Mangrove Sinseol

Stayed here for 8 days. Would recommend it and might be a good option when I go back to Seoul. It's a dorm-like apartment/hotel. Has shared kitchens and laundry areas you can use. They also have a store for necessities. There is also a working station and a library area.

I would not stay here again.

The building looks modern at first glance, but once you actually live here, the quality feels extremely cheap. Fixtures, furniture, and finishes all seem low-grade and flimsy for the price being charged. It feels more like a budget dorm than a premium “co-living” space.

The biggest issue was mold in the bathroom. Ventilation is poor, moisture builds up easily, and mold develops quickly even with regular cleaning. This is especially concerning for anyone with health sensitivities. A bathroom should never reach that condition in a place marketed as clean and well managed.

For what Mangrove charges, the value simply is not there. The pricing does not match the construction quality or maintenance standards. I expected a comfortable long-term stay and instead felt like I was overpaying for something that was built as cheaply as possible.

I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere unless you are okay paying premium prices for budget quality.

The hotel is newly built, so it’s very clean. It has a lot of facilities, like kitchen, laundry, work room, gym facilities. The room is cozy and has a lot of space even after I open my luggage. The workers in the hotel are fine, but you can’t expect too much from them. It’s basically a do-it-yourself check in and out process.

The location is convenient which is right next to the train station. But it’s not exactly in the center of the busy area. So you will have to take train to visit different tourist spots.

The only reason I chose this hotel was its convenient location along the bus route to Incheon Airport. However, this is hardly a hotel—it's more akin to a dormitory.

The staff were rude and dismissive toward me and my mother. There were no clear instructions or assistance for something as simple as using the luggage lockers. When I asked in English how to store and retrieve items from the lockers, the staff merely pointed to a self-checkout machine, which only displayed instructions in Korean.

As a result, my luggage was lost. Apparently, the system required re-registering the lockbox after reopening it, but no one explained this. The door appeared locked when I left it, so I assumed everything was fine. This experience was frustrating and avoidable with better communication and customer service.

Worst place I’ve stayed in Seoul, absolutely not worth it. The cost is close to that of a hotel but it’s just like any cheap capsule hostel in Myeondong. Stayed 2nights at their double room, small room, cheaply built tiny toilet with mouldy curtains and no separation so shower water just floods the floor. Zero service with no receptionist and zero route to get help. Tiny gym that you need a reservation to get into, but the booking platform is just a chatbot that’s unmanned after 6pm lol The “IG-able” common area is in B2 basement with horrible ventilation and fluorescent lighting, couldnt stay more than 10mins.
Mangrove is much like Seoul, great marketing from afar, a watered down disappointment once you get to know it.