Busan | UN Songdo Hotel

Otherwise known as “U & Song Do Hotel,” “Hotel U & Song Do,” Hotel & U 3-6-9,” and “that time we think we stayed in a love motel.”

This hotel literally had four names. The name we booked under – UN Songdo Hotel – differed from the signage on the hotel, which differed from various branded items throughout the hotel. And to add to the confusion, there’s another hotel in Busan called “UN Tourist Hotel,” which was not the same as UN Songdo Hotel. Confused yet? We were.

Whatever the real name of this hotel was, I’m pretty sure it was a love motel.

Love motels originated as just that, a place to get away to engage in hanky panky. In a traditional Asian family, it’s very common for a child to live at home until he/she was married. Thus, a love motel became a  place where people – gfs, bfs, ladies of the night – could have a bit of privacy while hooking up.  Love motels were often paid for in slots of time as needed, and were, as the name may have implied, quite seedy. These days, however, many love motels fall more along the lines of a kitsch-y boutique hotel with oddly themed rooms that cater to a younger clientele. Some motels even have “party rooms” which are essentially tricked out mini suites big enough to rent for a couple hours in order to throw a party. (Like a normal party, not a coke party or orgy or anything, though I guess you could if you wanted.)

Our room at UN Songdo et al was fairly normal as far as Korean rooms go – no hookers or druggies hanging out in the parking lot soliciting for sex or anything. We had a mini fridge, a desktop computer (which apparently is common in love motels?), a mirrored wall, and a jacuzzi tub. For the most part, it reminded us of a slightly gaudy, but very comfortable, boutique hotel…

…until we discovered the disco lights over the hot tub…

Up until that point I think we weren’t quiiiittee sure it was a love motel, but yeah, pretty sure it was.

DETAILS

UN Songdo Hotel / U & Song Do Hotel / Hotel U & Song Do /Hotel & U 3-6-9  |  LOCATION: approximately 5 minutes walking distance from Songdo Beach | COST: $50-$70 low season, approximately $135 high season. Note: Apparently ‘high season” is July and August as when we visited in June, people exclaimed, “The beach in June? Too cold.” (It was mid to upper 80s). We paid about $70 for a deluxe room in June, but when I went back to check rates for July and August, they were twice as much. |  DESCRIPTION: I’m writing this as a separate post as information in on locally owned Korean hotels is practically impossible to find if you’re not fluent in Korean. Our preference is to stay at a non-chain hotels/guesthouses/BnBs etc. when traveling so we have come to rely solely on AirBnb  and Booking/Agoda.com. It’s pretty easy finding a place in the larger cities, but usually those places are clustered around the most touristy areas. In Busan, that meant pretty much every hotel I found was located near one of the more popular  – Haeundae and Gwangalli – beaches. We wanted to stay at one of the smaller beaches – Songdo – not only because we prefer to get away from the crowds, but also because Songdo was close to Gamcheon and Jalgachi, two places that we wanted to visit. We chose UN Songdo because it was inexpensive, looked modern, had free parking, and was within 5 minutes walking distance to the beach. Questionable love motel status aside, UN Songdo is listed as a 2 star hotel, which I would say is fairly accurate. There weren’t a ton of amenities like a fitness room or free breakfast, but they had a coffee machine in the lobby, and an electric kettle, mini fridge, toiletries, and a computer in our room. Our room was large, clean, and contained a whirpool tub built for two (with disco lights). The bed was a typical Korean-style bed (hard mattress). We actually like hard mattresses so that is never a sticking point for us when it comes to booking hotels, but if you’re one of those people that hates hard mattresses, then this is probably not the place for you. All in all we would stay here again, though there are quite a few other boutique/love hotels in the area that we wouldn’t mind checking out as well.