Review: The Westin, South Korea. Exceptional on every level.

The Westin may have delivered our best exec lounge experience

There’s no set standard for what makes an executive lounge, beyond a room, a sign on the door, and something that may or may not constitute food. I’ve been to some very minimal and disappointing exec lounges in my time, but also been to some that were exceptional. The Westin, in Seoul, South Korea, may just be my best yet.

How we booked and paid for the Westin

We paid £2,278 for a five-night stay at the Westin, which is £455 per night. This was the last leg of our trip to Japan and South Korea, and we flew into Seoul from Osaka with Korean Air. I wrote a review of that experience here.

We booked the Westin through Avios Hotels, earning us 22,275 points. We used Avios Hotels for two of the three hotel stays on this trip, giving us just under 50,000 points on this trip. It really is one of the easiest and most reliable ways to earn a significant number of points.

I’m a Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite, but as this hotel was booked via an aggregator, we received no points or perks from our stay. I find that Marriott has the worst perks at a Gold level. There’s no free breakfast like you would get with Hilton, and that’s an easy way to make significant savings.

Where is the Westin located?

The Westin sits in Gangnam (Yes, the Gangnam of Gangnam Style, more on that in a moment), in a series of joined-up developments that include a large conference centre, several hotels, a mall, and a department store. It is a big block with two metro stations.

It’s around an hour and a half from Seoul’s main Incheon airport by car. We chose to get an Uber rather than use public transport because you have to change trains several times, and we had a lot of luggage. The Seoul metro is great, but it’s often busy. Perhaps the last thing you need after a flight is wrestling with public transport.

We splurged on an Uber Black, which turned out to be a Mercedes-Maybach. I have never experienced such a high-end taxi.

It was insanely beautiful inside, and we both gently nodded off on the back thanks to the comfortable seat and a neck pillow that seemed to be made out of cloud.

What’s around the hotel?

The highlight for us, and likely for you, will be the monument to Psy, the singer behind Gangnam Style. There is a large metal statue just outside the mall. This represents the joined-up hands that form part of the dance behind his most famous song. Next to it is a screen which plays Gangnam Style on repeat, and shows the lyrics in case you want to sing along. It is a deeply emotional experience that stirs the soul.

Beyond that cultural landmark, there are hundreds of places to eat within walking distance of the hotel. Within the malls underneath the hotel, there are food courts, food streets, and restaurants dotted around in between. South Koreans like to eat, and that means a ton of options. Our favourite was the food hall that sat underneath the Hyundai department store, which was high-end, cheap and had a lot of amazing food options.

The Malls beneath the Westin

Getting into the malls and food courts was easy. There’s a set of escalators at the far end of the Westin reception that takes you down a level, then another set that takes you down to the mall level. There’s a small set of shops, including a convenience store. Walk past those, and you’ll be at the SeaLife centre. Beyond that, you have a Starbucks and the start of the first mall. There’s also a large cinema on that side of the mall, and a Shake Shack.

There’s a series of Malls that link together, and then the basement of the Hyundai department store, which is an upmarket food court. It is very easy to get lost, which is why they have an elaborate system of “paths” that are painted on the floor, so you’re less reliant on signage and can instead follow colours.

If you want to get out of the area, there are two metro stations within walking distance. They can get you to almost any other part of the city. We paid £8 for a two-day pass, which gave us unlimited travel. That was an absolute bargain.

Ubers in the city are interesting. We tried the cheapest Uber taxi and decided to never do that again for our own mental health. We chose to use Uber Black instead.

Checking in at the Westin

When our Uber pulled up outside the hotel, the porters took our luggage, and we were ushered through to the check-in area. I’d like to think that turning up in a Maybach gave the impression that we were classy people who had made sensible life decisions.

We checked in at 4pm and the hotel was relatively quiet. The staff member at the front desk explained the opening times of the gym and the executive lounge. In short, the latter is open nearly all day, with food being offered at breakfast, in the afternoon and in the evening.

This is a huge hotel, and getting to your room means using one of the six elevators. These were fast, and despite the large number of guests moving around, we rarely had to wait long.

The only incident with the elevators was that, a few days later, we were briefly stuck in one for less than sixty seconds. This resulted in three members of staff working to free us, and then the hotel manager insisted on apologising to us when we checked out. It wasn’t their fault (someone had dropped something into the grooves of the elevator door, which caused it to malfunction), but my goodness, they wanted to make sure we knew they felt bad about it.

What was our room like at the Westin?

We booked a corner suite and asked for a high-floor. While we had seen the pictures before we made the booking, this was one of those hotels where the imagery doesn’t do the reality justice.

It was a beautiful series of rooms, with a huge living space offering panoramic views of the nearby Buddhist temple. The guest bathroom was stunning, and the main bedroom was well-sized and beautifully decorated. The primary bathroom was an equally attractive and well-sized space. It was a well-designed suite that we loved to be in. It was also quiet.

