We have actually stayed at the hotel twice over the past fortnight, the first time we had a Palace Suite which comes with Korean Spa access. All the facilities in the suite are excellent although the decor felt more reminiscent of a public corporation boardroom, which would no doubt make business visitors feel particularly at home.
For our second stay, we were in a deluxe king room, which felt far more like being on holiday, bright, decor and as with the Palace suite, extremely well fitted out, in fact we preferred it, the only difference really being in the floor space with the extra room.
This is a large, City hotel (over 300 rooms) and the set up at lobby level, especially with a guest services desk outside the main entrance (usually meant by the excellent Tommy) is quite exceptional. All arrivals are handled extremely smoothly.
Allergy sufferers should perhaps give the Market Kitchen Breakfasts a miss and opt for Room Service breakfasts which were terrific. Breakfasts used to be served in what is now the Italian restaurant however, for a 300 room hotel, the space would not have been sufficient. Breakfast buffet involves various stations dotted around the very large space and much walking about. I really don't see how this particular set-up can cope with allergy sufferers…there is just so much going on which also involves how guests use the buffet...otherwise, the buffet offers an abundance of everything. It was also very noisy (but so is their Italian restaurant), not so much the fault of management but rather of the hotel’s designers, as the acoustics were the problem. Even when there were only a few diners in the (excellent) Italian restaurant, I noticed the poor acoustics.
Daniel (concierge) was highly reliable and helpful…totally ‘on it.’ We only made one dinner reservation outside of the hotel however, it was extremely carefully researched by the concierge.
This isn't the first time we've stayed at the four seasons city hotel and given how incredibly popular and busy it is, it must not become compared to 4 seasons resorts but to other top Four Seasons Seoul hotels. We visited a couple of the others for a look around however, we would definitely choose this Four Seasons for a return visit.
I tried the Korean Spa... is is a superb facility … I should imagine it is the best in Seoul if not all of South Korea. I did find the sauna hotter than I am used to at other hotels so I only lasted a few minutes... but perhaps this is subjective in South Korea. If you have never before tried a Korean Sauna... this is a Must Visit.
If you like a bar with a view, then without club level access, you will find the basement bar to be the only other bar in the hotel. It is, however, exceptional, excellent on every level and clearly very popular in Seoul. Probably essential to book a table.
We dined twice in the Italian restaurant, which we greatly enjoyed on many levels. I particularly loved the Bellini and Negroni trolley…mixing drinks at the table. What could be more Italian? Rin (see photo) handled the trolley with distinction and panache and seeing had the effect of making the drinks taste spacial.
The welcome from Sera at reception (see photo) to all of the service perfectly complemented the most enjoyable cuisine. I did try to order a bottle of Salon champagne as a special treat for my wife, but unfortunately they did not have a bottle readily available, although they offered to retrieve one from their shop but by then I was halfway through dinner.
Chef de Cuisine Ivan Spadaro who has cleary shaped Boccalino is quite a guy. He came by our table and was a pleasure to meet. Clearly passionate when it comes to both cuisine and hospitality, his cuisine excels not only in Italian flavours (it should be given he hails from Sicily) but in produce selection and culinary ’twists.’ I'm sure he will enjoy a terrific career, not only as an eventual executive chef but as a senior manager in a top hotel. Being so talented and multilingual he has had some high profile embassy posts, appeared on Korean TV and he also previously opened an acclaimed Italian restaurant in Seoul which has enjoyed terrific reviews on Google and Tripadvisor. I look forward to my next visit, not only to his restaurant, but to The Four Seasons Hotel. Running this hotel must be quite a management task. First impressions are important and I find the door staff really excellent at welcoming and helping guests be it initial arrival of returning with shopping.
I tried to be lavish with my praise and careful with my criticism. While I believe there is room for improvement, for a city hotel this Four Seasons really is very good indeed. It knocks the socks off our previous experience of Four Seasons city hotels.
