Hotel Review: Andaz Seoul Gangnam (Andaz King Suite)
From Honolulu to Seoul (2022) | Travel Report
Introduction
The Andaz Seoul Gangnam is a cultural blend of the past and the future. Andaz is actually a Hindi word meaning “personal style” and boy did the Andaz Seoul do it with flair! With its distinct design and modern interpretations of what a hotel should be and feel like, we had the privilege of staying four nights at this fantastic hotel in the heart of Apgujeong.
As mentioned in my travel report, I had planned on using a Hyatt Suite Upgrade Certificate to grab a suite at the Andaz Seoul Gangnam. A suite at the price of check-in was around $800-900 a night so we were getting a fantastic deal for 89,000 Hyatt Points. Quick maths pointed to a whopping $3400.00 USD for the night!
Check-In and Lobby
We checked in around 12:45pm having come from the Conrad Seoul. The lobby was busy as it was a Friday afternoon - lots of locals and tourists were bustling about. Andaz’s check-in structure is unique in a sense that they’re not a traditional check-in counter and provide complementary water or drinks. Compared to my check-in experience via Tokyo or Scottsdale, it seemed like we weren’t provided with a drink, which was slightly disappointing.
I had applied a suite upgrade certificate prior to checking in, so I knew ahead of time at the very minimum, I was grabbing an Andaz King Suite. Sure enough, we were given a King Suite, though our suite wasn’t ready at the time of check-in. We were offered to check-in and have our luggage delivered once the room was ready. We happily made our way to the 2nd floor to have lunch, where we indulged in a delicious tempura eel set.
The lobby is on the smaller side of things, though the choice of materials made for an intimate and luxurious surrounding. A variety of supercars frequent the valet parking, with the likes of multiple Lamborghini Urus, Mercedes-Benz S Classes and Porsche Panamera’s all lined up on the daily. As a car fanatic, this was incredibly exciting and thrilling to see. Lobby is connected to the A+Z coffee shop, which makes a great Iced Toffee Nut Latte!
Andaz King Suite (Room 1109)
We were given Room 1109, an end corner suite unit on the hotel grounds. I’ve compared a lot of various business luxury hotels and I still feel like Andaz does the “home” feel the best. You’re welcomed a scent of welcome and a massive living room, along with a powder room to your left.
Modern is the key word here - all the furnitures are definitely utilized and curated in a way to make you feel in a very sophisticated environment. From the mini bar to the trash can, everything was thoughtfully built out to feel like you’re in a very expensive room. From the living room, you are then greeted with the masterful bedroom to your left, along with several key features that I should mention upfront:
GigaGenie aka Korean Alexa - a Harmon Kardon AoT device that controls all elements of your room along with being a bluetooth music player. I found this to be quite intuitive and caught myself a couple of times randomly telling the device to close my blinds.
Blinds and sheers are motorized - either you like it or you don’t. I personally love the mechanical element to my blinds and sheers closing automatically, but some folks just like to immediately do it themselves.
Closet is massive. And it’s six doors. There’s actually four closets (one in the living room foyer and three in the bedroom) and they’re all big enough to stuff a couple folks in there.
There are an insane amount of outlets, like borderline insane. Just the living room alone has 3 places to charge your phone, USB outlets, 220V and more. Bedroom has 2 more and the bathroom as couple more.
The bedroom bed is incredibly comfortable and I found myself sleeping quickly with all the lovely feather pillows. I did find that the mattress was a bit harder than the Conrad and the Intercontinental, but that’s a matter of taste I believe. I still slept like a piggy in a blanket, so I had no qualms with the bed firmness. If anything, the room’s ability to close multiple rooms with layers of sliding doors is what makes this suite so much fun. You can literally split the suite into four partitioned sections.
A few minutes after checking in, the leader of the Guest Relations, JM, came and greeted us with a bowl of some incredibly sweet grapes and an orange, along with a fantastic bottle of wine. I easily downed the bottle at night after watching a bit of Running Man re-runs from the TV.
The Bathroom
Whether or not you wish to visit the spa downstairs, you’ll certainly feel like you have your very own spa room to yourself. The bathroom is, in my wife’s phrase “HOLY HECK” 100% accurate. Cladded with marble and a soaking tub placed right in the middle, this dream-like bathroom is very lady’s dream - heck, I’d like to own a bathroom like this! Sink into that warm water with the bath salts, or take a long shower that fits 8 people easily. The bathroom amenities given are also unique - Christophe Laudamiel was the brand name.
Honestly, the bathroom is probably one of my favorite areas of the room -with its unique design and layout, it’s a great place to unwind and relax after a long day. Honestly, my wife could easily spend all her time in the bathroom if she wanted to, but for me - the spa was where it was at.
