I stayed here for 2 nights in April 2014 and chose it because it is a member of Marriott Rewards. It was a great location for my meetings in the COEX convention center. Taxis are extremely easy (they wait near the hotel and the concierge will call them for you) and (contrary to previous reviews) yes you can WALK to the closest metro station. Best of all, when I left for the airport, I look the lovely airport limousine bus which has a stop right outside the hotel and is approximately $15 (and has lay-back seats to be comfortable!). This would also be a good option for arriving guests as well!
It is in a prime location for Gangnam and COEX events. Not so much for if you want to explore “historical Seoul”, but on this business trip I did not have free time for it so I don’t count it as a negative. But definitely it is not appropriate if you are hoping to just stroll around and soak up the sightseeing. Gangnam is fabulous though and I was lucky enough to meet up with friends who took me out for a delicious meal.
Although I’m a loyal Marriott Rewards customer, this is my first stay at a Renaissance. Let me say, I definitely will be staying at more Renaissances! The executive level lounge was very welcoming and helpful with a personalized check in process. They also helped me with deciding what time to leave for my meetings, how to get to some dinner appointments, etc.
The room had lovely wood accents and was clean and comfortable.
Breakfast was delicious in the executive restaurant. This is the first time I’ve seen the executive lounge separated from the executive restaurant but I liked it.
The only thing lacking was their spa, I was coming from China on this business trip where I was very used to getting massages at the hotel, I think perhaps massages are not as big in the culture in Korea, so that was my mistake in making this assumption. Although they said they had one person on staff to do a massage or some other things, it was a bit helter-skelter and you had to book in advance so you didn’t really feel like it was a full service spa. However, this is not a fault against the hotel, just a note in case you made an erroneous assumption like I did.
The hotel is beautiful and has a host of amenities including an ATM, a gift shop, meeting rooms, stamps at the front desk, free water in the rooms (not sure if this was related to your status or not, but worth noting), restaurants, etc. It is definitely able to handle all of your international visitors concerns.
This post first appeared on TripAdvisor:
