New World Hotel

I stayed the New World Hotel, Hangang daero 84 gil, Namyeong dong, Yongsan gu, Seoul, South Korea, August 26 to 31. This was easily the most expensive place on my trip (and I was in Tokyo for a week). And the New World Hotel was the worst place of my trip. The location is central ish, but dirty and gross, with shops selling junk and scrap metal. This should not be a 3-star hotel. The first problem was that the listing was cheap, but had a shared bathroom, so compared to other listings (which had their own baths), it looked good. By the time you got your own bathroom, the price was a lot higher. This is a classic bait-and-switch sales routine. The listing also promised a free shuttle to the Inchon airport, so I thought that despite the room price, at least I get a ride to the airport. When I asked the staff, that was a "misunderstanding". Instead of offering to take me the 30km to the airport or pay for the shuttle, or pay me the 80K Won amount of the shuttle, they offered to take me to Seoul station, 1.5km, and said a taxi would cost 85K Won, so they were compensating me well. That is the biggest lie I ever heard. I can provide information from booking.com that shows the hotel changed its listing page to a paid shuttle after I asked at the front desk about the free shuttle. The room was gross. The bathroom had mold in it. Regular soap was shared in the shower. The shower drain was rusty. The water temperature varied while you were showering. There was no shower curtain, so all the water went on the ground. There were screws sticking out of the doorknob and toilet flusher (I have pictures). There's holes in the tile, huge scrapes on the floor, lack of electric switch covers, smudges on walls and other cosmetic things easy to fix, if anyone cared. The sink was cracked and fixed with duct tape!!! Just things I haven't seen since a refugee camp I had the misfortune to be in while in my youth. The water temperature went up and down significantly during a showering without my touching the knobs. From the 6th floor, anyone taking the stairs down to the 5th floor is in danger of falling down the steps, because one step is significantly higher than the other steps. I wouldn't want to get paid to stay here. I talked to the only English speaker, and presumably the manager, who was somewhat apologetic, but wouldn't address the problems, nor lower the price. When I paid the high price, I assumed a decent room, and the free shuttle and there the hotel failed.

Booked online 3 weeks ago and requested airport pickup. Never heard back from them emailed 3 times to get a confirmation about it got no response. Landed at 7am noone there to pick me up. Took taxi to location and found out it's not a hotel exactly. It's more of a hostel. I'm well past the age that those are an option. No one there to check me in that spoke english. Finally they call someone on the phone that does speak English. That person tells me my room is not ready and they put me in a room next to check in counter. The bed is hard and the room smells really bad. I think its an employee break room. I sit about an hour before I decide to get a different hotel. I then go out to inform the counter I'm leaving and will not be checking in. They call the English speaker again on phone and I tell him. No refund per the policy of no cancelation. They also have some stupid rules there. Like leave key at front desk when going anywhere. Also leave valuables at front desk when going anywhere. The place is pretty old right next tobthe army base wall. The parking is 4 spaces on the street. The google reviews of this place are very correct and I should have read those before booking. The reviews on ag..a and b....ng are really wrong. I have no idea if the pictures are accurate as I never saw a room other then the little one next to the check in desk. Contacted the site I used and they said they will try to get my money back but I suspect that will not happen. I've been in many places over the last 3 years of travel and this was the worst by far I've been in. The staff that was there was nice I guess but spoke no English but she did go walking around trying to find me a taxi away from there while I sat there trying to flag one down.

About 3mins walk to the nearest train station line 4. Big bathroom. I get room with view of Namsan Tower. Free water refill and black coffee at reception. Good wifi reception in room. Furniture kinda dusty. Since the hotel opposite basketball court, sometimes noisy when people playing at night.