I had covered the hotel’s service and facilities in my previous post (read about them here), this post will cover my review of the Residence Premier 1 Bedroom Suite.

The Suite

The Residence Premier 1-Bedroom Suite is the biggest suite in Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences, with a massive 81㎡ of space in the hotel’s residence wing. While the Premier Suite in the hotel wing adopts a wooden decor, this Residence Premier 1-Bedroom Suite uses a contemporary granite decor. The suite is very well-designed in terms of space allocation and facility fitting.

Entryway

The entryway to the Residence Premier 1-Bedroom Suite in Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences was furnished with an enclosed shoe cabinet. The entryway is also home to the entrance to the powder room. At the end of the entryway, the hotel furnished two large cabinets, perfect for us to stow away our shopping.

Powder Room

The granite decor in the living room flows into the powder room, showing the consistency in design that the hotel employed when designing this suite. The powder room has fairly simple furnishings, fitted with a Japanese-style toilet and a fairly large sink. This powder room provided us with an alternate place to use the toilet and allowed our friends to use the toilet without barging into our bedroom.

Living Room

The end of the entryway leads into the living room, which takes up about half of the Residence Premier 1-Bedroom Suite space. The living room comprises the kitchenette and the lounging area.

Kitchenette

The kitchenette is nestled by the wall that separates the powder room from the living room. With two induction cookers next to the kitchen sink and pots and pans, the full kitchenette is very well equipped with facilities that enable one to whip up a meal. The kitchenette is also equipped with a microwave oven, and we even found a rice cooker in the drawer beneath the microwave. The hotel also stocked the kitchenette with china and cutlery for four guests to enjoy a home-cooked meal. Instead of providing bottled water, Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences fitted a filtered water machine capable of dispensing hot and cold water with the press of a button by the sink. We also found a washing machine cum dryer in the cabinets beneath the sink, the hotel also thoughtfully provides laundry detergent for its guests to do their laundry.

The kitchenette has a full-sized fridge designed to blend into the room’s decor. The full-sized fridge with a freezer at the bottom allows guests to do grocery shopping and cook their meals in the suite. I like the island table design in the kitchenette area, where the hotel maximises space by installing drawers to stow kitchen equipment. The hotel installed a Nespresso machine on this table island. Despite supplying two Nespresso capsules, I find it weird that the hotel does not provide sugar. As we did not see any work desk in the suite, I would have assumed that this island table was meant to double up as a work desk, as there is a power outlet fitted at the table.

Lounging Area

Past the island table in the kitchenette area and demarcated with a large grey carpet is the space the hotel created as the lounging area. The lounging area is furnished with a large grey fabric couch, and an elongated section at the end of the couch allows us to rest with our feet up. The couch can accommodate four adults comfortably; with the inclusion of the elongated section, the couch can comfortably seat up to six adults. I like how the hotel chose the colour of the carpet and couch to emphasise the granite theme in the suite. A large white coffee table sits in the centre of the couch, allowing us to place our snacks and drinks on while being entertained by the channels on the TV. The 55″ LED TV in the lounging area is mounted onto a granite-looking wall facing the couch. We mainly found Korean channels on the TV, with a handful of English and a few Chinese channels.

Bedroom

The bedroom entrance is next to the full fridge in the kitchenette area. The bedroom takes up about  ⅔ of the space beyond the wall that separates the living room from the bedroom (the remaining ⅓ is allocated to the bathroom). Our attention was directed to the large king bed, sitting on a grey fabric bed frame with another grey fabric bed end bench upon entering the bedroom. We found the sleep quality on the king bed to be excellent, leaving us feeling refreshed every morning. The pillow was a tad too soft for my liking. Fortunately, Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences has a small pillow menu, allowing us to choose firmer pillows to enhance the sleep quality on the king bed. A couple of two-tiered bedside tables are designed into the bed’s headboard. The space afforded on the top tier of these tables is rather small, leaving us little space to place our mobile phones, and it does not help that the hotel placed the room control tablet on one bedside table and the in-house phone on the other. I guess the hotel intends for guests to use the lower-tier bedside table, which requires guests to use longer charging cables, which was a little inconvenient. I like the armchair furnished between the king bed and the floor-to-ceiling window, allowing guests to relax by the window while enjoying the sight of Seoul. Another 55″ LED TV with the same entertainment options as the living room is mounted on the wall facing the king bed, allowing us to receive entertainment while lying on the bed.

The wardrobe area in the bedroom sits between the sleeping area and the bathroom. The Residence Premier 1-Bedroom Suite is furnished with two wardrobes, one with three panels and the other with two panels. The space afforded in these wardrobes was very generous. The three-panelled wardrobe is mainly designed with hanging racks, with the larger segment designed with a two-tiered drawer. Here, we found the in-room safe hidden in the top drawer. The other wardrobe opposite the three-panelled wardrobe is slightly smaller, with only two door panels. Despite the smaller size, the space afforded by this wardrobe was also rather sizeable. Despite having so much space for hanging and storing our clothing, the hotel supplies limited hangers that we had to request additional hangers. I was pleasantly surprised to find an LG Styler machine between the king bed and the wardrobe. This styler machine not only dries our clothing, but it also reduces the wrinkles on our laundry.

Bathroom

The bathroom was segregated from the bedroom with a large three-panelled sliding door. The bathroom also has the same granite decor seen throughout the Residence Premier 1-Bedroom Suite. From the entrance, the sink was immediately spotted occupying the space on the left side. I applauded the hotel for fitting one sink in the bathroom, which gave us lots of countertop space to place our toiletries. The open cabinetry space beneath the sink, mainly used by the hotel to place toilets, increases our storage space. A large, deep-seated round bathtub took up the space opposite the sink, which we used to soak away the fatigue we gathered from the shopping and sightseeing in Seoul. Due to its size, filling up the bathtub took a while. Two glass panel cubicles sit at the back of the bathroom. The cubicle on the left houses the walk-in shower, equipped with both regular and rain shower heads. I like the spaciousness in the walk-in shower, while the ledge installed in a corner here gave us space to place our dental kits and facial washes. The toilet, fitted with a Japanese-style bidet, occupies the cubicle on the right. Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences supplies its bathrooms with Deep Nature spa shower amenities that have a nice ocean smell and leave the skin feeling soft after showering.

Overall

The Residence Premier 1-Bedroom Suite at Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences is spacious and well-appointed. It has the essentials of an apartment and creates a home away from home with the convenience of appliances furnished in the suite. The washing machine, dryer, and the Styler meant we did not have to return home with a bag full of dirty laundry. The kitchenette allows one to whip up a decent meal. The sleep quality on the king bed was superb, enhanced by the pillow menu that the hotel offers its guests. The wardrobe space was generous, and we could stow at least two weeks of clothing. Despite not being fitted with two sinks, I thought the bathroom was well-designed and the space was maximised. I would return to Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences the next time I return to Seoul for its well-appointed rooms and the conveniences of being very close to the subway and the airport bus stop.