Sofitel Ambassador Seoul Hotel & Serviced Residences

The room was great, located on the 23rd floor with a stunning lake view. When I booked, I selected a three-person meal option for two adults and one child. The price for a two-person meal and a three-person meal was different at the time of booking. However, upon arrival, the hotel informed me that one of the meals in my three-person package was a complimentary children's meal. Since my child is 13 years old, exceeding the 12-year age limit, they were not eligible for the free buffet breakfast, and I was asked to pay. To avoid disrupting our travel plans and mood, I paid for the meal. However, I find this explanation completely unacceptable. I purchased a three-person meal package, but at the hotel, it was treated as if I bought two meals and received one free. If I had known it was a complimentary meal from the hotel, why would I not just book the two-person meal package and save some money?! I urge Trip.com and the hotel to communicate and provide a satisfactory resolution.

The room view was absolutely amazing, and the location is super convenient with plenty of food options nearby. Downstairs, there are many coffee shops, convenience stores, and more. The only downside is that it's a bit far from the airport. The service was top-notch, with highly professional staff who spoke excellent English. All the hotel facilities were excellent, truly living up to the Sofitel luxury brand.

The front desk staff deliberately tried to trick me into paying a higher price to extend my stay. They spoke Korean to their colleagues right in front of me, making me feel bullied, and seemed to favor locals. Foreigners should be cautious when choosing this hotel. I stayed in a lake view room for almost 10 days. When I went downstairs to extend my stay, I asked if I could renew my current room. The front desk ignored my request three times and straight-up demanded I pay 8,000 RMB to extend my stay in the most basic city view room. While I was in a stalemate, a manager who had assisted me several times before came over and asked if I needed help. The female staff member who was originally assisting me then impatiently spoke in Korean, essentially rejecting his help on my behalf or, rather, driving away the manager who was trying to assist me. The entire process of extending my stay and changing rooms took over an hour, which was very disruptive to my travel plans. However, while I was waiting in my room for them to help me switch, I discovered that I could have extended my original room online through the app. As someone who visits Seoul almost every summer, I've never encountered such issues when extending stays at the reception desk before. I've spent months staying at Sofitel in total, with accumulated spending exceeding 100,000, but the experience just keeps getting worse. The hotel bathrobes come in two types: one is very old and worn out, and the replacement I received had large holes, which is something you rarely even see in budget hotels. The other type has a comfortable, soft, and skin-friendly fabric. During my ten nights in the lake view room, I only received the comfortable bathrobe once. On one occasion, a staff member on the 6th floor bumped into us as we were exiting the elevator, seemingly to clear the way for a Korean local guest, and had a very impatient expression. However, proper elevator etiquette dictates that people should exit before others enter. Staying at a 2k+ hotel, I expect to avoid such rude service, and even though it was just once, it was completely baffling.

The hotel's location and service were good, but I have to point out two flaws. First, the curtains aren't blackout, so I'd wake up around 5 AM every day because of the light. Second, it takes a long time for the hot water to come through, and even more annoyingly, the shower water gets scalding hot whenever someone flushes a toilet or uses a sink nearby. These are issues that a five-star hotel shouldn't have.