Gwang Jang Hotel

I was here 4 years ago and I back, it was not my choice, but during this period changed I would say maybe 20%-renovated rooms. Is better than before. But...without changes remain restaurant. Honestly quality of the food and menu just without comment, why? Answer is easy:menu looks: breakfast no choice, dinner only 3 options, lunch hmmm.. Maybe for Asian would be ok, but for Europeans hmm probably not. You can stay here, because is really good location, close to Busan Train Station. Is very silence. Rooms are clean, but bathrooms need to be clean more precisely.

The motel is located right next to the Busan Train Station and Busan Station subway stop, and that is the only good thing I can say about this place. I am a single female who stayed at the m/hotel for 5 nights. I arrived and was taken through a stinky dingy corridor into my room on the 6th floor. The room reeked of old tobacco smoke, even though everywhere you went, there were signs that there is no smoking in the hotel. The room was small and the window in the room had a view of the adjacent building's wall. I called the front desk and reported the stench and asked to be placed in a different room. The front desk person said: "OK, just one minute". In a minute, he appears at my door WITH AN ASHTRAY. I tell him I can't be in this room, I can't breathe, and he tells me the smoke is coming from the outside. (Absolutely not). I keep insisting to be moved to a different room. They take me one floor below the same very room, just one floor below. The old tobacco smoke stench is still there but a bit milder. The hotel is prepaid, I can't walk out without losing money. So I had to stay. I slid open two sections of the window to let some fresh air in. That was the only way to tolerate the stinky room. The room has no natural light since the adjacent building is about an arm's length away from your window. Then I had a problem with a tour company and I asked people at the front desk to help. They dialed the company's number, talked to them (in Korean), and then when it came to telling me what the conversation was about, the man who spoke on the phone was making incomprehensible faces at me and then told me that it is not their job to help me. I have a feeling that he did not speak English well enough to communicate to me the content of the conversation, but he did not want to lose face in front of all the other front desk men, so he tried to communicate with the face and then figured it was easier to shoot me down by telling me that it is not their job to help. A couple of other times I needed some help, they were willing and tried their best, though. If they worked on their English, it would be much better for the European tourists. But I don't think they get a lot of those. I have not seen a single European face in that place during my stay. The area the motel is located in is pretty seedy. It is not obviously seedy, but seedy nonetheless. There is a China- Cambodia- Russia- Town across the street, and that also doubles as a red light district. There is also a number of strange people hanging around the Train Station plaza - drunk old men, creepy characters, some youngsters, some street performers... Walking through the plaza in the evening after dark always put me on alert. I got cat called in the hotel lobby!!! And then there is the issue of cleanliness. The room appears to be clean, but only at the first glance. The floors are either laminate or hard wood, but they have not seen wet cleaning in a long time. When I came into the room the first day, there was a squashed bug and some short black hairs on the floor of the room. When the shower time came, I checked out the bath tub and saw more short black hairs all over the tub. The thing is, even when you wash them all out, the next day's cleaning will bring more in. I wonder if this is a matter of corr-contamination or the cleaners shake their heads violently and hair falls out. No matter what the source is, it is nasty. The motel does not care about details. The trash cans are unlined, the floors are not wiped, and there were boogers on the wall paper next to the bed. I accidentally spilled some facial toner on the floor the first day, and when I was checking out days later, the spots were still there. One time I was in the room when there was cleaning taking place in the adjacent room. I heard the bath tub receiving about 10 seconds of rubbing, and the cleaning girl was out of that room within 5 minutes. That can't be enough for a good cleaning. Also, the walls between rooms' bathrooms are pretty thin. You can hear a person using the toilet if you happen to be in your bathroom at the same time. The light is pretty dim in the bathroom, but you can still see a nasty ring around the inner part of the toilet. The cleaning crew does not care about cleaning, just making it look like it was cleaned. The water is yellowish. You don't really see it unless you try to run a bath. Then it is obvious and it is pretty repulsive. During my entire stay at this place I had to suppress the gag reflex constantly. So if you are a single female and if you can afford a better place, stay away from this hellhole. I do believe that double rooms are larger and they have windows with an actual view, but the issues of room cleanliness, water quality, tobacco stench, and the seediness of the area still loom large. The wifi is spotty, sometimes the signal jumped from fair to non-existent, but most of the time you still have some sort of connectivity.

I didn't know what to expect even though the reviews were all pretty good regarding this hotel. The location is amazing. It is right outside of Busan Station. There is not a lot of "night life" or "action" in this area but the subway station is right there for quick access to all the locations to visit in Busan. The staff is great and friendly and speak English well. There is a coffee shop right inside the hotel! There is also a restaurant. We stayed in a double room and it is small but it is comfortable and SUPER CLEAN. The bathroom is big and SUPER clean! The beds, like most Korean beds, are hard and the pillows are small, but this is typical Korean bedding. It is a great place to be for a small little vacation time in Busan!