Standford Hotel Myeongdong

I made an impromptu trip to Seoul to get away from Singapore for some destressing days when my friends extended an invitation to me. As I made my decision to join them at the last minute, the hotel was already booked in the Myeongdong area which is not in my usual Dongdaemun area

Located at Myeongdong, right at the edge of the walking street, Stanford Hotel is at the perfect location where the main hustle of Myeongdong is 2 minutes away on foot, the nearest subway station is 2 minutes by foot, the main Myeongdong station is 5 mins away and the main entrance is accessible by car so you do not have to worry if you need to take a taxi when you are too tired from shopping in other areas in Seoul

The hotel’s ground floor is occupied by Apple store and the main lobby is located on the 6th floor. There are 2 lifts which will bring you to the lobby from the ground floor whereas the other set of lifts will bring you to the guest rooms. The lobby space is spacious with a self-service mini-mart store with snacks, drinks and some amenities. There is also a cafe and bar located on the same floor. The check-in process was quick and simple but rooms are available only from 3 pm so most of the guests who are early will leave their luggage with the staff before coming back for the room keys at 3pm

The corridor of the hotel is well lit and there is a water and ice dispenser located on each floor near the main lobby. The ice dispenser does take time to make ice so if many people are taking ice from the machine, you will need to wait at least 10 minutes for the next batch. We got a room which was at the far end of the corridor which turns left into another stretch of rooms so it would be good to request rooms near the lifts for those who have walking difficulties

The room is basic and not very big with a working desk and a set of closets. There is a small ledge where you can put your luggage but the overall floor space is quite limited if you have 2 big luggage and lots of shopping. There were 2 of us and we had to pack our shopping every night to make sure there was enough room to walk around. There is also a small bar fridge and area where you can make coffee and tea. The bed was neither soft nor hard which was ok for me but the pillows were quite soft which resulted in me shifting my pillow every now and then affecting my sleep

The bathroom is pretty ok in size with a separate shower area and the toilet so the floor can be kept dry even after showering. The shower intensity and heat are acceptable and there were basic amenities provided. The cleaning of the rooms was also done promptly so we returned to clean rooms every day

Overall, the stay at Stanford was ok and clean and the location was one of the best especially if you like to shop around Myeongdong. The only bad point is the room size which was quite small for 2 people with large luggage and many shopping bags. I really liked the location so I will look for another hotel around the area

Address: 84 Namdaemun-ro, Jung District, Seoul, South Korea

Room rates: SGD 133