and tidy, but the place needs updating and renovating. Carpets are work through in places, and stained, I can not comment on the food. But I can say that in six days I was there I see one person in there, maybe that says it all. Location wise, the Myeongdong metro station is less that 2 min walk from the front of the hotel. You also have the Myeongdong market in the roads behind the hotel, plenty of food places and market stalls to find there. All the food is amazing, so your never go hungry. Enjoy the city, but maybe find another hotel, well until they get their staffing and hotel quality...

Rounded up rating.

The best thing about this hotel is the location. Behind the hotel, there are alleys and alleys of street food that comes alive at night, selling everything from baked cheese to blood sausage, besides many restaurant, snack shops, cosmetic, fashion and accessories. They are open until late on Saturday night, not sure about other nights. The hotel is accessible from behind (with access card) and regular access in front.

Earlier in the morning (before ten) there are not many things around, but convenience shops and coffee are nearby. There is also an airport transport point just outside the hotel and subway entry. Twelve-story building of all Daiso is just opposite the street. It was the best Daiso I've gone to but it was too crowded because I think it was new.

The room's size is okay and clean, with a balcony (that unfortunately looks a bit unkept), but the room itself is clean, aircon is cold, bathroom is clean with almost all amenities except toothbrush and toothpaste. It's actually quite weird, the 'green' part about this hotel is just the unavailability of these two.

The fridge is way too small, though, it's very... shallow. It only has the depth of a small bottle. There is no way you can put your own beverage or medications if needed. There is a safe, a tiny fake bedside table. There is no wardrobe, just some hanger which can be a challenge to hang your stuff for longer stays. We stayed there for three nights and there is not enough place to hang our towels or clothes. The TV is weirdly positioned and there are not many channels available but it's fine.

There is a secret way to reach the room, I still don't understand the logic actually. From lobby take the side elevator (not the main one) but the one near the toilet and go to level 4. From level 4 walk to level 6. There is probably only half a meter height difference through a ramp, but voila, now you have reach level 6, from there take another elevator to level 7 where we are. I guess that only works for certain clusters of rooms, maybe? This elevator also leads to back alley of the hotel for street food adventure.

The breakfast is okay, but staff can be inattentive because for the whole hour we were there one day, they never refilled the hot water (which is only one small kettle to begin with). They also don't allow room slipper in the dining area. We only brought sneakers, so we thought it would be convenient to just put on the room's slipper for a quick grab (didn't use them in the room). After all, the slippers are the proper-looking kind, not those white flabby ones and there was no indication that we couldn't do it. Apparently we couldn't, so we had to navigate the weird level, waiting for multiple elevators to change them. Just put the instructions in the room to save time.

There are sauna and gym facilities, we didn't check the sauna, but the gym was good and clean with decent number of equipment. They provide shoes as well if you don't bring a proper sport shoes.

There are things to improve, but I will round it up to 5 stars because I had...

this hotel is horrible and i wouldn’t recommend anybody to stay. we booked this way back before our scheduled trip and we didnt know alot of things happened, which i will briefly elaborate. firstly when we first arrived, we were kinda shocked to find out why are there protesters standing around, and there are boards to protest about this hotel regarding mistreatment and wages issue. You can refer to the photos. we thought of this to be some minor dispute but we were so wrong. after 1-2days of staying, their aircon didn’t start to work, and to our horror, they dont even bother to inform at all. The so called manager on duty, kim myung jun, doesnt give a damn when we called him up and asked for a response. We had to kept asking for alternative and he reluctantly brought up an electric fan which didnt really worked fully. we tried reaching out to trip agent but again, they were unable to do much, other than to meditate the situation with the hotel staff. we managed to switch to another room which we were told that the aircon will work ‘better’ in a few days time, so you probably can imagine how frustrated we are. The only positive points are the hotel looks relatively clean and you can see it from the photos. Location wise it is near mrt but with the amount of flight of stairs, i would give it a miss since there isnt any nearby elevator. by the way, trip.com agent is also not aware that this hotel is no longer 4stars, and due to the protest and ongoing internal problems, they had dropped to 3stars, and trip is still promoting them as 4 stars, and didnt remove them off the listing here, potentially scamming another traveler like me. from this, i can briefly say that, in such foreign land, you are really at their mercy and nothing could be done such as trip. In response they did mention they would compensate us but it’s less than 10% of what we paid for, just so you know if you’re reading this and considering this hotel to book. all in all, i learnt from this experience and i may consider looking for alternative platform since they as a 3rd party, are pretty useless when it comes to...