Villa Mafalda

Posto incantevole un po in collina ma vicino al centro e al mare Immerso nel verde silenzioso e rilassante

Nulla tutto meraviglioso

- beautiful design of hotel and room - hotel easy to reach by subway - very friendly staff - great spa

I really enjoyed the facilities especially the sauna and indoor swimming pool (3 lanes, though one is reserved for members). They opens early from 5:30am to 10pm. The outdoor pool requires an additional fee, also I didn’t have the chance to use the gym. The front desk service was friendly and caring, particularly a lovely lady named Merry Lim who made our stay warm and welcoming. The buffet breakfast is a must-try!, a huge range of high-quality dishes from different cuisines, available from 6am to 10am. The location is excellent with easy access to the Shilla Duty Free and complimentary shuttle buses to Myeongdong and shopping area like Young Plaza. I also tried the Japanese (mostly Korean ingredients) and Chinese restaurants, both are amazing. Hotel guests enjoy 10% off dining and the ₩100,000 voucher offers great value for a premium meal if you are lucky. The 23rd-floor restaurants, Continental French and Michelin-star Korean fine dining, are highly recommended, but book early! Overall, it’s the best hospitality experience I’ve had in South Korea 2025.

The hotel room shows signs of age, scratches and wear on the timber floors, bed frames, walls, and cupboards. For a luxury hotel, I expected better room conditions. Also, there are a lot of staff everywhere, which sometimes makes the lobby and common areas feel crowded.

The room itself was nice and the hotel lobby was very welcoming

This was not the 5-star hotel experience one would expect. Even though we booked a room it did not feel like we were valued guests of the hotel. There is a weird member system which results in that hotel guests cannot access most floors, facilities and part of the indoor pool (there was a members’ lane which was 1/3rd of the pool). We had to pay extra for everything, food and laundry services were ridiculously priced (€14 for 3 pairs of panties) and the room missed basic amenities such as an ironing set and a coffee machine. Finally, some staff members were very rude. We had fragile luggage and we asked the staff to store it safely. After this they put this luggage on the counter very roughly after which it almost broke. We mentioned this was not how they should handle it and they did not even apologise! The other staff members were very kind, but this felt super unprofessional. If you wish to have a true 5 star experience do not book this hotel, or be prepared to pay extra for everything