Stayed for 2 nights with a young child, and it was perfect.

We stayed in the premier room with the wading pool and sauna in the room, and it was the perfect way to decompress after a 14-hour flight.

This hotel is a perfect oasis to escape the noise, pollution, and neon of metropolitan Seoul. There are no trendy bars, restaurants, or stores nearby. You'll have to start most of your explorations of the city via taxi.

Instead, the hotel offers quiet, excellent air quality, access to walking paths, access to more walking and cycling paths at the adjacent Namsan mountain, a driving range, and a spa with a pool that admits toddlers. Three available restaurants had good food.

Most locals knew this hotel as the old Tower Hotel, which had a poor reputation. Since then, Banyan Tree has taken the 200-room old hotel and converted it to a 40-room luxury tower, vastly improving the quality and experience. Word hasn't gotten out yet, so most cab drivers didn't know the property, and the KAL Limousine bus didn't stop there.

If you want to be in the center of all the action, then choose either the Hyatt/Shilla or the Intercon at COEX. However, if you want a peaceful experience in good air right in the Namsan Park area, then this hotel is for you. I cannot stress enough how great the in-room steam sauna and wading pool were after a trans-Pacific flight.

We stayed in this Hotel for one week, and we are very satisfied to be there. Vie are living in the Premier room - a big one with a small poolbath and steam sauna inside! The room view is exciting. We tried the Festa Cafe, and Granum Dining restaurant - they offer healthy cuisine. The breakfast is good, buffet offers a wide selections of fruits, yogurt, ect. But, breakfast time is over at 10.30, it is not comfortable for the europinian guests. Good location, big outside pool give a feeling that you are outside of Seoul, but you are not. Spa is over our expectation!

First of all let me say that we have stayed at Banyan Tree properties throughout Asia and Mexico for the past 7 years a few times every year. With varying success....
The Seoul property is a dream location for us with 3 competitive runners in the family. The mountain and its running paths are fantastic! It is also well located for sightseeing, and as the business is done on both sides of the river it works very well for family traveling. Husband does business meetings and family enjoys!
All the BT properties have wow factors galore, they have amazing architects and finishes each property beautifully. But unfortunately lack in how they see their guests too many times for the amount you pay. Seoul is no exception. They have a relaxing pool in the bedroom, wow! Looks stunning at night when you arrive! But the next day you realize there's nowhere to sit! It also never seems to be hot when needed and working the controls? Forget it! You get 2 (?) towels for the price of a cool $800+ per night (that would be my favorite) and all those facilities that you see on the website?!? You pay extra! Even the outdoor pool is extra! That irritated us no end. Luckily (?) it rained for the 3 days we were there prompting another hugely irritating aspect, umbrellas. They insisted there were 1 umbrella in the room (no, minimalistic, no extras....) and when giving us the umbrellas took great care to tell us they would be charged! Upon returning the guy literally jumped us while still in the car to get the umbrellas of us. Really? How much were we paying? 2 rooms.... And having a history with the BT that clearly they either don't know or don't care about...
Will we go back to the BT again? Absolutely! But you need to be aware and possibly ask more questions about what is included in the price. And also, don't go to the restaurants at the Seoul property. Really not worth the price for the quality you're getting...

As I lived in Seoul for about 8 years, I know most places in the city, but since Banyan tree was newly opened a few years ago, I never had chance to be here, so I booked 3 nights stay last November as part of my business trip from HK to Korea.

This hotel has clear advantage and disadvantage so, I think it's easy for people to decide whether they like it or not.

1. Service - same as any other upmarket places in Korea. The service will be excellent, but not extra-ordinary in a way where staffs will learn your preferences and adopt to it. This hotel provides you efficient service in a hassle-free way.

2. Location - at Nam-San (small mountain right in the middle of Seoul), which is not too far away from most places by taxi, but never by walking distance. If you want to eat out or see around, you will always have to take a taxi - which is not a bad thing, as Seoul taxis are very cheap (cheaper than Singapore, HK or any other developed countries that I know of) and all of them are meter-taxis, so you never get ripped off. You will be annoyed by the traffic thou.

3. Restaurants - Not a good choice here. I would never eat here, as they are millions of choices in Seoul. The biggest issue of Seoul hotels is the fact that none of them has good Korean Restaurant. This is the worst point of Seoul if you are a tourist, as you will always have to go out to experience local cuisine. Banyan tree is even worse, as they simply don't have any good choice. I would recommend to go to Shilla hotel right besides (they said they have shuttle - or walk for 5 min/ take a taxi @ a cost of USD2) and eat there. Shilla has some of the better restaurants in Seoul, but quite expensive and need reservations most of the time. Again, they do not have Korean restaurant, but offers excellent Chinese, Japanese and buffet restaurants.

4. Room condition - Probably the best in Seoul in terms of size, washroom & amenities. I have been to many other 5 stars in Seoul; they all have boring rectangular shape rooms with limited space. The small pool in the room is also nice, although I never used it.

5. Outdoor pool - I could not use this because it was winter when I got there, but all of my Seoul friends told me it is the best in Seoul. So if you visit Seoul in summer time, then I think this can be a big plus.

Overall, a very nice hotel with probably the best room in Seoul & great services along with peaceful mountain surrounding in a busy city; but the location can be a bit off and the choice of restaurant is severely limited. Take your bet :)