People often leave comments at the end of my posts saying “I want five minutes of my life back.” Let me save you five minutes with a one sentence summary. The Park Hyatt Seoul is perfect.
You’ve been warned…
Incheon Airport is a long distance from the city, so upon arrival I headed to the bus counter, where I booked a bus that would drop me off at the Park Hyatt. The wait was about 20 minutes, and from there it was a roughly 75 minute drive.
As far as I’m concerned this hotel perfectly embodies everything which is the Park Hyatt brand, and that starts with the exterior. The hotel is housed in an all glass building — very elegant and understated. Perhaps the helipad on top isn’t understated, though. 😉
Park Hyatt Seoul exterior
The entrance to the hotel is sort of hidden. There’s no grand driveway or anything, but rather just a small entryway on the ground floor, with a small bell desk.
Park Hyatt Seoul entrance
On the ground floor I was greeted by a bellman, and then escorted up to the 24th floor lobby. The hotel has two sets of elevators — one set takes you between the ground floor, restaurant, and lobby, while the other set takes you between the lobby and the guests rooms (all of which are located below the lobby, which is the top floor of the building).
Upon exiting the elevator I was introduced to a front desk associate, who quickly processed my check-in. I hadn’t stayed at the hotel in four years, and I love how they acknowledged that. Once I handed the associate my credit card and passport and he looked up my reservation, he said “Mr. Schlappig, welcome back. Since you haven’t been our guest in four years, let me remind you of some of the features of the hotel.”
Not only that, but the hotel still had my newspaper preference on file from four years ago — “Is the Wall Street Journal still your newspaper preference?”
I know it’s a small touch, but it really impressed me.
The friendly associate also reminded me of all the benefits I’d receive as a Diamond member, including:
- An upgrade to a deluxe room
- Daily full breakfast in Cornerstone Restaurant
- A welcome amenity (I chose the 1,000 points)
- 4PM check-out
As I explained in the intro of the trip report, I was staying for two nights — I used an annual free night certificate from the Chase Hyatt Visa Card for one night, and 15,000 Gold Passport points for the other night (Points + Cash wasn’t available).
Park Hyatt Seoul lobby
The associate asked if he could escort me to my room, though I said I was fine on my own. He instead just walked me to the elevator, and pointed out The Lounge, which is the hotel’s bar. It feels very much like a living room, and has gorgeous views of the surrounding city.
Park Hyatt Seoul The Lounge
Park Hyatt Seoul The Lounge
I took the elevator down two levels to the 21st floor, where my room was located. I was assigned room 2103, the first room on the left as soon as I got out of the elevator.
I love the hallways in this hotel — they’re simple and elegant, which I guess nicely describes the hotel as a whole.
Park Hyatt Seoul hallway
Park Hyatt Seoul room entrance
While the Park Hyatt has quite a few floors, as you can see based on the floorplan, each floor has fewer than a dozen rooms. There are only a total of 185 rooms in the hotel.
Park Hyatt Seoul floorplan
I know it’s not everyone’s style, but I love the decor in the rooms. It’s so “neat” and understated. For a non-suite the room was quite large. It featured a king size bed, with a lounge chair by the window and then a small living area closer to the room entrance.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room
The living area featured a small circular dining table with two chairs. Usually I’d be a bit miffed by the lack of a desk in the room, though the dining table was a great place to work from.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room
Behind the dining table was a Nespresso machine, and below that was the minibar.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room Nespresso machine
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room minibar
In the far corner of the room was a comfortable chair facing the TV, which was on a stand. There’s a glass partition near the window which looks at the shower and bathtub, though there are blinds which can be drawn for privacy (thank goodness).
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room
Then to the right of the TV is a fairly large closet. Keeping with the simplistic design of the room, you can’t even tell there’s a closet unless unless you know to look there, because it blends into the wall so well.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room closet
Next to the closet was the hallway, which lead to the bathroom.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room hallway to bathroom
Bathrooms are consistently a highlight of Park Hyatts, and this property is no exception. The bathroom features an amazing shower “area,” with a walk-in rainforest shower and soaking tub.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King bathroom
Actually, I don’t even think it’s fair to call it a rainforest shower. It’s more of a car wash shower based on the number of directions from which water sprays.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King shower
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King shower
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King bathtub
There’s also a sink and Japanese toilet.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King sink
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King toilet
Toiletries in the bathroom are Aesop branded, which I now realize I left off my list of favorite hotel toiletries. Yeah, Aesop is pretty darn tough to beat.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King Aesop toiletries
In addition to the standard toiletries, there was a box with just about any cosmetic item you could have possibly left at home.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King amenities
The Park Hyatt isn’t in the most exciting part of Seoul — I guess the immediate area is sort of the equivalent of the financial district — though the views are awesome. It’s tough to describe, but there’s something electric about the skyline views at night.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room view
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Deluxe King room view
The Park Deluxe rooms here are perfect. Traveling alone I’m not sure I’d even use a Diamond Suite Upgrade Award here, since the standard room is more than sufficient.
