From the Chosun Ilbo. A search hasn't yet brought up photographs of the hotel's exterior.
Not breaking news for people living in Suncheon, but I just read that Suncheon's classy hotel opened on December 15th. The Ecograd Hotel (에코그라드 호텔) is an 18-floor, 93-meter building in Jorye-dong with six restaurants, two bars, banquet and wedding facilities, a "Roman bath," and twelve types of suites and rooms. It was built to accommodate guests for the 2012 Yeosu Expo nearby and the 2013 World Garden Expo at Suncheon Bay.
From this Naver cafe.
Construction site, July 2009.
From a 경황신문 piece last month I learned that Gwangju opened a Holiday Inn on December 10th, giving the Honam region three first-class hotels, in the article's estimation: Gwangju's Ramada rounds out the trio.
Gwangju's Holiday Inn (홀리데이인 광주) in Chipyeong-dong, from the Chosun Ilbo.
9 comments:
i don't think you've posted about this yet but have you heard that gwangju's usquare bus terminal has 4D movies now? they are one of the first in the world to show full length 4D movies. I've seen 2 already and they are really cool and worth going to. the cost is 18,000w
Sarah, what's a 4D movie supposed to be?
Brian, it seems Holiday Inn is opening up all over Korea.
The one in Chipyeong-dong, Kwangju, is funky looking, in a good way.
Grand Opening - not Grand Open. Sigh...
kushibo, a 4D movie also has special effects like moving seats, water squirting at you, and even smells that match what's happening on the screen. You might have been on one at Disney World or something similar. The cool thing is that some theaters are making them available for mainstream movies - I went to see Toy Story 3 in 4D and it was REALLY cool.
Mark - I know, right? Honestly, I look at these pictures and the description and think, "Wow, that sounds like a really classy hotel." And then you see the picture of the grand opening, and they couldn't even spend five minutes to find a native English speaker to tell them that their English is wrong? It's embarrassing, and it makes what I'm sure is a very nice place look cheap and/or shady to international visitors.
Thanks for that, Sarah, and for the explanation Ceiling of Stars.
kushibo, I remember posting about Holiday Inn's expansion into Gwangju back in 2008, when Gwangju's Ramada was also news. The lack of hotel options for western tourists is a problem for all the expos and international events Gwangju, Suncheon, Yeosu, and Mokpo / Yeongam are attracting.
Are we really surprised they didn't bother checking with a native English speaker?
Super. More horrid architecture in the Korean landscape.
Ceiling of stars - I completely agree with you. I mean, here's the logic I follow:
5 star hotel = world famous
this means tourists will come to visit/stay there.
Tourists visiting means that presentation is key
Business language = English
Therefore:
Banner with butchered English = Fail.
The bigger problem is that they might have known they were wrong but went ahead with printing it anyhow so that the locals could understand what it was. It really frustrates me when Koreans speak great, if not perfect English to me and then speak Korean and use Konglish and butcher the pronunciation/word completely. Then again, there are a lot folks who call Pari ParIS or Hio De Janeiro REo De Janeiro so I suppose I shouldn't grumble.
Brian - not surprised but hardly impressed. Just because they do something wrong consistently doesn't mean it's okay. ;) Hell, if I was walking down the street and they asked, I'd have told them how to fix it for free. Oh well...end rant.
The design is...
Seriously this is the kind of architecture that might be cool on paper, but that in 10 years will be considered butt ugly like most 70's architectures ;)
A year late, but I don't think the Ecograd's architecture is "horrid". Considering it displaced a massage parlor I think it's a nice addition. And I'm always in favor of building up, not out.
The Holiday Inn . . . well, it was finished about a year after I left, so I've never seen it in person. While I love, um, love hotels and the other alternatives to tired old tourist hotels, cities will have to add some reliable western chains if they are hoping to attract tourists for all the conventions and expos they're holding. Though the quality of rooms you'll find in plenty of hotels in motels in Gwangju rival or surpass what you'll find at a "tourist hotel"---or even a Holiday Inn or chain in the US---the remaining obstacle is that unless you know Korean and can navigate Korean-language websites, you won't be able to make reservations from overseas.
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