FIRST IMPRESSIONS According to the Hyatt group, what distinguishes its luxury Park Hyatt brand from the business-oriented Hyatt Regency and the Grand Hyatt chains is a more personal level of service. The Park Hyatt Seoul occupies a 24-storey tower block in the commercial and financial area of the city. The entrance is unimpressive, but once you have whizzed up to reception on the top floor, the work of trendy Japanese design house Super Potato (also responsible for interiors for Shangri-La, Grand Hyatt and shopping chain Muji) is much in evidence. The reception area is made of Japanese Aji stone and the lounge on the left has orange leather chairs, oak tables and floor-to-ceiling windows. This is where the elaborate lift system gets complicated: you can only exit the hotel through reception, so from your room you have to go up, change lifts and then back down.
WHERE IS IT? South of the river in the Gangnam area, close to the Convention and Exhibition Centre (COEX). It's about an hour and 20 minutes to Incheon airport but there are subways close by to get around town easily.
HOW MANY ROOMS? 185 and include: Park King rooms, Park Deluxe rooms and 38 suites. Rooms are large (up to 52 sqm).
ROOM FACILITIES My room was a Park King room on the 18th floor. The views of the city are fantastic and the porter showed me how to operate all the gadgets in the room, from the electric blinds, shower and TV, to where to find the plug adaptors. She didn't show me the toilet so I found out for myself the magic of the heated seat and adjustable bidet squirts. Each room has a feather bed (which was very firm), 32-inch flatscreen TV (which I had to turn on its stand to watch from the bed), a DVD player, multi-line telephones and high-speed wired internet access. There are tea and coffee-making facilities, a laptop safe, and I soon found the right temperature on the air-conditioning but was surprised that I could hear the traffic from my room despite being so high up. The stone and oak bathrooms are a third of the room size and have Aesop toiletries and a TV set into the wall. During my stay the hotel was checking the power supply so during one night the electricity went off. This meant that neither the main lifts, the air-conditioning nor blinds worked, but this is unlikely to happen again for a while and we were warned in advance.
RESTAURANTS AND BARS Cornerstone on the second floor serves grilled meat and seafood prepared in wood-burning stoves with an Italian flavour. The walk-in wine cellar has 3,000 bottles of French and Italian wines. I had dinner here and the food – especially the seafood – was superb (dinner is served 6-10pm). Breakfast and lunch are also served here, the former consisting of an excellent continental buffet (the muesli was delicious as you can add dried fruits and nuts) or cooked options à la carte. When I was there for breakfast it was incredibly busy and the staff were a little stretched. For evenings in, the traditional Korean-style Timber House has a whisky bar, a cocktail bar and a sake, soju and sushi bar, and live piano music most nights. The lounge on the 24th floor is a pleasant place to have coffee or a snack.
BUSINESS AND MEETING FACILITIES There is no business centre, but in the spirit of the "personalised service" ethos you can go to the lobby and borrow a laptop from the concierge. I did this and sat in the lobby lounge, but you can also take it back to your room if you wish. There are six meeting rooms ranging in size from 27 sqm to 112 sqm, with espresso and coffee machines, natural daylight and meeting services staff.
LEISURE FACILITIES The 570 sqm Park Club Spa and Fitness Centre is split over the 23rd and 24th floor. The 17-metre pool on the lobby level is beautiful, if a little open – people in the lobby lounge stare mesmerised at the swimmers. The fitness centre has TechnoGym equipment.
VERDICT A stylish hotel in the financial centre of town. All the gadgets and gizmos worked well with the interior design and Cornerstone is a must for a meal. The reception staff were particularly helpful. Make sure you mention COEX when you get a cab or you may well be taken to the Grand Hyatt on the other side of the river.
PRICES Fully flexible rates for a midweek stay mid-September started from US$308 for a Park King room.
CONTACT 995-14 Daechi 3-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-502; tel +82 2 2016 1234; seoul.park.hyatt.com.
Felicity Cousins
