Andaz is a brand that I really enjoy, but this property in Seoul simply doesn’t
live up to the brands upscale reputation. Hi there, my name is Kevin. This channel
came from a love of traveling, a love of the full process and the journey itself. I feature airline
trip reports and high end hotel reviews from all over the world. My reviews aren’t sponsored by
airlines or hotels so you can be sure to get my unbiased honest opinion. Am I an expert?
You can decide. Am I fair? Yea, I am. Let’s get into it, welcome to Seoul.
If you’d like to know the exact nightly rate that I paid for my
stay or my next five videos in queue, please check out the description below.
The Andaz Gangnam has two entrances. In the front for pedestrians and in the rear there
is a driveway for car pickup and drop offs. Note that despite the hotel doing quite a good job with
their photography angles, the hotel does have an elevated roadway directly in front of it.
When checking in, you’ll have a seat at one of the front desks, which are awkwardly too low and
you’ll be offered a cup of tea. Service at check in and throughout most, but not all of the hotel
is in a characteristic American Hyatt familiar conversational manner, at least in English.
Andaz, in Hindi, means personal style and so, each property is designed to blend the style of
it’s specific location with that of the target customer. It’s not to my personal taste but, I
do think it accomplishes this pretty well in the colors, textures and shapes used throughout the
property, but… I’m not a fan of the ground floor and connecting first floor layout.
For a hotel with 241 rooms, the lobby footprint is on the smaller side as it is, but then when you
put this giant centerpiece of a staircase smack in the middle of it- it just begs the question, why?
The hotel is located in central Seoul in it’s name sake Gangnam district, in the northern part of it.
By taxi, you can expect a drive to either Gimpo or Incheon to take a solid hour or more,
but the hotel is located just next to the Apgujeong Metro station and is on a street that
is literally lined with cosmetic surgery clinics. In the rear of the lobby is A-Z Cafe and Gallery
offering a variety of pastries and drinks throughout the day.
On the other side of the stair case we have the elevators which will take us to the guest
room floors. I booked a balcony King room and in retrospect, I’d not book the balcony unless
you really need it, simply because the balcony rooms are all in the annex building of sorts which
means you’ll be guaranteed a low floor room. On the left is the primary hotel tower and
the three levels of balcony rooms are in this shorter structure.
The corridors like most of the property are stark and modern but through a mixed palette
of neutral tones and well placed lighting, it never feels particularly barren or cold.
Throughout the hotel and especially inside the
rooms the asymmetric angles are meant to reference the patchwork quality of bojagi.
Bojagi are the traditional Korean wrapping cloths used in significant
ceremonies as gift wrap to preserve good luck, according to traditional Korean folklore.
Inside the room, the room itself has angled walls and an oddly shaped bathroom which I
think puts form over function. Overall the room is comfortable
and nicely equipped for the size, but considering this hotel just opened in 2019,
it’s clear that using quality materials was not the MO of the designers here.
The room has a smart tablet next to the bedside which is meant to perform all of the in room
functions, but in English at least, it’s certainly not the most efficient way to get things done.
The mini bar area is nicely laid out and compartmentalized.
I always think it’s nice when you can sort of put the mini bar facilities away.
As is a brand standard for Andaz, mini bar snacks and drinks are free, but when I checked in,
there was no mention of this at all. I’ve read recently that Andaz is “reimagining”
their minibars so in the mean time, I would always ask for clarity before consuming.
I appreciate that there are well labeled controls and plenty of outlets,
though no USB C, on both sides of the bed, but the raised placement is a bit
strange- not complaining though, just different.
Upon check in there was quite a large piece of pineapple cake on the central table, though that
cloche has certainly seen better days. Then we have the bathroom
which is split. In this small area separated by a sliding door we have a single vanity with plenty
of shelving and a decent sized walk in shower. The toilet area we will see is near the front door.
Bathroom amenities included soaps by Christophe Laudamiel.
I did get the feeling this room was meant for a different guest though as there were children’s
toiletries also setup in the bathroom and a third pair of childrens slippers in the closet.
Finally, we have the toilet room with a 2nd sink.
