I am a Japanese man dating a Korean woman.
We stayed at your hotel from Thursday, August 6th (check-in) to Monday, August 10th (check-out).
In conclusion, the stay itself was good.
However, this excludes the equipment malfunctions and staff responses.
Below are the areas for improvement and reasons for a negative impression.
◎ Equipment Malfunction
First, the room key for room 301, which I received at the front desk upon check-in, didn't work. Looking back, I had a strange feeling even then.
The air conditioning in room 301, which we were assigned, was not effective. Thinking it might just be me, I asked my Korean girlfriend, "Is the air conditioning working in this room?" She replied, "Not at all, I think it's hot."
On the other hand, when I checked the air conditioning at the front desk, it felt distinctly cooler than our room, as if it was centrally controlled. I also compared it to the breakfast area on the second floor, which was probably the coolest place in the building.
Getting back to the point, the air conditioning in the room was managed by an air conditioner, and I thought that even if we requested to move to another room, we would experience the same issue. However, when we were moved to room 302, this hypothesis proved wrong.
Room 302's air conditioning functioned normally.
◎ Staff Response
One young female staff member (around 20s-30s) was excellent.
Especially on Monday, August 10th, around 2 PM, when we returned to the hotel and requested luggage retrieval and taxi arrangements, she handled everything wonderfully. I was very grateful for her help then.
However, the middle-aged female staff member (presumably 50s-60s?) who handled the air conditioning issue on the evening of Thursday, August 6th, was beyond terrible.
I'll explain this in conjunction with the aforementioned equipment malfunction.
Initially, I had been given instructions on how to operate the air conditioner remote by this woman. So, when I directly told the front desk that "the air conditioning isn't working even though I'm operating it as instructed," she questioned me again, asking if I had "operated the remote correctly." I replied that I was "doing exactly as instructed." She then asked me three more times if my operation was correct and without fault, questioning if I had "pressed the cool button," or if I "shouldn't press buttons with numerical displays like 19°C," and if I had "adjusted the temperature by pressing the arrow buttons." I responded, "I've already tested all of that. Please tell me another method. If you can't, please assign us another room." I also added, "The government has issued a heatstroke warning, and staying in this hot environment will make us sick."
At that point, she told me, "There's nothing more that can be done with the remote control. All other rooms are fully booked and unavailable," and dismissed me.
Sometime later, this staff member apparently checked the equipment malfunction with the hotel owner. As a result, approximately 20 minutes later, we were directed to room 302, the alternative room.
During those 20 minutes before being moved, while checking the cooling effectiveness and airflow in the original room 301 with that staff member, she said, "It's cool enough, isn't it? Perhaps foreigners and Koreans feel coolness differently."
However, since I knew how cool the front desk was, I asked, "Do you think the air conditioning at the front desk and in this room are the same?"
In response, the woman said, "Indeed, the front desk is cool. However, the front desk air conditioning is controlled separately, so it's a different story from the rooms."
Throughout this conversation, the woman showed no remorse or apology, answering indifferently.
I had made all my inquiries in English, so just in case, I had my Korean girlfriend convey the room's air conditioning situation in Korean again, and she told the staff member, "She said foreigners feel heat differently, but even as a Korean, I think it's hot."
After that, we were finally directed to room 302.
When we were being shown to the room, she made excuses like "moving rooms is difficult because room 302 is booked for the next day and various other reasons," making us feel as if we were making unreasonable demands on the hotel. However, when I checked the hotel's availability on Trip.com that day, I found several rooms were available.
To summarize the situation:
・Regarding air conditioning and heat:
Our concerns were almost dismissed as overthinking.
・Regarding equipment malfunction:
The hotel did not acknowledge any fault. Although she apologized with a laugh after we were assigned a new room, there was no sincerity whatsoever.
・Regarding room availability:
We were told all rooms were fully booked, despite several being available, creating a discrepancy between the staff's explanation and reality. Since we, as guests, checked Trip.com and found several rooms available, it is highly likely that the statement "no alternative rooms" was a lie.
Based on all of this, if I hadn't pushed the issue with the hotel, we would have had to endure a four-day stay in sweltering heat.
Furthermore, regarding the laundry facility on the hotel's second floor, we were once again given an imprecise answer.
My Korean girlfriend asked the middle-aged staff member if the top two of the four machines (two top, two bottom) in the laundry room could both wash and dry. She was told, "Both can do both." However, when we checked directly, it turned out that those machines were for drying only.
Given the air conditioning incident, this only increased my frustration and dissatisfaction. It's truly disappointing, especially since there are also polite staff members.
Original TextTranslation provided by AI
