Travelodge Dongdaemun Seoul — Hotel in Seoul

I stayed at this hotel for a while(1month), and while the location was great—close to DDP and the night mall—I was very disappointed with the cleanliness and service. I requested extra cleaning for an additional fee during my first week, but my request was denied because I’m a student. I explained that I suffer from severe allergies caused by dust, but I received no assistance. By the end of the week, I felt extremely nauseous and ill, even taking double my usual medication. One night, I took it upon myself to change the sheets and was shocked to find a dirty, yellow-orange mattress underneath. I went to the lobby, and after changing rooms three times, I found the same issue in all of them—dirty sheets and mattresses. I had no choice but to sleep on my own sweatshirt.

I then requested extra cleaning for the following weeks, which was eventually granted. However, the cleaning was still not up to standard. Sometimes the sheets were changed, sometimes not. The floor was rarely vacuumed or mopped. To test the quality of the cleaning, I left a grape on the floor. When I returned, it had been moved to the table instead of being cleaned up. This made me question the attention to detail.

I spoke to the staff multiple times about my concerns, as sleeping in unsanitary conditions while taking extra medication made me feel worse. One staff member was particularly dismissive, often rolling her eyes and speaking condescendingly. On one occasion, when my room card didn’t work, I went downstairs to get a new one. She threw the card at me, which felt unnecessarily rude. When I confronted her, she denied it, even though it was clear she had done so.

However, there were a couple of staff members, including a manager, who were much more understanding and did their best to help, which I appreciated.

Another issue was with the second floor, where the laundry room is located. It needs a deep cleaning and better ventilation. The small, windowless room caused a build-up of warm, musty air, leading to a very unpleasant smell. When I mentioned this to the staff, I was told that if I didn’t like it, I could go to a nearby laundry salon.

Overall, the hotel has a great location, but the cleanliness and some of the staff interactions need improvement. It would benefit from a deep cleaning, a possible staff change, and perhaps relocating the laundry room to a better-ventilated area. Would I stay here again? I would consider it if I were convinced that changes have been made, but otherwise, I would look for...

Dirty, stained carpet, very dusty room. Sink was semi-blocked Room had severe dust mite/bed bug issue causing a lot of itchiness and rashes all over during my stay

The cleaner clearly doesn't clean and vacuum properly as there was a lot of dust everywhere and carpet had pieces of fabric left there which was movable with a light brush against the carpet with my feet.

The bed sheets and pillow covers were stained, mattress cover was stained and hair could be seen beneath the mattress cover.

They don't provide cleaning unless you ask them to at the front desk.

I asked for cleaning and all the dirt and floating fabric remained on the carpet - so it was visibly clear that the cleaner wasn't vacuuming the room properly.

I then mentioned about the dirt/dust/mites/bugs to the front desk and the issues it was causing. They promised the room to be cleaned and bed sheets changed - yet again floating fabric and bits remained on carpet, every corner and shelf of the room was covered in dust, bed sheets and pillows weren't changed as they had the exact same stains on them.

I went and told them that the pillows and bed sheets didn't get changed and that the room needed cleaning and vacuuming but once again they just tidied up the bed and cleaned the toilet. Everything else was still the same, dirty carpet, dust and pillow/bed sheets did not get changed.

Told them again and it was the same result yet again.

Another day I asked for room cleaning but nothing happened at all this time - bed didn't get tidied up and nothing was done at all this time.

Terrible especially for the price paid. There are other much better 3 star hotels. Even cheap guesthouses/hostels are a lot better and clearly cleaner than Travelodge Dongdaemun Worst place I've ever stayed at in Korea

Hotel is pretty...

Metro/subway system in South Korea, like any other country (outside of the states), is really good. Bed is really comfortable, but like everyone else says, quite small room. You have enough room to just walk around the bed and that's it. Literally not that big of a walkway either. To give a better picture, one side of the bed is almost against the wall, the other side? As wide as a suitcase to roll through (rolling on it's side, if that make sense). We ended up placing our suitcase against the wall on the way into the room (across the bathroom). We asked for new towels, and we literally just got new towels. No garbage removed, I get it, we only asked for new towels, but the bathroom garbage was visible, it could've been easily emptied. We also asked for the soap dispenser in the bathroom to be refilled, but it wasn't. Luckily, we still had a little of our shower gel left (from our connecting trip from China). We asked for housekeeping the next day, but the bed was made really sloppy. They basically pulled the bed cover to cover the pillow. No effort made (I could've done that myself.) Overall, not to shabby of a place. It was decent for last minute booking (same day booking because our trip to HK was cancelled due to the typhoon, so we flew into SK instead) and somewhere to come back to, to sleep. No amenities, just FYI. But they do have a vending machine to purchase amenities if needed such as toothbrush, laundry soap, etc. Laundry room is on 2nd floor, cost 3K won to wash and 3K won to dry.|Would I stay...