Cornerstone Hotel

Hotel is quite new, rooms and beddings are clean and very good, not much floor space for luggage but great for a few days stay in Seogwipo. Walking distance to olle market, parking is available across the street behind another hotel

The place is adorable! Really a pleasure to stay there

Very good location, friendly staff and easy check-in and check-out process.

Unfortunately, I had a disappointing experience at this hotel. This is the first time I’ve found myself in the uncomfortable position of having to write a negative hotel review. I want to be as objective and fair as possible when describing what happened. I arrived at around 6:00 PM and checked into Room 505. Unfortunately, the air conditioning wasn’t working. I understand that technical problems can happen, and normally, hotel staff would either fix the issue or offer another room. These things happen, and I wouldn’t usually consider them a reason to leave a negative review. I contacted the front desk, and a staff member came to inspect the problem. To my surprise, he entered the room wearing his shoes, something I hadn’t experienced before during my travels in Korea. Apparently, this hotel allows shoes inside the guest rooms. In any case, he began resetting the circuit breaker, and eventually the air conditioning started working again. We both assumed the problem had been resolved. I then went out to explore Olle Market and returned to my room at approximately 10:30 PM. Unfortunately, the air conditioning had stopped working again. I contacted the staff member once more. He attempted to reset the circuit breaker again, but the problem persisted. Because of the language barrier, we communicated mainly through gestures. He appeared to suggest that I simply open the window and accept the situation. I found this response rather disappointing. I had booked four nights at the property, and I believe that having a functioning air conditioner is a reasonable expectation. Using Papago, I asked whether I could be moved to another room. He told me that the hotel was fully booked. At this point, I contacted a Korean friend and asked him to help me communicate with the staff and find a reasonable solution. Eventually, I was moved to another room, but unfortunately, the situation wasn’t much better. The new room was located right next to the laundry room and close to the reception area. Since the hotel apparently has only one washing machine for all its guests, people were constantly coming and going to do their laundry. I could also hear guests checking in and out, making it difficult to enjoy any peace and quiet. By this point, I simply wanted to leave the hotel as soon as possible. The following day, I contacted Agoda to explain the situation and request assistance. Unfortunately, I was informed that Agoda couldn’t do much unless the hotel agreed to a refund or an amicable resolution. As someone familiar with Airbnb, I found this disappointing, as my experience with Airbnb’s approach to similar situations has been quite different. After explaining the problems with both rooms, we eventually reached an agreement for a refund of two nights. There was also another incident that made me particularly uncomfortable. After I contacted Agoda because I no longer wanted to deal directly with the staff member, he came to my room, knocked on the door, and then opened it without waiting for my permission. I found this completely inappropriate and a serious invasion of my privacy. At that point, I had truly had enough. I also believe that communication could be significantly improved. The staff member at reception spoke virtually no English, which made resolving an already frustrating situation much more difficult. While I certainly don’t expect everyone in Korea to speak English, I believe a hotel that regularly accommodates international guests should have some basic means of communicating with them, especially when problems arise. To be fair, the hotel is well located, which is a definite advantage. I also understand that technical issues can happen at any property. However, what matters most to me is how those issues are handled. Unfortunately, the combination of the malfunctioning air conditioning, the noisy replacement room, the communication difficulties, and the staff member entering my room without permission made this a ve