It’s hard to go wrong with a Park Hyatt, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s
going to be that exciting either. 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. I just arrived on Air Premia from Saigon and
am now heading to check in. While many Park Hyatts are known for their grand spaces, the
Park Hyatt Seoul is decidedly understated and discreet- perhaps too much as I think
the strangest feature about this property is its entrance. On the ground floor we just
have the small drive way and very small elevator lobby which will take you up to the 24th floor
where the lobby is. This is common when a hotel needs to share a building, but this
hotel, originally opened in 2005, takes up the entire building. When you get off of the
elevators on the 24th floor, the top floor, you walk head on into a small reception area
that you see here. Attached to the lobby is the lounge named,
The Lounge. Serving meals throughout the day and afternoon tea, it is a tastefully decorated
but it is quite small. For a Park Hyatt with 184 rooms, I honestly cannot think of why
the layout of his hotel is how it is. Let’s quickly talk about the hotel’s location.
The Park Hyatt is in the south east of the city, in the eastern part of the famous Gangnam
district, but the specific location itself is not exactly bustling. It is directly across
the street from the COEX mall and there is an entrance to the Samseong Metro station
just in front of the hotel. I’ll hold judgment on the location and say, it’s either a good
base to rely on the metro, or you have specific things in the area you plan to visit.
So, one thing that I didn’t actually know about the property while I was there was it’s
age. All research I do about hotels I do after my stay unless there’s some significant
historical story that’s worth knowing. Generally I like to experience a hotel as any typical
guest would- not knowing the year it was built or the original designers, which in this case
is the Japanese firm, Super Potato who have worked on a litany of hotels in the region
for the likes of Park Hyatt, Rosewood, Conrad, Andaz and more. But so anyway, the age. For
a hotel that is 18 years old, it’s looking pretty good. Some of the common spaces like
the lounge were refreshed during covid, but the rooms look just about the same as when
it first opened and they still look really good and dare I say, current.
I booked with AMEX Fine Hotels and was offered an upgraded room upon checking in, in this
case, bumped up two categories essentially raising the floor and improving the view.
Note that, to get to my room on the 15th floor, you would need to go up to the lobby level,
change elevators and come back down to floor 15.
The layout of the room is a bit odd but I actually kinda like it. The decor inside is
simple and the tone of orange wood does date it a little bit, but not as much as I was
expecting. Overall, it was a great first impression. A very small detail, but I was happy both
sides of the bed had the same controls and also had USB C ports in addition to the universal
plug. Generally the curtain and shade controls and often the master switch is only on one
side of the bed, which always seemed odd to me.
Park Hyatt beds are my favorite beds, so we also know that I slept pretty darn well while
I was here. The only silly thing about the layout was
that there were no power outlets near the table and chairs, just under the TV.
For light sleepers, I’ll point out a sign which is on the table. It essentially says,
we are happy to offer you floor to ceiling windows but that means that the noise level
is unpredictable and we offer ear plugs on request. I thought this was a smart touch
and personally I didn’t find the noise bleed particularly bad, it was just a very low urban
hum, quite relaxing to me actually. The mini bar is very thoughtfully stocked,
though of course we could do better than plastic water bottles- though at least it’s not
Dasani. A pro Nespresso machine was on offer as well as Althaus teas. When I called to
ask for two more Nespresso pods I swear my doorbell rang before I hung up the phone.
What the service here lacked a bit in warmth it certainly made up for in poise and efficiency.
The only annoying bit to me in the room is the closet which has one of the stupid triple
sliding doors which means you can never see more than ⅓ of the closet at a time.