The Living Room

The living room was particularly nice. It was spacious and had a large and very comfortable sofa. In one corner, you have your coffee machine, kettle and mini-bar. The coffee machine was a Nespresso, but it uses the commercial pods, not the standard ones you can buy in a supermarket.

The room came with four water bottles every day, but that was the limit of the free options. Everything else, including the snacks and the soft drinks, was chargeable.

There’s a large TV in the living room and bedroom with a typical selection of international channels: BBC News, CNN and Discovery. You can cast video from a personal device to either of the TVs in the suite.

The Bedroom

The suite’s bedroom is a good size, but there’s a lot in there: a small sofa at the foot of the bed, complete with a table, and another comfy seat by the window, also with its own, smaller, table.

It didn’t feel cramped, but I think it could have done without one seating option and one table to make it feel more spacious.

There are two windows in the bedroom: a large one with blackout curtains, and a smaller one that faces the bed and is partially blocked by a pillar. That window just has blinds, and ones that don’t fit particularly well. It means that when it’s light outside, sunlight will come into the bedroom. If you’re looking to recover from jet lag, that’s not ideal.

Connectivity in the room was good. There were plenty of power points on each side of the bed.

On one side, there was a modern alarm clock, alongside light switches, an air conditioning control and a universal power point. There were also USB-C and USB-A ports.

The other side of the bed had the same ports, but built into the bedside table.

On the left-hand side of the bed, there was a phone, a box that contained the TV remote, a notepad and some sleep scenes. That was a nice touch. I’m not sure I’ve ever had that in a hotel room.

There were some surprises: something resembling a fridge freezer sat in the hallway of the main bedroom. This was an LG Style, which is a steam cupboard for your clothes. I don’t have the space or the money to have this in our home, but if I did, then I would be using it every day.

You drop your clothes in it, and then within thirty minutes, they are steamed, hygienic, and wrinkle-free.

The Bathroom

The en-suite bathroom was big, with two sinks, a mid-sized bath, a separate shower room and a separate toilet.

The room has a basic version of a Japanese toilet. We were spoiled in our last hotel in Tokyo, which had a toilet that detected when you entered and exited, alongside the cleaning functions. Our toilet at the Westin didn’t quite do everything, but it was still better than a standard Westin toilet.

The bathroom had two sinks and lots of surface space for us to put our toiletries. It also came with a generous set of towels. I’m getting a little tired of hotels being tight on the towel offering so it was nice to actually have enough.

The toiletries at the Westin were from Dipthyque, my favourite brand. There was hand soap and hand lotion next to the sinks. This was the same in the guest bathroom.

In the shower, you had Dipthyque shower gel, conditions and shampoo.

The shower was a good size, and the water pressure was very good. There was a ledge in the shower that puzzled me. It was too low to sit on comfortably, but I’m sure it has a purpose.

The bathroom came with Westin robes, which were pretty comfortable. It also came with a Dyson hair-dryer.

Food and drink at the Westin

The Westin has some really interesting food options. If you’re staying in a club room, then you’ll get access to the executive lounge, with more on this below.

Restaurants in the hotel include:

• Asian Live, which has Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian food. It’s open for lunch and dinner.
• On:table is the buffet restaurant which is used for breakfast, but also opens up for lunch and dinner.
• The Logue is the cafe on the ground floor next to reception, open from 9am every day until midnight.
• There is a Monton’s steakhouse, but this does not appear on the Marriott website.

Asian Live

We dined at Asian Live one night, and don’t be put off by the name. It sounds gimmicky and middle-of-the-road, but it’s actually a beautiful space with a mid-to-high-end menu. I really think they need to rename it to something that gives it more gravitas

The design of this space gives me Greek island vibes, with plenty of white, and lots of curves. We were sat in a private booth which was more like it’s own little room. It gives you a feeling of complete privacy.

There are some “regular” restaurant tables and seats, but the majority of diners will end up either in one of the fully enclosed private rooms, or one of the private booths like what we had.

As the seating is so hidden away, you get a button to press that will get you service.

I ordered the Chicken Makhani whilst my wife had the Beef Bulgogi Bibimbap. The meal came with both starters and deserts included, with no choice in terms of what you got.

For starters, we were given a small bowl containing Jellyfish.

There was no drinks menu, and at no point were we asked what we would like to drink. Instead, you get a pot of green tea, kept warm with tea-lights.

Partway through the meal, we asked if we could order drinks, and the answer was simply “yes”. A few minutes later green tea flavoured iced water appeared. .

Both our mains were excellent, and the portions were generous. Once we finished them we rang the bell and our plates were cleared away. Within a few minutes our desert was delivered to the table, which was a simple, but delicious, selection of fruit.

It’s worth saying that the bathrooms in Asian Live are, like the rest of the restaurant, quite beautiful.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable meal here for £75.

