Sofitel Ambassador Seoul Hotel & Serviced Residences — Hotel in Seoul

First of all, a big thank you to the hotel team for your thoughtful hospitality, which made my time in Seoul delightful and unforgettable. Happy holidays to all of you!

As a member of ALL, if you're planning to visit Seoul, Sofitel Ambassador Seoul should definitely be on your list. The hotel's location is convenient and its facilities are luxurious and elegant. However, beyond these obvious advantages, it's the hotel's service and guest experience that truly stand out.

Firstly, Sofitel Club Millésime never disappoints, and Seoul is no exception. From pre-arrival to post-departure, the attentive email support was continuous. The lounge staff were warm, welcoming, and almost knew every guest by heart, remembering my usual seating and dining reservations. A special mention goes to the Mio Japanese restaurant. Typically, their dinner course is for at least two guests, but I needed to dine alone. Despite this, the Club Millésime team coordinated and successfully made a reservation for me. Coincidentally, on the evening I went to Mio, I met a gentleman from the Club team in the lobby. Knowing that Mio can be hard to find, he personally escorted me to the restaurant and even checked on my dining experience the next day. Truly thoughtful! I must emphasize that every member of the Club Millésime team is exceptional, and I am very grateful for your gracious hospitality.

The hotel's dining experience is equally outstanding. During my stay, I almost tried all the dining facilities. I was delighted to find the perfect souvenir at Jardin d'Hiver. The white tin packaging was festive, and the best part was that Accor Plus dining discounts were accepted there as well—a pleasant surprise! By the way, the café is beautiful, and spending a bright, leisurely afternoon there would be lovely. The signature cocktails at L'Espace are also great. Unfortunately, I couldn't experience the Tea Voyage due to a lack of reservations, but I look forward to it next time. My top recommendations are Fait Maison, Mio, and Latitude32. Fait Maison's weekday bistro-style meals are exquisite, and the service is impeccable. The five-course wine-paired dinner offers great value, and the Christmas market view adds to the festive atmosphere. The elegant and friendly table service left a lasting impression, and the lunch course menu is also commendable. Everything at Mio is equally fantastic. If you're on a staycation, don't miss these two restaurants. Latitude32 Jazz Night has a great atmosphere, and the Festival cocktail Candle Layer is both beautiful and delicious. The zodiac cocktails are also fun. You can use the member welcome drink until 8:30 PM, and by the way, the Korean fried chicken here is amazing—worth a try. The attentive staff provided detailed descriptions of each cocktail and brought me ice water promptly when I accidentally burned myself with the fried chicken. Much appreciated!

The highlight of this stay was participating in the candle ritual. As a huge fan of the Sofitel brand, it's one of my favorite aspects. Unfortunately, due to COVID, some Sofitel hotels in China no longer hold the candle ritual daily. Therefore, it was exciting to see the candle ritual happening at the hotel on the evening of the 18th. After expressing my interest, the concierge team invited me to participate in the candle ritual the next day, which was a big surprise. Thank you very much to the two who guided me through the candle ritual on the evening of the 19th, allowing me to experience all the steps and light up various areas of the hotel. Everything felt fancy and ceremonial. Believe me, it was a unique and memorable experience, truly reflecting Sofitel's Heartfelt service. Without a doubt, you are true heartists! Once again, thank you! By the way, the lobby of the residence is very homely and warm, and the holiday decorations in the French Corner are beautiful. I love it!

Lastly, thank you again for the warm hospitality. This has been my best hotel experience in the past year. Happy New Year and best wishes...

Decent 5 star hotel around 5-10 minutes walk from metro station. The hotel has a lot of entrances and lifts, so it can get a little confusing at the start. Hotel staff are situated everywhere so you can always ask them if you're lost and they're very polite.

Rooms were large with a bathtub, shower, and toilet. Amneties include shower cap, wooden comb, amneties kit (cotton buds and cotton pads), as well as sanitary bag. 4 bottles of water are provided in the room each day as well as slippers. if you need more of anything, then you can request it via the tablet in the room so it's super convenient. Once requested, a member of the hotel will deliver it to your room within 5-15 minutes. Toothbrush, toothpaste, and razor are provided in the room, but they are chargeble. Drinks in the mini fridge and the drinks/food in the drawers are also chargeable. Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, soap, and body cream are all dipytique. Bath salt is provided, but it doesn't melt that easily even when I add it right at the start and use only the hot water.

Water flows out of the shower door if you use the normal shower (not overhead waterfall one) so it gets the bathroom a little wet but the water dries pretty quickly as its usually dried by the time I wake up.

Overall rooms were nice. Of course, it's not perfect, especially since I'm very picky, but it's decent. You can also pick pillows, but you'll need to call them to change it. The room was pretty quiet even though we were right next to the lifts. You can still hear some noise when people are outside near the lifts (right outside our door), but it's not too bad, and the hotel, in general, is relatively quiet.

