Baron de Paris Hotel

Stayed at this hotel for a few days while we were in Seoul in July 2014. We found this hotel back in end 2012 and liked it for its low price, good location and some extra frills such as bidet and pc in the room and free drinks in the lobby. This time round, the bidet is no longer available. Cleanliness of the rooms have also declined as we found a cigarette butt on the bathroom floor when we first entered. Furthermore, the hot tub in the room does not work. Besides this, the hotel is worth staying for the low price and decent standards of the rooms. It is also a great base for exploring the Hongdae, Sinchon and Edae areas for cafes, shopping and nightlife. Hongdae and Edae are both one stop away by metro. You can also walk to Edae in around 10 - 15 min.

The Sinchon area is home to many love hotels where local students and other young Korean couples can go to enjoy some privacy. These places also offer rooms to stay overnight, and are often a great choice for budget travellers since the rooms offer many of the comforts of a more expensive hotel room for a budget price. The Baron de Paris is the worst love hotel I stayed in during my trip to Seoul. The rooms are small and cramped and look nothing like the pictures on the website. The heating cannot be controlled in the room and the temperature is kept oppressively hot for some reason. The rooms smell of smoke and the staff are unfriendly and do not speak English. On the weekends, they will not let you check in until late at night so they can rent the room out by the hour during the course of the day before turning it over to you. There are many better options in the Sinchon area. I would suggest Mac Hotel or e'Zen.

This hotel had no website and no stated directions except it is 200m away from the subway, we could only take the airport limousine to Sinchon and ask around. Fortunately, at Sinchon Subway Exit 4 there was a Korean who was nice enough to check the address on google map and guide us there. The hotel is located inside the first alleyway on left outside of exit 4 from the subway - you will have to walk past some restaurants, turn right onto the first inner road and turn left again. It is located near Jade Hotel and Nine Star Hotel - which is basically the area of love motels. Checking-in was fast, we just passed them our voucher and they gave us the room keys. The check-in desk can barely speak much English and everything is mostly DIY. We notice couples (students) who come to use the room for the night are mostly given rooms from L1-6 while travellers stayed L7 and above. The design and decor of the room was lacklustre compared to what we saw in the pictures provided i.e. it looks cheap. The beds were hard as well. Heater is controlled centrally and cannot be adjusted on a room basis. There also isn't much space to maneuver about in the room, and there is no wardrobe and just 2 hangers to hang your stuff. Fortunately there is a kettle to make some tea and coffee with, and basic tolietries were provided (shampoo and shower foam) but no toothbrush or razor. There were two desktop computers provided for surfing the net and also wifi to connect to as needed. There is no breakfast provided and the fact that it costs SGD 150 a night (more expensive than Doulos Hotel) makes it very unattractive. I stayed in Sinchon as it is closer to my Korean friends but given a choice, i would recommend to stay near Myeongdong, Jongro area.