The Summer House & Fitness Center
Stop on the B2 floor and find yourself at the Summer House and Spa, where a state of the art fitness center, along with a pilates room awaits you. The fitness center contains free weights, aerobic equipment like the stair master and bikes, along with several machines as well. I had a couple of workouts that allowed me to gorge myself during breakfast, haha.
There’s a lovely indoor pool with a massive floor to ceiling screen showcasing the works of Seoul. The sauna includes the same toiletries as mentioned before, but they supply each individual with hair product, facial products and a series of amenities to help with your grooming!
The sauna features four pools that range from iceberg cold to volcanic hot - after a series of workouts, the mixture of hot/cold plunges made for a strong recovery! (Not recommended for beginners!) IT does help improve your blood circulation, immune system and tightens your skin appearance. It’s probably why everyone looks so young and fresh here in Seoul.
The Restaurant (Jogakbo)
The Andaz Seoul Gangnam hosts a series of three restaurants under the Jogakbo brand. From Seafood Grill, Meat & Co to the Bites & Wine, each kitchen offers a menu that is prepared by specialist chefs that invite diners to check out gourmet ingredients with each season. You can literally ascend to the restaurant by climbing the marble cladded stairs from the lobby. Jogakbo is split into three themes, a Meat focused one, a Seafood focused one, and a dessert focused one. From a wide offering of champagne to Korean styled tapas to some ridiculously great seafood dishes, this place is incredibly great to dine and wine at.
Seafood Grill
The Seafood Grill features fireside-cooking cuisine with Korean flavors. Life seafood from the markets a series of selective selections are given for your preparation. When we first checked into the Andaz Seoul Gangnam, we had our lunch here and had a blast with their extensive menu.
I highly recommend to those reading this blog to get the Crispy Tempura Eel set. It’s 100% worth every bit of the 88,000 won. It serves 2 and comes with on a sizzling stone pot of white rice. Topped with pickled mustard leaves, confit garlic, pickled chili and spring onions, you’re then shown three delectable tempura eels that are then cut and placed together with the rice. My God, is this dish glorious!
We also got the fried soft shell crab and chips, along with the Mero - it was aged in miso sauce, clams grilled baby onions and pickled shallot. All were great and the service was attentive and fantastic from the get-go.
We came back for dinner during a busy weekend and ordered the Galbi Fried Rice and the Grilled Eel. Both were equally great and was delicious to the very end.
The Tempura Eel Set - a must get for lunch!
Breakfast at Jogakbo
As a Globalist member, we were entitled to breakfast every day - and boy did we enjoy our mornings! Breakfast buffet was 52,000 won per person, which equated to 104,000 won per day. Yeah, it adds up quick without being a Globalist - that’s a total of 416,000 won saved for the 4 days there!
The breakfast selections were similar to the Conrad Seoul, though the style was apparent in a more unique twist to the basics, like eggs and their Eggs and Bacon Brioche Bun. Their Korean breakfast selection was also ample and had a lot of barchan and side selections. The croffile for me was the highlight of the day, as it was the one dish that I constantly got over and over again. The seaweed soup in the mornings was also a great choice to begin our day.
Room Service at Night
We also had a night of room service dinner - the food portions were great, though I should have been wiser with my dinner choice of a Seafood Soybean soup, because I realized that the soup was literally identical to the one my wife had with her LA Galbi dinner dish. However, the multi-grain rice paired well with the soup and we both finished ours to the very end.
Location
The Andaz Seoul Gangnam is conveniently located right next to the Apgujeong Station (Exit 3), making it very easy to travel around Seoul and the tourist areas quickly. Ideally, it’s a great location for those looking to uh, splurge a bit more on shopping and/or enjoy a series of high-end restaurants and bars. In fact, a station down is Sinsa Station, where the famed Garosu-gil area is located.
On top of that, you can quickly connect to the flagship Hyundai Department Stores and the surrounding shops within minutes. There’s also a Blue Bottle Coffee shop next door, but come on - you’re here in Seoul, not back in the Bay Area! To be honest, the coffee shop in the hotel (A+Z) is so much better and the ambiance is lot nicer.
Conclusion
The Andaz Seoul Gangnam does not disappoint. Yes, they may be slightly understaffed in certain aspects due to the rush of business conferences and local weekend getaways, but the entirety of the hotel and its service is 100% deserving of its 5 stars. The hotel is definitely a personalized style and approach and almost feels like home, with the subway just literally a few steps away, along with a series of restaurants on the basement floor and the hotel’s very own Jogakbo. I commend the team for making our stay at fun and memorable as possible, and I can’t wait to be back here in the future!