The entry closet and toilet area can also be closed off
from the rest of the room by double sliding doors.
Finally to the balcony, which was nice to get some fresh air, but ultimately I think
unnecessary. Just a few cleanliness and condition issues
in the room. The glass was just filthy, looks like they attempted to clean it with a dirty towel.
Then are are a lot of tiny minor nicks and scratches which on their own aren’t significant,
but when a room has this many dents and scuffs after just four years of use,
I don’t want to think about how it’ll look five years from now.
The worst offender was the floor in the bathroom which was clearly not meant to get wet, but it
completely rotted through and warped. Last up, just lots of dust in quite
a few areas above eye level. The cleanliness problems weren’t
deal breakers, but the condition especially of that floor was really poor showing.
Before we head to the hall of restaurants for dinner, let’s just
quickly look at who is going to be staying here. Couples in their 20s-40s is the dominant group
you’ll find here with a few young families and perhaps some medical tourists as well.
The hotel has its moments of being understated and
relaxed but as I’ll talk about later, also has a slightly pretentious side.
Ok, so dinner. If you ever find yourself on their website trying to figure out what the
dining concept is, good luck. Let me tell you what they say it is, “Ascending the central staircase,
guests arrive at JOGAKBO, which means ‘traditional patchwork’ in Korean,
offers a sophisticated reinterpretation of Seoul’s immersive street and alleyway dining.
Three drinking and dining venues flow seamlessly into adjacent spaces,
allowing guest to conveniently explore a variety of creative, locally inspired cuisine.
That is the biggest crock of s*** if ever I’ve heard one.
Let me translate it. It’s one big open space. Three restaurants in a railway design,
walking through one to get to the next. They mention it’s supposed to be reminiscent of
Seoul’s immersive street dining and locally inspired cuisine.
One restaurant is all day dining, surrounding the staircase,
then is the Seafood restaurant and behind that the steak house. All three restaurants,
not a single Korean item on any of the menus. Some great locally inspired cuisine that is.
I saw before I left my room that the room service menu had a few basic Korean dishes
on it and I asked if I would be able to order from that menu in the restaurant
and they graciously accommodated me. There weren’t many choices, I went with a
bibimbap and it was very good, but my God, never has a dining concept ever been such a let down.
Anyway, day began to turn to night and I caught the tail end of the sunset from my balcony.
Waking up early the next morning, I identified with this… duck? And I headed down to The
Summer House which is the name of their wellness facility on the basement level.
Down here is an indoor pool and a fitness center which I wanted to get some quick
clips of and ohhh they did not like that- especially in the pool area.
Mind you, we all have eyes, we can see there was absolutely no one here.
Anyway, the LED screen gives it a really strange dystopian vibe, but hey, some might like it.
The fitness center was very well equipped though and pretty beautiful as far as fitness centers go.
Finally our last stop is back to the canteen, I mean Jogakbo for breakfast,
where they do serve up a nice buffet. When creating a hotel or flight review,
what do you think are some of the most important characteristics about those reviews?
To me, to make a truly unbiased review, two things need to be true. First, I need to pay
a fare or rate that is publicly available and receive no special treatment or compensation.
Second, I need to film anonymously. So rest assured that this video today is exactly what
I say it is, an unbiased review. And that is why your likes, comments and
subscriptions mean so much, they really do help the channel to grow and continue to put out this
twice weekly and soon three times weekly content. My patreon is also linked below.
These have to be the most perfect eggs I’ve ever seen. All of it.
And finally I found where they’re hiding all of the Korean food.
Though the chopsticks sticking out of each dish is giving me a bit of angst.
Ok, so, overall three things went wrong here. A totally disjointed food concept,
a strange use of the public spaces and lots of cheap materials in the room.
That said, it’s not a bad hotel, but it’s certainly not a place I’d be returning to.
Despite that, I do hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, please be sure to click that thumbs
up button and subscribe with notifications on so you don’t miss the rest of this 12 country,
21 hotel, 15 flight mega trip. I’ll see you next time on T’way Air from Seoul to one of
my absolute favorite places on earth, Tokyo. Oh, and thanks for watching until the end.