Hotel Bernoui Seoul

The buffet had plenty of variety and was decent quality. The yoghurt tasted fresh, the bread was dense but moist, and the fish had good flavor. CU was a nice extra too, well stocked with lots of choice, and the honey chicken was unreal. There were shops, cafes, and restaurants nearby, though being south of the river left the hotel out of the way, and Seoul has plenty of the same things elsewhere. Sleep was rough. The beds were uncomfortable, pillows varied and felt rough, and the duvets were much too thick. The window opened wide, which helped with the underfloor heating, but there was no way to turn that heat off. The air con seemed to be there just to tease us, so the heating completely ruined our sleep. Lifts were a pain when a coach unloaded or around breakfast. Sometimes the lift would deselect the floor we’d chosen, so we had to press every floor twice, with people trying to squeeze into a clearly full lift. The shower wasn’t always as hot as we wanted, and the shower head wouldn’t stay fixed in place. Towels were very small. Cleaning was disappointing too: we often found dust left behind, parts of the floor untouched, and towels not replaced when needed. On each floor there were little side balconies that looked deceptive. Used cigarettes sat there for the whole two weeks we were there. We were told smoking wasn’t allowed in those outbuildings, which felt like a waste, since I didn’t fancy going down 20 floors for a vape break, possibly dealing with Chinese traffic on the way. I’d call it 2.5 stars, but rounded up to 3 because rounding down to 2 felt unfair.

There were tour buses outside all the time and large groups at breakfast in the morning, so it seemed like a place that mostly caters to tour bookings. The front desk service was bad. The guys there always looked unfriendly and were rude. I had questions about my room, which was booked through a guide. Maybe the guide had caused the problem, though that still needed checking. The desk could have explained things calmly or handled it properly. Instead, I got, “NO! THIS IS HOTEL POLICY!” A woman who was nicer asked a man, who seemed to be a manager, to help explain. He told me to go back to my room or call my guide, and said he wasn’t going to help. I was only asking politely to find out what was going on. I don’t think I deserved that attitude. At least the woman was nicer. It’s a hotel with bad service. Think twice before booking.

The washroom flooded after showers, and I had to use all their towels to make a path so I could brush my teeth. We were two adults and a child in a twin room, but when I asked for one more pillow, they wanted to charge extra. Do they charge for an extra pillow too?

The room had enough space to open one large suitcase at a time, but the soundproofing was poor and we could hear the next room showering. It was a long wait for the lift, with tourist buses everywhere. Breakfast was limited, with poor seating, and felt more like a staff food court. The hotel is far from tourist attractions.