Shilla Stay Samsung

AVOID ⚠️

I rarely write negative hotel reviews, but I feel compelled to share my experience because sleep is arguably the most important thing a hotel is supposed to provide.

Unfortunately, I barely slept during my entire three-night stay.

The hotel is located directly opposite a major construction site, and the works appear to operate around the clock. Throughout the day and night, there were bright floodlights, heavy machinery, foundation works and tunnelling noise. The activity did not seem to stop, even during the late evening and early morning hours.

What made matters worse was the lack of sound insulation. The windows appear to be very thin, allowing virtually every sound from outside to enter the room. Beyond the construction noise, there was also constant traffic from buses, heavy vehicles and motorcycles.

Each morning at around 6am, a new shift of construction workers would arrive. Their daily warm-up exercises and safety briefings were clearly audible from my room, making it impossible to continue sleeping.

I appreciate that the hotel cannot control nearby construction projects. However, guests should be made aware of the situation before booking, particularly when the noise levels are significant enough to affect sleep throughout the night.

The room itself was functional and the location is convenient for COEX, but none of that mattered when I was exhausted after three consecutive nights of poor sleep.

If you are a light sleeper, I would strongly recommend considering other accommodation options until the construction works are completed.

DO NOT stay in this hotel, central “air-conditioning” means no AC at night, they are expecting you to open your window and receive the full brunt of the construction noise and dust that goes on 24hr. You have no control over the temperature in the day either. They will offer you a fan and cheap earplugs that don’t work well. Corridors and the lift lobby feel like a sauna in the middle of the day. Loose fittings for the shower faucet and towel hangers, and partial partition means your shower water will splash out to the dry toilet area. Paper cups instead of glasses in toilet and pantry. Only two power sockets in the entire room besides toilet. This is the most ridiculous experience I’ve had in Seoul despite coming here frequently for work. I’ve always had great respect for Korean hospitality as I used to think they are top notched but this hotel changes that impression entirely. I will stay far away from any “Shilla Stay” hotels in future.

This is a great hotel except for one issue, and that’s air conditioning. Like many others have said, they turn the AC off at night and it’s miserable. My particular room reached 30 degrees Celsius at night. They did move us to another room and provided fans which helped, but telling guest they can “open a window” is not how you solve these issues. I can’t blame the staff but I can blame corporate for this misguided policy. I asked when they turn the AC on full time and was told “around June”. Unacceptable, and many more were complaining..Do better please, because this is a great property otherwise.

Location is perfect but thats about the only thing good about this hotel. Nonexistent AC since it is centrally managed so if its cold outside then your room will definitely be warm. I requested for extra pillows and they stated they had none available. What hotel doesn’t have extra pillows for their guests?

The front desk worker that helped me was Rose. We arrived at around 1pm to drop off our luggage, but Rose was very generous to let us in a room just 15 minutes after we arrived. The workers at the lobby are very helpful— giving us complimentary coffee/tea and water as we wait. Their english is also pretty great so that was a bonus. Beautiful hotel directly across the Coex mall, which is huge. The area also looks very high end with surrounding high rises and sky scrapers. My only complaint would be that the rooms are not as sound proof as desired. I enjoyed my stay and recommend this hotel if you enjoy shopping.

I wanted to share my recent experience staying at the Shilla Stay Samsung! This location was amazing! I loved being right across from the mall and the subway was super close! I had a city view and I really enjoyed my room! This hotel was great! I am a solo female traveller I felt very safe and comfortable! I highly recommend this hotel! This was my first time in South Korea and I will for sure be back!