Orakai Cheonggyesan Hotel, BW Premier Collection

The location was amazing, the hotel was clean, and the front desk service was good. I liked the rooftop track, and the receptionists were extremely helpful. They also told me about the hotel cat, the fat chonk, which took me two days to find. We spent over 3 million won during our stay and expected decent service, but housekeeping was quite slow. One day we left and came back around 3 PM, and the room still hadn't been cleaned until much later, even though the cleaning room button was on. Given the size of the hotel, they should hire more staff. Also, the single power point next to the bed didn't work, which was a bit inconvenient.

I was 20 minutes past checkout and getting dressed to head to the lobby after waking up late. A man who wasn't housekeeping or front desk opened the door while I was half dressed to tell me it was checkout time. Then he stayed outside my door and wouldn't leave until I spoke with him, only for him to say, “it's checkout time.” I'm a solo female traveler, and that was unacceptable under any circumstances. I don't recommend this place.

The pool was closed while I was there, which was a shame. The hotel is a little outside central Seoul, so getting into the city takes at least 30 minutes by subway, though the station is close by. My room was comfortable, and breakfast had so many choices it was hard to decide. Having a convenience store in the hotel was handy during jet-lagged nights.

The location was the one good thing for us. The rest of the stay was deeply disappointing, and I wouldn’t recommend this place. The front desk service was extremely poor. Just one woman treated us kindly; the others were rude and unprofessional. Most visitors seemed to be locals, and staff often appeared unsure how to handle international guests. Even simple questions about getting around Seoul by subway seemed to surprise them. We eventually felt uncomfortable approaching reception. There were practical problems in the room, too. A power socket beside the bed didn’t work, and basic items such as toothbrushes weren’t supplied. Guests were asked to buy them for 5,000 KRW each, and replacing a lost room card cost 10,000 KRW. It felt as if there was an extra charge for everything. Housekeeping mostly just made the bed: cups weren’t replaced and the bathroom wasn’t cleaned properly. We had to ask for bathrobes every day because they kept being removed, and on our last day staff said they had run out. After one long day, I came back to find something housekeeping had left on the floor of my room. Reception said it was okay and would be removed the next day. When I asked about cash services, a staff member got upset instead of simply explaining that the service wasn’t available. I also left my jacket with reception and asked for it to be sent up. They promised they would, but it stayed at the front desk even after I’d checked out.