Hotel Laon

The beds were awful, like sleeping on the floor. We spent the week sleeping on our pillows. They had no mattress topper, and when we asked for an extra blanket to put down, they wanted $20 AUD per night. The bathroom flooded every time we turned on the shower. A rude man came up to supposedly fix it, but didn’t, and after the way he spoke to us we gave up trying to get it sorted. The rooms were filthy, with stains on the walls and bedding. Housekeeping let us run out of toilet paper, took our “make up room” sign off the door without cleaning, and left the old towels on the floor. We had to find staff ourselves to get fresh towels and toilet paper. The towels were thin, ragged, and ancient. One young receptionist was friendly and greeted us, which is about the only good thing I can say. The location is nice, but unless you want to spend all your time at the beach, there isn’t much to do nearby and we’d be walking 5 km into the city each day. This place has potential but fails at the basics. Don’t book it. Go a few kilometres toward the CBD and find somewhere else, since there are beaches everywhere.

Just across from the beach, the hotel is in a quiet, pleasant spot and also close to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. For a more lively outing, Haeundae Blueline Park is walkable and makes it easy to reach busier areas. Our room had a beach view and came with a shower, Jacuzzi, mini fridge, TV, and electric kettle for tea or coffee. Breakfast was simple, with eggs, fruit, toast, coffee, and juice. We had an excellent stay, and I’d confidently recommend it.

Hotel Laon is right by Songjeong beach, with the boardwalk and a station for the beach train nearby. It’s a great spot for beach lovers and surfers. If you plan ahead and the sky is clear, you may even see the sunrise from a sea-view room. The rooms are stylish and well equipped, with good beds. The staff were friendly, and Mr Sam S O on the day shift was especially helpful with directions to places.

Getting an invoice was a real problem because we booked through a third party. Whether booking as a company or as an individual, the hotel said the third party had to issue it and that they would only provide one for direct bookings. They didn’t respond to the third party’s requests either, so we couldn’t explain our expenses. The hotel itself needs updating. The outlets were worn, the fridge in our room didn’t work, and the lamps kept flickering. They said they’d look at the lamps the next day, but they were still flickering when we returned from our event.