Homey house Review (Taipei, Taiwan)

(Credits: agoda.com)

(Credits: agoda.com)

Everything looks brand new. The staff was extremely friendly and prompt. We arrived really early at around 10am and we could not check in yet as the standard check-in time was 3pm. That was fine as there weren't any extra rooms and they needed to wait for the guest to check out and clean up the room. But staff was really kind and offered us additional complimentary breakfast for that morning.  Thumbs up to Vivi for that kind gesture! :)

Date of stay: Aug 2013

Address:
No.56, Changchun Rd., Zhongshan District, Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan

Links:
Official website
Agoda listing

Goodstay Nobless Yeoksam Hotel Review

This hotel located behind Yeoksam station and the airport bus stop is located nearby. They have large rooms and just a few stops away from lots of shopping and food.

It has a good location and you could walk to Gangnam underground shopping located 1 train station away or head over to Gangnam COEX. The rooms were spacious fitted with a large flat screen TV, a 2 seater sofa and luggage storage area. The toilet was extremely spacious with a jacuzzi tub (the jacuzzi wasn't working or maybe we had to get the staff to switch it on? We didn't really need to use it so we didn't ask them about it), separate shower area and toilet bowl area. It can get quite noisy as it's located near the main street but that could also be due to our open windows as the air-conditioning was only powered up during winter time.

We only booked this hotel for one night as we just ended our snowboarding trip in Yongpyong and needed a one night stay in Seoul prior to our flight back. Overall we had a good stay and the main intention was to have easy access to the train station and the airport bus.

Our spacious bedroom 

Toilet with tub, shower and toilet bowl area

Date of stay: March 2014

Address:
642-2, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam - Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea

Links:
Agoda listing
Tripadvisor listing

Vesta Spa & Fitness Review (Busan, South Korea)

(Credits: Tripadvisor)

View from the lounge area

Entrance to one of sauna rooms

This is a typical Korean sauna, the real local experience. My friends, who are local Koreans living in Busan, brought us to this place. It has an amazing view of the beach and the sunset. I think the best time to head there is during the winter and in the evening while catching the sunset. They also have an outdoor pool section, where you could soak in the hot water while enjoying the cool breeze and even the snow.

Date of visit: March 2013

Address:
1509-6 Jung-dong, Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea

Links:
Official website
Tripadvisor Reviews

Yongpyong Resort Dragon Valley Hotel Review

Hotel

The rooms were large with comfy beds and the hotel was located just behind the ski lifts. It's about a minute's walk from the hotel lobby to the ski lifts.

Double room (Credits: agoda.com)

Twin room (Credits: agoda.com)

Entrance (Credits: agoda.com)

Hotel Lobby (Credits: agoda.com)

Neighbourhood

There wasn't anything to do around our hotel at night as almost everything was closed around 6pm. So there's definitely no after-ski or places to chill during the night. It is a very different atmosphere from what you would expect from Europe. Maybe it's because we were there during off peak. The night skiing is only available during the weekends.

Transportation

It was tricky getting to the hotel from Seoul as the website to reserve the shuttle bus tickets were in Korean and you needed to buy using a Korean credit card. Fortunately we had a Korean friend who helped us buy the tickets. The hotel staff recommended us to buy the tickets online, but there were also some people who bought the tickets directly on the bus. There were no designated bus stop at the Lotte Mart (Jamsil) for the shuttle buses, but the buses generally arrived early so you could spot them and the buses we took were purple in colour. (More details regarding transportation here: Yongpyong Resort Website) You can book your bus tickets through Grace Travel.

(Credits: yongpyong.co.kr)

Date of stay: March 2013

Hotel details:
130, Yongsan-ri, Daegwalnyeong-myon, Gangwon-do, Pyeongchang, Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea

Links:
Official website
Agoda listing
Tripadvisor review

Show Tel Review (Seoul)

We stayed here only because we needed just a cheap 1 night stay to catch the early bus to Yongpyong in the morning from Lotte World. It's more of a love motel and it was about 10-15 min walk to Lotte World (Jamsil). The staff didn't really speak english and our doors couldn't be locked, but he assured us that he could monitor our room from his CCTV when we went out in the day. At night, you could lock it with the door chains inside. The bed was hard to sleep on. We weren't expecting anything fancy for the price we paid.

The best part of this stay was that we had an AMAZING garlic bread that we bought from a bakery in Lotte World Shopping Center. :)

In short, it's cheap and reasonable (for the price) for a one night stay.

(Credits: Agoda)

Date of stay: Feb 2013

Address:
5-13, Olympic-ro, 34-gil, Songpa-gu, Jamsil / Songpa, Seoul, South Korea

Links:
Agoda listing
Tripadvisor listing

Elysee Motel Busan Review

For a first time visitor, the place might look sleazy or haunted. The place is quite dimly lit and it looks really shady. You might also find it tricky to locate the entrance as you enter via the carpark.

The owners sent us a prior email before arriving to give us directions to the motel. Upon arriving, they gave us an introduction of shopping, food and sightseeing locations around the area coupled with print-outs of the maps and descriptions.

Although the place looks rather old and worn out, the couple running the place were extremely helpful and friendly, giving a warm homely feel to the place. They readily helped us with any information we needed and also helped searched for the information if they didn't know the answer to it. There was a jacuzzi, shower area, computer and a huge flat screen tv in the room.

The location was quite good as you could walk to get to the shopping and food areas that are nearby.

Apart from the looks of this place, I would actually give them a double thumbs up for their impeccable service and value-for-money.

Update 27 May 2015:
From their photos, I think they had some renovations and they look significantly better now, especially the rooms. Triple thumbs up now!

(Credits: Agoda)

Date of stay: Jan 2013

Address:
22 Daecheong-ro 126beon-gil Jung-gu, Jung-gu / KTX Busan Station, Busan, South Korea 600-023

Links:
Agoda listing
Tripadvisor listing

J Hill Hotel Review (Seoul, South Korea)

This hotel is centrally located in a shopping and food district. There was free wifi in the rooms and the breakfast area is located at the top of the building, providing some nice view of the surroundings.

It's well located in between Myeongdong and Euljiro 1-ga train station. It's less than 5 minutes walk to either stations, without luggages of course. :) There are lots of street food & shopping around the area and there's a Lotte departmental store nearby too. The room is really small and you could only open 1 luggage at a time while the room. The room had a slight cigarette smell though. Because it's located in the shopping and food district, it might get slightly noisy but we find it still ok. The staff were very friendly and helpful and could converse in english. They helped us search for locations/items online when we had questions and the staff at the lobby was extremely enthusiastic in helping us with our luggages and at one occasion he brought us directly to the restaurant when we asked him the location of a food place. Double thumbs up to him! The toilet had the auto washing function too, that was quite cool! Overall it was nice and comfortable stay, with everything within walking distance.

Our bedroom

Toilet bowl

Date of stay: Feb 2013

Hotel details:
J Hill Hotel (3 star)
48 Myeongdong-gil, Jung-gu, Myeong-dong / Namsan
Seoul, South Korea

Links:
Official website
Agoda listing