We recently stayed at the Mudeung Hotel in Gwangju South Korea.
We stayed here because of the rating on Trip Advisor and the location, but we should have shopped around a bit more before making a reservation.
We were visiting a local family we know and arrived via car, instantly we could tell this was once a well established nice place to stay but is currently past it’s prime and deteriorating.
The hotel is located a good ways out of the city. So if you’re looking for something within walking distance of the downtown area this is not for you.
It is located at the bottom of Mudeung mountain. The mountain top is accessible from the hotel parking lot via a ski chair lift for just a few thousand won.
At the top there is a small shop with water and snacks you can enjoy looking at the views, but the real reason to go up there is the stunning view of the city from one side and the wonderful wilderness from the other side of the observatory at the very top of the mountain.
Warning: It is a good hike up some steep dirt trails to the top of the mountain where the observatory is after you go up the chair lift. We had a few 60 year olds in our group that had a hard time getting up there. I was able to do the hike in flip flops, but I also hike all the time. (See Pic) There was also a good bit of litter on the ground, which was a little disappointing for a place with great potential if it was just cared for a little better.
The exterior of the hotel had a bunch of scaffolding on it like they were renovating, although I never saw any workers there during our stay.
We called 3 months in advance and made reservations, then called 7 days prior to our arrival and then the local family we knew did us a favor and called the night before we arrived. Each time the staff said we were confirmed and they expected us.
When we got there no one knew what we were talking about and there was no record of our reservation. Luckily we had our email confirmation that we had to request via phone when we made the reservation 3 months earlier that got us the room. Either way, it’s not like we couldn’t get a room, we saw maybe 4 other guests during our stay and it has over 100 rooms.
The front staff didn’t speak English. They had to call a translator that we think was the Manager to the front desk. Of all the interactions we had with the staff this was the only person that spoke English and he leaves at 5pm each day. That made communications interesting bordering frustrating for the remainder of the stay.
The rooms were out dated to say the least and smelled old and stuffy like someone hadn’t stayed in them for a while. They needed to be aired out, but the air conditioner worked well.
In the Basic Room pic you can see a small control panel imbedded on the night stand in-between the beds. This was for the old fan and light system that is no longer in the rooms yet the control panel is still there and the lights on the panel still come on so that means that electricity is still going to that old panel. How safe can that be?
The beds were very hard and the worst part of all, which everyone in our group complained about, was the massive amount of starch they used on the sheets. They were the hardest and stiffest sheets I have ever experienced.
The bathroom was dirty and had cracks in the walls. One of the tiles over the sink was missing and we could see the pipes. Hot water and water pressure was fine though.
Another oddity was that the bathroom door was glass with a smoked/etched front so you can’t see in, but provided no privacy like a regular solid door does. This was obviously a new addition we assumed they added to spruce up the room, but just didn’t go well with the room and only drew more attention to the shortcomings that surrounded it.
The soap in the shower was already unwrapped and looked used and the small shaving mirror had lights that didn’t come on.
There are no European or US electric plugs in the room, nor does the hotel offer converters, so be sure to bring your own.
The hotel lobby specifically lists Pub / Restaurant on the directory, yet there is NO bar in the hotel. At least that’s what they told us when we asked around 5pm one evening. There is limited room service with bland food for premium prices, so skip that and find somewhere to eat locally.
The hotel directory lists 3 restaurants. The lobby coffee shop closes at 5pm and the other 2 restaurants were closed off all together. So no food other than sub par room service after 5pm.
The only listed services that were available and working were the sauna and the bowling alley. There is no business corner nor internet service easily available. They have it, but you have to ask to use one of their computers.
The best thing about this hotel isn’t even located at the hotel. Within walking distance right up the street is this wonderful quaint house that is 3 stories with a blue roof. You can see it on the left hand side while riding up the chair lift to the top of the mountain. They serve the greatest chicken dish I ate during the entire trip. It was on the spicy side so you might want to request a westerner version where they tone down the heat of the dish and it does take a good 30-45 minutes to prepare (probably because they are cooking a whole chicken for you, yum). The place is owned by a small family who lives in the house and runs the restaurant. They speak no English but we had the local family we knew with us so ordering was easy. They were the ones that knew about the place and took us there. It was the highlight of our stay in Gwangju, I didn’t catch the name, but I would label it as a can’t miss even if you don’t speak Korean. It’s worth working through the communication barrier for the food.
The hotel staff should know about the place, but again, speaking English is a difficulty so you may have to find it on your own.
Overall, the stay was very disappointing (other than the awesome house restaurant up the street). We realized we were well out from Seoul, but Gwangju is the 6th largest city in South Korea so we expected a lot more for our money considering the price was pretty high. Even the local family we knew had said they heard average reviews of the hotel and were a little surprised when they visited our rooms at the sub standard state. We’ll be trying somewhere else next time we visit. Everyone agreed that it was the value and quality of the hotel compared to the price we paid that made it disappointing. If they lowered the price to under 75 US dollars this would be a fine place to stay at.
