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The Nine Tree Premier Hotel Insang, which is set to open next month.
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Seoul’s historic neighborhood has becoming a popular spot for tourists and young Koreans
One after another, three- and four-star hotels are going up around Insa-dong, a popular tourist district in Seoul’s Jongno District. Industry sources say that the hotel building blitz has been spurred by the growing numbers of foreign tourists, as well as 20- and 30-something Koreans, who are visiting the nearby neighborhoods of Samcheong-dong and Ikseon-dong. On top of that, hotels in Myeong-dong and Gwanghwamun are no longer able to satisfy demand. Global hotel chain Marriott International announced on Sept. 23 that it will be opening a three-star boutique hotel called Moxy Seoul Insadong on Oct. 21 near Jongno 3-ga Station, on the Line 5 side of the station. This 16-floor hotel will offer 140 standard rooms and three suites for long-term guests, as well a rooftop bar. Since premiering in Milan in 2014, the Moxy brand has opened some 40 branches around the world; this will be its first in South Korea. Parnas Hotel, an affiliate of the GS Group, also intends to unveil a business hotel called the Nine Tree Premier Hotel Insadong on Oct. 9. The hotel will operate 301 guestrooms from the 6th to the 13th floors of a building on Insadong-gil, as well as a bar and garden on the roof. There’s also an automated kiosk where guests can check in and out as well as an automated locker room. “The hotel’s standout feature is its proximity to Gyeongbokgung Palace and Jogyesa Temple, as well as areas that have been getting a lot of buzz recently, such as Ikseon-dong, Samcheong-dong, and Tongui-dong,” said a representative for the Parnas Hotel. Sources in the industry say that the recent surge of tourists and young people into Ikseon-dong has focused attention on Insa-dong as a base for business hotels. The coffee shops and eateries that are nestled among the hanok (traditional houses) on the neighborhood’s backstreets have picked up popularity, emerging as one of the up-and-coming commercial areas. Earlier this year, South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization included Ikseon-dong among their “top 100 picks” for Korean tourism in 2019-2020, the first time it was included on the list. “A lot of tourists come through Insa-dong because it’s close to Ikseon-dong and Samcheong-dong, which are becoming quite popular. We expect our main customers to be foreign tourists and Koreans in their 20s and 30s,” said an employee at the Moxy Seoul Insadong. The saturation of business hotels in Myeong-dong, which already draws a lot of tourists, is another reason for the construction of hotels in Insa-dong. By Shin Min-jung, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