The bathroom was impressive though. The design throughout the hotel is said to “balance
design and luxury in a respectful, low key manner” and I think no place in the room
fits that better than in the wet room. I would have guessed just based on the shower and
tub area that the hotel was 2 or 3 years old. The fact that this is the original design
from 18 years ago is impressive and I think speaks volumes about what Park Hyatt as a
brand offers. Whether classic or modern in design, they are all in their own way timeless-
or shall we say, more timeless than most hotels. Currently there are 46 Park Hyatt locations
with three more opening soon and a few more in the extended pipeline. Park Hyatt is the
flagship brand of the World of Hyatt group. Just realizing this as I write now, is in
fact the flagship of their Timeless Collection of brands, so at least they are accurate with
that one. In the bathroom you’ll find Le Labo Bergamont
number 22 bath products. Now of course, given all of this glass, there
are plenty of shades to give you privacy. So, beautiful rooms- who’s staying here?
My guess is this is a very popular staycation hotel for locals and is convenient for anyone
with business in the COEX area, beyond that, Park Hyatts will always attract quite a few
World of Hyatt Loyalists. For me personally the only downside of the location is the distance
from the airports, taking a solid hour to hour and a half driving.
Let’s explore the other facilities on offer, heading first to the indoor pool which is
connected by a small lounge area. As with the lobby lounge, I think the leisure
facilities again feel quite limited- I think this can be attributed to the age of the hotel
and maybe partially excused, but it does exclude the hotel from being a destination of it’s
own. Given that, the pool is beautiful, day or
night. Heading down from the pool is Citrus. On their
website this is actually presented as an F&B venue, but in reality, it’s just a spa refreshment
bar, if even that. Time for a beautiful sunset and then another
shot that, let’s just say, took me a few takes.
I really do love the look of the tower at night and think it has a decidedly modern
facade. Ok, time for dinner and the first of three
meals we’ll have here, starting at The Timber House. This restaurant and bar is located
in the basement and is accessible from the ground floor lobby as well.
The Timber House is said to be designed to resemble a post modern Hanok- or traditional
Korean wooden house, with Korean wood tiles, patterned sliding doors and other complementing
design accents. I generally really really don’t like basement
food venues, but I’ve got to say, if it’s gotta be in the basement, this is the way
to go. It is comfortable and cozy, warm and inviting and just makes you want to have a
seat and sit back while sipping on something amber in color.
The food here though, is a bit odd. There are two choices, the Harmony Course, which
is a $100 set menu… or, an Izakaya themed Happy Hour menu. Not only do I think these
two menus don’t really fit together, I also wish there was more Korean fare on any and
all of the menus here in general. That said, the food was very good.
I had a sashimi salad and a pork katsu sando on matcha bread- sounded really strange but
was a really nice pairing actually. The next morning for breakfast we head to
Cornerstone. This is the hotels all day dining venue serving up Italian fare. For breakfast
though they put on a beautiful breakfast spread with a small supplemental menu as well. Really
one of the better buffets I’ve had in a while, I especially loved the wide array of
Korean dishes on offer. New trip, so let’s switch this up a bit.
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
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on the VIP treatment extra thick. I don’t want that. So rest assured that this video
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below. And fig jam! One of my favorite things ever,
I’ve never seen it at a hotel before. I had to get a piece of toast just to try it.
The French Toast was also really good, grilled over charcoal and not too sweet.
To work off all of those calories, was the nicely outfitted fitness center, but it along
with the pool, was closed all day for cleaning. But, there was no cleaning being done and
from my eyes, three different guests who were pretty pissed off that it was locked, with
nothing actually being done. Anyway, last up, we have lunch at the Lounge. I chose one
of the few Korean items, an Iberico Pork lunch set, from the menu and it was absolutely fantastic.
I might not be a fan of the mix of dishes on the menus, but what they serve up they
do really well. So, overall, it’s a very nice, buttoned
up hotel which gives you everything you’d need, but nothing more- which I do think makes
it a bit lacking for a Park Hyatt. Would I come back? Probably not, I’d rather try
another place out, but if you need to be in this area, it is certainly a comfortable and
delicious place to stay. I really do hope you enjoyed this video today,
if you did, please click that thumbs up button and subscribe with notifications on, so you
don’t miss any of the 21 hotels on this trip. I’ll see you next time from the Andaz
Gangnam Seoul. Oh and thanks for watching until the end.