This was my first experience in Seoul, indeed in South Korea and Le Meridien is an excellent choice for both location and comfort. As I am sure most of you know, Incheon airport is a long way outside Seoul and will take around 45 minutes to drive - maybe more if the traffic is bad. The hotel arranged a very nice car to pick us up since we were arriving from a long trans-pacific from Minneapolis. We appreciated how efficient both the pick up in particular, and the airport in general turned out to be.
If, as we did, you arrive by car/taxi, you will be dropped in a basement-like area which necessitates heading up a couple of floors, by elevator, to reception to check in. It works very well and for those of us who sadly don't speak Korean, the helpful staff at the desk speak excellent english. We are elite Bonvoy members which always helps at Marriott properties (and secures you access to free ice cream at reception here!) and gives you a higher floor for your room and also access to the lounge which is a very worthwhile perk. We took breakfast there and it has good views over Seoul.
The rooms themselves are clean, very modern in design and thoughtfully put together. The beds in Marriotts are universally excellent in my experience and here is no exception. Large beds, firmish mattress and crisp extremely comfortable linens. As we found throughout our travels in Asia, ensuite bathrooms at this level of hotel have not only a large walk in shower but also a soaking tub which is something I greatly enjoy and hugely miss in my travels within the US where a bathtub is generally absent from hotel rooms - unless you count the pathetic shower over shallow tub that seemed to be de rigeur in the 70s and 80s and persists in many places to this day. This is to be highly commended.
We were only here for two nights and so were unable to sample the other facililies such as the gym and the swimming pool but being a full service hotel these looked very nice too. The location is great. We went on a walking tour from the hotel our only full day here and were able to walk out from the lobby to some of the main attractions in Seoul which makes it an excellent choice especially if you are only here for a short time. Our trip was essentially a 48 hour layover before heading over to China. Would definitely stay here again.
