J-guesthouse

as for the price and location, perfect. as for the cleaness, its... OK. (perfect for budget travellers.) for me it was great to have accomodation this cheap in seoul. ( this place also has an elevator) oh and the managers are all kind and helpful.

My first impression of the guesthouse was the entryway that was littered with filth and garbage bags, followed by the "kitchen" which is equally disgusting. The young guy at reception was very nice, but our booking was nowhere to be found. After getting that sorted out, the key wouldn't work because the room wasn't ready. He seemed just as confused as we were, but at least nice. We ended up leaving our bags and going to dinner, hoping that things would be sorted when we returned. We came back two hours later to find an empty reception desk. After waiting for awhile, we try to use the telephone. There is a sign that says "if no one is here, use the phone and call this number". But the phone was out of service, apparently. We waited some more. Eventually we started calling out, "hello?". A woman finally came around the corner and began mocking us, saying "HELLO? HELLO?". She checked us in and showed us to our room, but not before asking how long we had waited and responding "Well, you got this room at a really big discount." As if that meant we should be thankful or something. It felt like she was saying the wait was unimportant because of how "little" we were paying. She was rude twice more before we could finally get away from her, once by criticizing the previous desk clerk and then by snapping at me when I entered the room. I had a huge pack on my back and stepped inside to try to remove it quickly, to which she snottily snapped "UM, take your shoes off, THIS IS KOREA." Extremely condescending to an obvious foreigner. Other highlights were: The same clerk telling my husband (again, snottily) that they usually charge for shampoo when he asked for some. Geeze, thanks SOO much for giving us a break and not charging us for a tiny sample of shampoo. How nice of you. Uncomfortable bunk beds. A disgusting kitchen to make breakfast in the morning- covered in grime and garbage. No actual soap to wash your dishes, just watery remnants that should have been replaced weeks ago. Plus, when I opened the bread to make toast, it was obvious that pieces of bread had been taken out and toasted, and then put back in! Unsanitary. Wifi was spotty at best. Windows in the bathrooms were covered cardboard and bubble wrap. Classy. The ONLY thing this place has going for it is the location (although that made for a very noise night), but there are plenty of guest houses to choose from in the area. Don't waste your money on the rude people and disgusting atmosphere of this place.

Other than location, I don't think I will ever go back to this guesthouse. I was booked from 22 June through 30 June 14. My impression of this place is dingy and dirty. I will show some pictures I took later on. I was ushered into a tiny room, well.. i understand land is expensive in Seoul so no grouse about it. The room that had a double decker but without the bedsheet put on, only a cover, blanket and a pillow. The most horrifying was when I was told that they don't do room cleaning and that we had to do our cleaning. Never mind that, on our first day, we were told that the roof of our room may leak if there's rain -_- good to know but no suggestion or solution provided as to whether they are gonna get the roof fixed or not. When asked, all I got was shrugged shoulders. How nonchalant! Into our second or third night, room mate and I were awaken by a forced entry. Apparently our room was double booked. When we went down to the reception for clarification, they blamed the other tenants instead. How could it be their faults when they were given the password and used that password to enter our room? Unless of course all of us had the same password which defeats the purpose of having password in the first place. I was told towels were limited, so it goes by first come first serve basis, so if you are late, you may be left without clean towels for the day. There are washing machine, sink and induction cooker in the room, but who has the time to cook. Anyhow, a good to have but not a must. A bigger television screen would be awesome :). There's no rubbish bin on every level, so rubbish was chucked outside elevator which was quite an eyesore. It's really unsightly. After all the blas, they do have their ups! The location of this hostel is excellent. It's walking distance to Ewha and Hongdae shopping districts. It's also a stone throw from Sinchon train station. Surrounding this guesthouse, you can all types of food and convenience stores. The staff on holiday visa from Taiwan was a blessing. They were so efficient in attending to requests and are always helpful. Thank you guys, you made the bad stay bearable.