When we first checked in to the room, there was no welcome note or anything which I was a bit disappointed with but when we came back in the evening, there was a some welcome snacks and a welcome note in our room 😊 . I stayed during my birthday and usually, whenever I stay at a hotel for a birthday, there will be a happy birthday note of some kind (or even a cake or champagne if the hotel is extra nice) but this wasnt the case at Sophitel. There were no notes or anything to acknowledge my birthday, which was a little bit disappointing (they had my passport during check-in so they would've seen. Im also a member of the accor membership). I've seen some people commebt about receiving birthday messages and cakes, so I guess it depends on your luck whether they notice its your birthday or not.

Turn down service is offered, but you need to request it each night, which is annoying - and you have to do this via calling them as you can not request it vai the tablet. During turn down, they will make your bed, put a chocolate on your bedside table, fold your pjs and empty the bins, etc. A nice little touch, but you have to request it each day, which is a hassle given that there's not much to the turn down service - so probably not really worth the extra effort.

As I'll be staying at this hotel for the first and last 3 days of my trip in Korea, the hotel was able to hold onto my lugagge for me in between my stays (~5 days)

2nd stay: as we booked with Amex, we had a free upgrade and because they were very busy the weekend we arrived, they ran out of the next room grade so they "upgraded" us to a suite but this wasnt a suite in the hotel section but just the lowest category room in the residence section of the hotel. The room was very big as it was basically a 1 bed apartment without a view. Kitchen, washing machine, fridge freezer, etc. was available. It was ok. I'm not a fan of it being in the residence section rather than the hotel section, but the room was large, at least. The room itself felt like it hasnt been used in a long time (not in a good sense but more like things felt rusty and not properly maintained kind of way). Same welcome message and treats when I came back on the first night. The cleaning staff even helped us arrange our slippers the next day...

It’s a five-star hotel both in appearance and in services offered. It’s value for money, even without tipping, which is at least optional (if not discouraged culturally) in South Korea.

If you’ve stayed in business or budget hotels in past travels to Seoul e.g., in Myeong Dong, Dongdaemun, Nandaemun, even Gangnam and preferred “bed and breakfast” services only, I think you’ll be “blown away” when you include Sofitel in your stay for at least two nights (not one night only) so you can have a whole 24-hour feeling of rest and relaxation just for once in a lifetime. The facilities are there: gym, pool, playground for kids, business center, etc. (What’s optional is the massage service near the gym because that’s quite expensive.)

I observed the staff at Sofitel are trained to be sensitive to guests’ needs. The pleasant experience starts from arriving at the hotel for check-in. The concierge will automatically unload the bags while the guests are escorted to the 6th floor lobby (if the lobby is crowded, they’ll refer the guests to the 5th floor check-in for serviced residents and Accor members). Same as with check-out but the reverse way. In-between, guests are always greeted by hotel staff with “Bon jour”, French for “good morning or good day”. The front desk staff are always ready to assist like inquiries on places, services, concerns, and from experience before, when one guest turned out positive in her PCR test, remained very courtous to her as a valued guest until she was transported to an isolation hotel, as required by the South Korean government.

Both Sofitel and Fairmont hotels in Seoul opened in 2021 months apart. Thus, the tangible assets are still “new”. Before those two, I haven’t heard any exceptional five-star hotel like Intercon, Conrad, etc. Thus, it was (and of course still is) reasonable to stay in an economical business hotel for a tourist on holiday.

But the advantage of Sofitel over Fairmont is that there is a department store, a lakeview, food courts and restaurants, and an amusement park at the neighboring Lotte World, plus the iconic Lotte World Tower, which opened in 2017. So if you need to dine outside or bring to-go food into the hotel and eat in the room, that’s fine - except no food delivery service is allowed into the hotel and the guest will be fined.

On the other hand, we also tried their in-room food service at midnight and it was great! The ingredients used were premium quality, especially the burger patty and the Bolognese sauce for the spaghetti. At least it’s not the fast-food quality meal we’ve all known everyday.

We also tried the breakfast once at the 4th floor. The chioces were plenty from Western to Asian, from French to Chinese to Korean cuisines. Breakfast is a chance to view the man-make lake outside from the glass window.

On the other hand, being used to staying in business hotels where there is a DIY laundry available, regrettably there’s none in Sofitel (or probaly in other luxury hotels in Seoul). But the front desk can recommend a DIY laundry across the street but still too far to walk.

The essence is that if travelling to Seoul on a holiday with a major reason(s) to celebrate e.g., graduation, victory, milestone anniversary, etc., one can stay first in a business hotel upon arriving in South Korea and then move to Sofitel for the last two days before departing the country. I’m sure the hotel staff are aware of this and have been trained to make the hotel experience homey and avoid the risk of ruining a memorable stay.

Lastly, if departing South Korea, I also recommend a taxi service from the hotel to Incheon Airport rather than walking far to Jamsil Station near Lotte World Tower to take a Airport Limousine bus or take a...