The hotel is located near Jongno 3(sam)-ga station at exit 6. Rooms are not sound proof, quite small but beds are comfortable. Wifi is great here too. At night, you can find several food tents (pojang macha) and cheap eateries located near exit 6, which is something I love staying here at. Pretty convenient getting around Seoul too.
The hotel is located near the famous Seoul attractions like castles, palaces, so you will have an opportunity to discover the city, its architecture and culture. Eateries with national cuisine are spread widely nearby. Underground is just 5 mins away, and a shopping district MyeongDong with an entrance to Namsan funicular is located 3 subway stations away from here. Staff is very friendly and helpful. So, 10/10, worth visiting^^
Dear IggySem, Thanks for your stay with us. We are glad to hear that you enjoyed your stay in Seoul. We will keep improving our service quality to be the 'best value budget hotel in Seoul' and look foward to hosting you again in your next Seoul trip.
The hotel is near the subway, so it very easy to get to places. Room is average but good enough consider the price is not expensive. We stayed here for 4 nights and enjoyed it very much! Will recommended this hotel.
Dear Suki, Thanks for your stay with us and we appreciate your review. We will do our further best to provide better service in your next Seoul trip. ^ ^ Have a nice day!
POSITIVES – Relatively cheap, good location, good staff.
NEGATIVES – breakfast worse than dire (is an embarrassment). Limited reception. No air con instructions.
SUMMARY – Overall Seoul is not cheap and this is a very basic hotel. New owners still have learning to do - I would try to find better at the moment.
DETAILS
Stayed for 4 nights in June 2016.
My 5th floor room was large enough and had a single plus a double bed. The towels supplied were tiny but the staff quickly changed these – well done. It was comfortable enough but very basic. There was a fridge, a table, hooks for cloths, kettle but no supplies. The shower is above the pink bath and you are given a small bar of soap. They only clean on your request. There is no safe and reception shuts at mid-night so you have to use a fob to get back in.
There is decent small TV receiving CNN and local stations.
I slept reasonably well two nights but the air con but then I struggled – too hot. I eventually found out that the air con was not set correctly (it is in Korean!) – they need to show you how to set it up!!
They must scrap breakfast or massively improve it. I must have stayed in hundreds of hotels and there so called breakfast is the worst by a long way. I was told it was basic and had seen pictures of some fruit, bread, etc. The hotel is under new management. This was the offer….. at 9.40am …. Make your own Nescafe coffee, water, a few cartoons of juice, bread (with toaster but NOTHING with it … no butter, jams etc). Oh and 3 uninspiring pastry things with bits in them you were to put into the microwave. THAT WAS IT. I found it insulting and never went back. This will ANNOY customers. They should shut this down immediately.
I found the staff to be very pleasant, friendly and helpful – particularly the lady on reception – she smiled and tried her very best – a real credit to the hotel.
All in all I would give them 5 out of 10 and I would not return under present conditions – I would rather pay more. Some might consider the price good and are not bothered about the negatives.
Dear Nothernman,
Thanks for your stay with us and I appreciate your honest review which will help us a lot to improve our service quality. Also, I apologize for the all negatives of our hotel which must have caused inconvenience for you.
It was unfortunate for us to host you only few days after we took over hotel ownership from the previous owner. Since we started our business from June 1 this year, we have been doing our best to improve property as well as service quality. Although our upgrading work has been planned until end of July, we have done following improvement recently (or will start some of them from July 15).
1) New bed
2) Improved breakfast including toast/bread (jam/butter), serial with milk, boiled egg, juice, coffee/tea.
3) Free mineral water bottle everyday
4) Full size bath towel, shampoo, conditioner, shower soap
5) Daily room make up
To be honest, our humble target is 'the best value for money budget hotel' in the heart of Seoul downtown. Thehe new management would like to make our hotel a comfort home after wonderful walking tour to many travelers destinations such Royal palaces, Insadong street, Bukchon traditional Hanok Village, Samcheongdong street.
I appreciate your valuable feedback/review again and the whole Seoul 53 Hotel Insadong team will do our best to improve service quality to make our hotel the better place for travelers.
Warm regards,
Steve Park
Co-owner of Seoul 53 Hotel Insadong
Seoul53 is relatively cheap for its location. It provides soap, shampoo and small towels - which are reasonable for the price paid. However, when we checked in on 14 May, the staff at the counter was rather rude to us when we requested for additional pillows. They only provided one pillow per person and it was rather thin so we asked if we could get additional pillows. The staff replied curtly "Why do you need a pillow! We dont have extra pillows!". The next day, we thought maybe some guests would have checked out so we tried asking again. This time, he retorted "Why do you ask again when I already said I have no pillows!" We were rather surprised as our question was genuine and had no ill-intention. On the 16th of May, the staff at the counter was a different person and this time, when we asked, he quickly went to check and returned with 2 extra pillows.
More consistent service standards would be appreciated but overall, this place provides simple breakfast, clean beds and basic amenities. Location is near the subway too. Wifi is intermittent in rooms.
Dear Monica,
Thank you very much your valuable feedback and we are sorry for the unpleasant experience in our hotel.
Since the new management team started operation of Seoul 53 Hotel Insadong from June 1 this year, we have improved service quality a lot compare to the old management period. Guests should be able to experience much better stay than any time before.
We invite travelers to Seoul 53 Hotel Insadong and wish happy Korea trip.
Thank you and warm regards,
Steve Park
Co-owner of Seoul 53 Hotel Insadong
