Return to Korea post Covid : Novotel Ambassador Seoul Gangnam

This was a business stay for 4 nights. Third stay there but the last one was in 2015…Overall stay was good but a big disappointment about the club lounge (see below for more details).

The hotel has not changed at all since my last stay and everything is still in very good conditions after the 2014-2015 renovation and the covid period. The hotel was very busy when I was there (in March).

I booked a Deluxe room and was upgraded to Executive Room on the Executive floor, close to the lounge entrance. The room decoration is quite pleasant compared to standards European Novotels. Atmosphere is much warmer. Room amenities included bathrobe, slippers, espresso machine. 

Welcome amenity and note :

the hotel has a robot in the main lobby, for in-room deliveries. Welcome to Asia ! I saw it in operations when I was there.

The disappointment came from the lounge : it still exists but is basically useless. There is no service at all, even in the evening. The lounge is unmanned most of the time. There is a note at the welcome desk to pick-up the phone in case of any question and need. The breakfast is taken at the main restaurant on 1st floor and happy hour cocktail time is served at the main bar on ground floor (from 17:00 to 19:00), but nobody explained that to me neither at check-in, nor at the bar when I signed a check for a drink (and there was no sign at all at the bar mentioning this). In fact, I discovered the happy hour thing at the bar on the note I was given at check-in, but it was the last day and too late to benefit from it. Drink voucher can be used at this bar for the usual drinks.

The breakfast buffet offers a large choice of good quality items. Free Diamond breakfast was well respected, and it’s a valuable benefit when you see how much they charge for this (55,000 KRW = 37 € !!).

Another weak point is that dinner service ends at 21:00. That’s ridiculous in an international hotel, although room service remains available after that time. The main restaurant (where you have breakfast) serves also buffet lunch and dinner at insane prices (120,000 KRW = 82€)…

The bar on ground floor serves also (cheaper) food but a very limited choice and only western dishes (pasta, pizzas, sandwiches), which is a real shame, and also only till 21:00.

Overall, a good stay but they need absolutely to bring back the lounge to normal operations and work on their food offer price and time of operations. I don’t know if the hotel still justify this “by Covid”, but if the case, that’s ridiculous : occupancy was very high and things are definitely back to normal.