The Ambassador Seoul - A Pullman Hotel

“Great hotel, lovely staff, super comfy bed and beautifully clean pool and spa”

The hotel is really impressive looking, with a grand entrance, really friendly staff and well set out rooms and amenities. The hotel evidently has a 'scent' as the reception and halls always smelled lovely. Any time arriving or leaving the hotel, staff in reception would greet me. The hotel itself… more

The hotel is really impressive looking, with a grand entrance, really friendly staff and well set out rooms and amenities. The hotel evidently has a 'scent' as the reception and halls always smelled lovely. Any time arriving or leaving the hotel, staff in reception would greet me. The hotel itself is on a slight hill with a 5 minute walk down towards Dongguk Uni metro station or a couple of minutes the other way to buses that run to Myeongdong. There is also the CJ building on this corner which includes a Twosome Place, Tours les Jours (both cafes/bakeries) and a small market and some restaurants - and a tiny Olive Young - in the basement, which is handy. It's an easy walk to Dongdaemun. The walk back up the hill is slightly less pleasant and while it's not huge, if you had mobility concerns, it may be an issue (although it's a cheap taxi trip back from the main areas - download the K-ride app for easily booked taxis). There are also some bus stops outside the hotel, including ones for the Seoul hop on and hop off bus, as well as the 6702 airport bus, which is really useful. It's about $18 AUD one way from the airport - you can buy a ticket at the airport including a return ticket, or buy one when you get on the bus outside the hotel to go to the airport using either a credit card of a T-Money card. If you walk down to the Dongguk Uni metro, it's worth going to the park over the road, which has a lovely cafe, a small waterfall, kids equipment etc. It's a really pretty little park to take a gimbap and drink to for a peaceful rest in a busy city, There are also some nice cafes around this area. The check in was easy and the staff were lovely, there are two banks of elevators so never a long wait for one to arrive. The lifts also show a red light for the next lift to arrive, and the lifts require the room card to be scanned to be able to access your floor, which is a great security feature. I had a deluxe room without the Namsan tower view, and it was very well set out. The room is quite large, by South Korean standards, had a really comfortable bed and pillows and beautiful all cotton sheets. There is one window which can open slightly which is always nice to get an idea on what the day is like or get some fresh air. The room was very quiet, even though it was pretty full, I didn;t hear much noice from other rooms or the road. There is some noise during daylight hours from construction occurring over the road, but it's more like background noise, and nothing noticeable. The technology in the room is impressive - the blockout and sheer blinds are all controlled by buttons on either side of the bed or via the TV remote, the bedside tables have power points and USB charging cables on both sides, as well as inbuilt charging pads. Even when the master light switch is off, if you get up in the middle of the night a (motion detection?) soft light comes on from under the bedside tables - enough to see your way around but not enough to walk you up, a really thoughtful touch. The TV is large and has a good range of channels including movie channels, BBC and American news and sports channels and local channels, and a number of functions are available from the remote, such as controlling the blinds and ordering room service. The kitchen area has a small fridge, kettle and coffee pod machine, 2 mugs, (and a decent size not the tiny teacups, bless), glass, tea spoons, as well as coffee pods, instance coffee, tea bags and sugar. There is also a nice range in the minibar. There is good wardrobe space which includes a safe in one drawer, and robes and slippers. The bathroom is well set out, with a standalone bath and shower in a wet room area with both a railhead and shower head available. The toiletries a C O Bigelow and lovely smelling. There is a bidet style toilet which self flushes, and really good bench space near the vanity which is great. The sheets are lovely and fluffy and this is the first hotel in South Korea I've stayed at which a face washers, which was a nice surprise, as well as toiletries although these were at a (small) cost, which I believe is due to government regulation to reduce waste. The bathroom is glassed, so can be seen from the bedroom, but there are button controlled blinds which can be used for privacy if required, There is a table and chair available for working or eating, as well as a chaise type sofa. Importantly, the air-conditioning could be controlled individually, which was great as some hotels in South Korea centrally control the aircon. There is a bin which has both regular waste and recycling which is great to see. The pool and spa are wonderfully clean and the water is a good temperature. There were two lifeguards when I was there which is good to see. The only downside was the pool 'towels' are tiny. The shower area off the pool and spa is very clean and has my favourite thing - the tiny wringing machine to spin out the water from bathers. Note - you have to wear a swim cap in the pool (if you didn't bring one, you can buy one for about $2 AUD from any Daiso). There are a number of restaurants in the hotel which are of a very high standard - the people watching alone in the restaurant in the foyer is worthy. There are a number of convenience stores in the surrounding area, with a CU in the street directly behind the hotel which is easy to get to via the hotel's back entrance.

less