By 
The majority of the hotels here in Korea are surprisingly very accommodating and affordable. If you are traveling on a budget it is easy to find a simple room for about 20,000-30,000 won a night. You may have to sleep in the traditional Korean style on the floor but it really doesn’t take the much to get used to. For a little as 45,000 – 70,000 won a night you could stay in a hotel with a big screen TV, DVD player, internet connection, comfortable bed, and a hot tub. If you are into Love Hotels they got those here too. Many of the hotels are family run operations that take a lot of pride in keeping their hotel clean and affordable. It does help to speak a little bit of Korean though because many of these hotel operators don’t speak English, but don’t let that stop you though because they will just show you the price for your stay on a calculator. I have had plenty of good experiences in these family run hotels to include one time on Cheju the hotel owner inviting me to have dinner with his family.
For servicemember a 5 Star Hotel is easily accessible to you with the Dragon Hill Lodge located on Yongsan Garrison in the middle of Seoul. You cannot beat the quality of this hotel though the prices are much more expensive compared to staying in a Korean hotel off post. If you are an affluent traveler don’t worry Seoul has plenty of hotels catering to the well off. There are so many luxury hotels in Seoul that you will have a hard time deciding which one to stay at. The only luxury hotel I had the chance to stay at while in Seoul was the Grand Hyatt and it was quite nice.
The bottom line is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money in Korea to have a quality place to spend the night.
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Note: This is an ongoing series that is systematically counting down the Top 25 things I like about Korea. Let me know in the comments section if this is something you like about Korea?
1:51 am on February 16th, 2011 1
Dragon Hill = 5 stars? Have you ever experienced a REAL 5-star hotel? DHL has some of the worst staff and food anywhere. Oh, its your little tase of America in Seoul, but a poor copy at that. Note they don't have a Michelin Rating…they can't qualify if they tried!
3:22 am on February 16th, 2011 2
Shilla Hotel. Don't take my word for it. Try it.
4:18 am on February 16th, 2011 3
#1
So you seem to imply that Dragon Hill is an attempt at creating a little America in Seoul by Koreans? Think again.
http://www.dragonhilllodge.com/main.html
-excerpt-
Dragon Hill Lodge is operated as an Armed Forces Recreation Center by the U.S. Army in support of personnel assigned or employed by the U.S. Forces Korea, their family members, and guests. The facility was built with soldier-dollars, without congressional funding support.
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If you want to scoff at Dragon Hill for being a poor hotel you have no one to blame but US army.
Btw, head over to tripadvisor.com and check out hotels in Seoul, South Korea. Top 20 out of some 250+ hotels all have 4 – 5 star ratings and all corresponding review ratings. Yes as GI Korea said, plenty of great hotels in Seoul.
8:28 am on February 16th, 2011 4
The Dragon Hill is turned into replacements barracks. I also love the Gov TDY rates they charge. One agency raping another. It is ridiculous. To add insult to injury, after charging an outrageous amount of money tto the government one still has to pay something like 10 bucks for an internet connection. Plain looney.
2:15 pm on February 16th, 2011 5
Leon…
So what you are saying is that it IS a slice of home.
2:44 pm on February 16th, 2011 6
Try the Sofitel Ambassador…stay there everytime I'm in Seoul because it beats the prices of the DHL and the view and rooms are better!
3:43 pm on February 16th, 2011 7
DHL is pretty good as far as Korean (even though its technically a US Army Recreation Center) "upper" hotels go. They tend to have mediocre rooms and charge for everything under the sun, but provide you a huge a$$ lobby with several different restaurants and meeting rooms. I see it as similar to the Shilla / Interburgo / Novotel and what not. Your paying for the amenities and status not for the actual room or service.
On the lower end you have the love motels, some are dirty some are clean and none have anything close to service. Their the quick one nighters for when you visiting another city or shacking up with some girl. Lately there have been a newer breed of hotels that have become very popular. Their referred to as business hotels and boutique hotels. Business hotels provide a no-frills clean room for staying in. Their slightly more expensive then love motels but provide services, they are designed for businessmen who need to stay a night or possibly a week or two in another city for work. Boutique hotels are basically super love motels. They are more expensive then business hotels but not as expensive as the mega hotels (Hilton / Shilla / ect..), they tend to be themed and focus on beautiful rooms and providing a relaxing hedonistic atmosphere.
If your in Seoul check out Hotel Elle Inn, good example of a Boutique hotel.
http://www.hotelelleinn.com
5:56 pm on February 16th, 2011 8
#1, I would call white expat's typical white supremest mentality. Crappy hotel turns out to be run by crappy US army.
I tell you what, this only shows the US should learn a thing or two about how to run a clean hotel with good service from Korea. And I'm not talking about five star hotels. I'm talking about the middle to lower end hotels and motels that are affordable to the vast majority class of people. The service industry in the US is basically horrible. Motels and hotels are dirty, disgusting, and they lack any kind of service. Plus they demand tips. You gotta tip them so that they change bed sheets. In many ways, the US is third world, despite its citizens proclaiming how they are so much better then anybody else – as shown in post #1.
10:07 pm on February 16th, 2011 9
#5 Pretty much the trailerhood.
11:03 pm on February 16th, 2011 10
The first thing I noticed when I arrived in Korea was the airport at Incheon. This, after many hours having to put up with bad smell and extremely rude immigration people in the airports of North America, especially the San Francisco airport. It perfectly illustrates the attitude of what service means in Korea, and overall in Asia, versus the I don't care attitude in the West. From the time when the plane landed to the disembarkation, it took me 15 minutes. And it took me two minutes to go pass the Korean immigration. By the time I arrived to claim the baggage, the bags were already there for me to pick up. After being used to terrible inconvenient I don't care attitude of Western airports, it was a refreshing change of scenry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHH8QbXSwxI&fe…
And I won't bother mentioning the difference in friendliness, cleanliness, service, free internet, free spa, bed couches in waiting areas… on and on..
To think that before I arrived here, I had people who had no clue, thinking that I was going back to a third world country… well…
They have no ideal how much they are falling behind. 
6:22 am on February 17th, 2011 11
Tom — the king of schadenfreude.
8:54 am on February 17th, 2011 12
#7 I stayed there for about a week when I left in 2007. It was an awesome hotel room, the staff were very pleasant and helpful. They gave us a good deal because we stayed there for so long. The tub/whirlpool was huge and had a flatscreen and colored lights. Really nice stay.
7:11 pm on February 17th, 2011 13
I stay at a 5 star hotel when I'm in Seoul and I've been to the Dragon Hill Lodge…It's definitely not a 5 star hotel.
Tom,
Yes, Incheon airport is great (except for the fact it's too warm in there, especially in the summer). Unfortunately, travellers are quickly reminded that there's an awful lot of air pollution in South Korea when they step outside, especially when they come near the bridge in the direction of Seoul (who was the genius who thought of building a bridge above those factories?).