The Executive Lounge (The Club)

This is the most stunning executive lounge we’ve ever been to. Not only does it look good, but the food on offer was some of the highest standard. It really is an exceptional offering.

The Executive Lounge is on the 30th floor, the top floor of the hotel, and it gives you some great views across the city. There’s a small reception area where you are checked in, then there’s a long, thin seating area with room for approximately forty people.

Beyond that is the main food area, which has seating dotted around, plus a snug with great views, and then a spillover dining area.

We used the lounge every morning, occasionally in the evenings, and then once for the afternoon tea. At no point was it uncomfortably busy; in fact, most times it was pretty quiet.

One day of our trip coincided with a national holiday, and the hotel asked guests to pick a timeslot to enter the lounge. Even then, it wasn’t that busy.

At breakfast and dinner time, there’s a very wide range of dishes, including one option that is cooked live by the chef (at breakfast, this is an egg dish). There are six hot options, and they are of really good quality. My wife had steak for breakfast every day, and she said that it was very good.

The afternoon tea has a more limited offering, with no hot food. It’s still a decent selection of food, although if you’re really hungry, you might want to sit and wait until the dinner service.

There’s a coffee machine available to use all day. It made a great flat white for me every morning, but there is no decaf option. My wife ordered that direct from a staff member one morning and she said it was awful and tasted like instant coffee.

There’s also a fresh orange juice machine during breakfast. The mechanical crushing of oranges brought some theatre to my mornings.

The Gym and fitness space at the Westin

The quality of hotel gyms can vary wildly, from repurposed hotel rooms with a few machines stuck in them, to the most stunning gym spaces. The Westin is the latter, with a commercial standard gym. Someone on Threads reminded me that it’s at this standard because it is actually a commercial gym, just one that’s attached to a hotel.

There’s one giant room that contains all the machines and equipment, with two ancillary rooms. One of those acts as a warm-up/Yoga studio, and there’s a second room with around 10 machines. This is closest to reception, so I think it’s just a small space you can jump into quickly, rather than going into the main body of the gym.

The gym officially opens at 6am, but I was in there at that time on a few days, and it was already busy. The running machines were particularly popular, and although there were fifteen of them, they were often all taken.

There are two water machines in the gym, and I’d advise you to bring a water bottle to fill up. Paper cups are provided, but they are tiny. There’s also a blood pressure monitor available for free use.

One wall of the gym is entirely glass, overlooking a garden. It’s a peaceful space to wander into if you want some fresh air or to cool off.

The hotel has a beautiful pool that is free to use. It’s next to the gym and is, frankly, a beautiful space. There are loungers around the pool if you want to just relax rather than swim.

Overall, it’s a fantastic gym, one of the better hotel gyms that I’ve been to. If you do want to use a gym outside of the opening hours (6am to midnight), there’s a night gym you can use. For those who are struggling with jet lag, it’s a useful way to kill some time.

Staying in Seoul, some pointers

There are a few things that we did to make this trip as easy as possible.

Firstly, I prepaid for a concierge service. We chose one called Go Wonderfully, but there are plenty of other options. I knew we’d need this for a couple of things we wanted to do: a cinema trip, and going to a K-league game. Both required you to have a Korean mobile number to complete the booking. Without the concierge service, we wouldn’t have been able to go. We communicated with them via WhatsApp and their English was excellent.

We also used a luggage delivery service to take our cases from us when we checked out, and then deliver them to the airport that evening. That freed us up to wander the city and kill time between our 11am checkout and our 9pm check-in with Emirates.

I’ve been using E-sims for a while now. The hotel has great wi-fi, but once you leave the front doors, you’re without connectivity. Getting around Seoul was fairly easy, but being able to connect and use Google Maps was critical when we were using the Metro. I use Airalo, but there are lots of providers out there.

Finally, the Metro has a travel pass called a Climate Card Tourist Pass. We bought one at a self-service machine in one of the stations, although the process was confusing and we had to use a few different payment cards. It is a great deal: a two-day pass costs us £4 for unlimited journeys.

The Verdict on the Westin in Seoul

We would stay here again in a heartbeat. It was a beautiful, well-designed hotel that ticked all the boxes. A really attractive Executive lounge with great food. A modern gym with a wide range of equipment. Some great food options inside the hotel. And finally, a wealth of restaurants and shops within walking distance.

It’s hard to fault the Westin. The 11am check-out feels a little stingy. Aside from that, and really I’m nitpicking, the entire stay exceeded our expectations.

The Executive Lounge was one of the highlights. We had the option every afternoon or evening to call in and have some food at zero cost and with minimal effort. While we ate out most nights, we did use the Exec lounge one evening when we were tired.

Rating the Westin, Seoul Parnas

Food & drink

Decor

Sleep quality

Gym

Overall Rating