Seoul 53 Hotel Insadong ★★★

Awful hotel. Avoid this one like the plague. If you're are thinking that for the price you would only expect to sleep and shower there anyway, think again. None of the rooms have curtains so the city lights will stream into your window all night, so good luck getting that good nights sleep if you are a light sleeper. When I asked the staff about it they said they are a 'fire hazard'. So no hotels, ever, have curtains for this very reason.... right!? Oh and your evening/morning shower.... hope you like cold showers as there was literally no hot water during my overnight stay. I had no chance to question staff about this as I literally could not wait to leave the place early the next morning and there was no one at the check out desk. The other guests were incredibly loud and inconsiderate, shouting in the corridors and banging room doors etc. Also you might not be staying in Seoul 53 because they are now running another place round the corner. Lastly, the hotel will send you a message after your booking to say that you should pay in cash because of 'credit card fraud'. Then you will receive an automated message from booking.com to say your card has been 'declined' and you need to contact your bank and then the hotel to confirm your booking. I highly doubt my card was declined, due to receiving the message first from the hotel I need to pay in cash, plus my card is from a korean bank and has not once been declined. I believe this is the hotels attempt to use the booking.com system to ensure customers pay in cash and thus avoid credit card payment charges to drive down costs. I was not concerned by this as I know Seoul well and would have found somewhere else to stay easily if the booking was affected by this, however I am sure other guests would be quite unnerved by this. Infact, whilst I was checking in staff were talking to another guest to ensure them their booking was confirmed even though there card was 'declined'.

Great location near the places that we were interested in going.

There was no toiletries available in the accommodation. They only accept cash payment.

Breakfast was just boiled egg and bread with no jam! Omg We booked for 3 people and they said our room was a family room but its so tiny that we barely fit in the room with our luggages. They didn’t clean the room everyday which is required for hotel. We had to keep calling them for towels and tissues. Our sheets were dirty and asked them to change it for us and they said they only change sheets every 5 days and when it was the fifth day we clearly told the worker to change it for us and they said ok but they didn’t! So we had to call them again and slept in dirty sheets for another day. The service was horrible.

very near to subways, bus stops, historical attractions, convenience stores and lots of restaurants/eating facilities.

breakfast should be improved

The staff was really nice! A staff helped us to book a cab to go to the station. The bedroom was comfy, we love the private bathroom and the fridge. The location was also great, near convenience stores and pretty quiet environment at night.

Because the heater was on the floor, sometimes the room temperature still feel cold, especially at dawn. But it's not a big problem ^^

It is near to CU store, subway station and the room/bed was comfortable. We had very good night sleep here.

The room was bit dusty. No big towel provided, only the small one.

The location was good, staff tried to be friendly and helpful. Surrounding area has many local restaurants and small shops, if you like spicy home style food you are at proper destination.

The room was cold and the small A/C was able to heat up the small room only after one day. It was unfortunately noisy on floor, I went out 3 times in the night to tell them stop smoking and loud discussion. The breakfast room was quite dirty, only toast, sirup, boiled eggs and juice was available. We bought for second day ham, cheese and milk, it was after more enjoyable. Entire building was cold, we had to stay in common rooms in coats (was mid of March, 5-15C on street). Due to smoking, cold and breakfast it is not recommended for families with children.

I like that we can fit in 3-4 people in a room and it's really a great deal for our stay.

I didn't like that breakfast were the same every day the whole 6 days of our stay. I understand the not so much variety fact but it would be appreciated if it's a little different even every other day.

The location is good.

The cleaning service is the worst part of this hotel. They don’t clean the floors and at the time I stayed there they didn’t clean my room, they just change your towels (it is important to say that they only provide hand towels and they expect you to use them as body towels). One day it was around 9 am and they entered without knocking the door while I was still sleeping. The service is horrible. The breakfast area is always dirty they never clean the tables and oven. Even if this is a low-budget hotel I would have expected at the very least a clean place.

The location is within walking distance to subway station and insadong.

Their heater was not enough. Our room and its floor were freezing. Same goes to common area for breakfast and ironing cloth. we were also worried about sink in the bathroom as it was not cemented, could moved and seems like it could fall apart. And they only provide small towels (like face towel size).