In terms of the hotel’s other facilities, there’s a gorgeous spa located on the 23rd floor. Now, Seoul is outrageously expensive so I didn’t get a spa treatment here, though this is also where the gym and pool are located, which registered guests can use for free.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Club Spa entrance
The pool is located up a level from the spa, so in order to get there you walk past a handful of treatment rooms and the juice bar.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Club Spa
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Club Spa
And then you walk up a set of stairs.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Club Spa stairs
In addition to bathrooms, I find that pools are often also a highlight of Park Hyatts, and this hotel is no exception. The pool here is gorgeous.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Club Spa swimming pool
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Club Spa swimming pool
The pool does look gorgeous at night, though, all light up.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Club Spa swimming pool
There are two things to note, though:
- The pool isn’t necessarily designed for swimming. I tried to do laps, and based on the amount of water I displaced from the pool onto the “deck” you’d think they were trying to capture a walrus.
- What’s incredibly awkward and borderline hilarious is that the glass shield to the side of the pool looks directly at the lobby bar. Like, immediately on the other side of the glass shield are people sitting in suits having cocktails. A-W-K-W-A-R-D.
Park Hyatt Seoul view of the pool from the lobby bar
The 24/7 gym is immediately across from the pool. It’s on the small side, though has modern equipment and a trainer on hand during business hours.
Park Hyatt Seoul Park Club gym
In terms of food, Cornerstone Restaurant on the 2nd floor serves breakfast daily from 6:30AM till 10:30AM, and due to jetlag I was there both mornings right as they opened.
The restaurant is nicely designed, though since it’s only on the 2nd floor, views are lacking somewhat.
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant
The first morning it was explained to me that I could order anything off the menu as a Diamond member. The second morning they didn’t even ask for my room number, and even remembered my name.
The restaurant has a pretty simple breakfast menu — everyone gets the buffet, and then you can order a main course to go along with it. The main courses are on the small side, but that works for me, given that there’s a huge buffet to nosh from.
The breakfast menu read as follows:
It’s worth keeping in mind that when it comes to Asian breakfast buffets, there is a bit of a difference between North Asian and Southeast Asian buffets (and of course differences within those regions as well). The mega-breakfast buffets with endless choices are usually in South Asia, while in North Asia the buffets tend to be a bit smaller.
And that was definitely true here. The buffet wasn’t massive, which I’m happy with, since everything was of incredible quality.
There was a huge continental selection, consisting of cereal, fruit, yogurt, granola, pastries, croissants, muffins, toast, cold cuts, salmon, etc.
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Then there was a selection of hot Western options, like hash browns, eggs, bacon, ham, etc.
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
And then they had a great Korean breakfast selection as well, along with some dim sum.
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast buffet
To drink I had orange juice and a non-fat cappuccino, both of which were excellent.
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast
The first morning I ordered bulgogi off the menu, which was very good.
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast
The next morning I just had an egg white scramble, which was served with salmon.
Park Hyatt Seoul Cornerstone Restaurant breakfast
Breakfast was fantastic all around — the service, food, and environment were top notch.
On the last evening I ended up having a late lunch in The Lounge, located just off the lobby. I asked the server to bring me her favorite Korean dish, which she did. I wasn’t sure what I loved more — the dish, or that I was served a massive plate of vegetation on ice as a starter.
This also turned out to be a really amusing meal, as I listened to someone quit at the table next to me.
Park Hyatt The Lounge lunch
Anyway, the hotel itself is gorgeous, and the food was excellent as well. But the service was equally impressive. Just a few examples:
- Every time I would walk towards the elevator in the lobby, one of the front desk associates would quickly run to the elevator and push the button for me.
- I was having problems with my air conditioning the second day, so I called the front desk. They apologized profusely and said they’d send someone from maintenance. Not only did they send someone from maintenance, but the front office manager came with him to introduce himself and apologize.
- Due to jetlag I woke up really early and ordered a pot of coffee from room service. I love when room service doesn’t make you sign a bill, but rather just charges it automatically, which is what they do here.
- As I mentioned above, the second morning they remembered my room number at breakfast.
- While the bus from the airport drops off at the hotel, it doesn’t pick up there. The bus terminal is only five minutes away, and the Park Hyatt will pay for a taxi to take you there.
It’s the little touches that add up…
Park Hyatt Seoul Bottom Line
This is a fantastic hotel — I’d argue the best Category 4 Hyatt property out there. Just about everything about this hotel is awesome. My one complaint is that I don’t love the location for sightseeing. Fortunately public transportation in Seoul is reasonably accessible and easy to use, so I do think it’s worth going out of your way stay here.
If you’ve stayed at the Park Hyatt Seoul, what was your experience?
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