Hotel Spotlight / Renaissance Seoul Hotel State of the art technology makes international technology workers right at home The Renaissance Seoul Hotel, located on Teheran Street in the Gangnam business district, is an excellent destination for business travellers coming to Seoul. Its proximity to the booming IT district in Bundang is also convenient for many professional information technology visitors to the Seoul area. Jeff Taylor, director of operations at the Renaissance Seoul Hotel said, "Obviously [there is] the proximity of a lot of major companies and a lot of major headquarters certainly IT-wise there's quite a bit of activity here." The hotel, a part of Marriott International, caters to a mainly businessoriented clientele with a Business Center, Executive Club, and extensive Meeting and Banquet facilities. Its Business Center boasts the latest in connection and printing capabilities, according to Mr. Taylor, and even offers equipment rentals. "Obviously the business traveler is becoming more and more demanding and more savvy about specific usage or what they want to be able to do," notes Mr. Taylor, who goes on to say, "We're constantly upgrading those and looking at those on a monthly basis to make sure that things that guests are requesting, be it from North America or from other parts of Asia or Europe that we're able to accommodate those needs." Each room in the business destination is equipped with Ethernet connections, and wireless access exists in the entire hotel. State-ofthe- art presentation rooms equipped with projection screens and Ethernet-wired tables are perfect for the next Internet security conference. The main meeting or banquet room is the Diamond Ballroom, which can hold up to 1,000 people and has a private driveway. There are twelve other smaller rooms available for meetings and/or dining. Award-winning food and beverage The hotel has won the award of "Best Food and Beverage Hotel" by readers of the Korea Times and Korea Herald for three years in a row. The hotel hosts a total of fourteen restaurants and lounges. No matter your dining preference, you can find a place to meet your expectations. The hotel is especially popular with local residents. The Director spoke about this by saying, "The great majority of our food and beverage guests, about 85%, are local customers." One of the more notable of these restaurants is the newly-opened Manhattan Grill and Bar. It features western-style char-grilled beef and mutton steak. The restaurant includes four private dining rooms for group meetings. There are six more private dining rooms at the Club Horizon, which lies beneath a crystalline atrium. The view at the top of the hotel gives visitors a panoramic view of the city and surrounding mountains. The stylish luxury of this particular restaurant is appropriate for more formal dinners. Kabin, which translates as honorable guest, is the hotel's Sichuan Chinese restaurant. It is here on the fourth floor that customers can experience authentic flavors from China's south central province. Seasonal menus ensure that each visit is a new experience. Many doors, many rooms The hotel features 493 guest rooms including 19 suites in a 23 story building. The property was opened in 1988 just prior to the Seoul Olympics. Soo Keun Kim of Space Group designed the architecture, which includes a small garden and ineresting sculpture separating the main building from the sidewalk. Jenny Kim of Graham and Solanoh designed the interior decorations. The hotel has won many awards over the past five years, including Best Business Hotel in 2005. Some rooms in the hotel come equipped with fax machines and mobile phones. The top four floors of the hotel offer a higher level of personalized service, better amenities, and complimentary dining. These floors are designated as the Renaissance Club. At the top of the hotel there is an indoor heated swimming pool and large outdoor Sun Terrace. The swimming pool is covered by a glass atrium.

The following are excerpts from an interview with Jeff Tyler, director of operations at the Renaissance Seoul Hotel - Ed. Q: Is this particular hotel a very old hotel A: This hotel was opened in 1988 just prior to the Seoul Olympics. Q: So its fairly modern then A: Not just really modern for Seoul I think its a little bit of an older hotel for Seoul. But I think its all relative to facilities and upkeep and maintenance. I think the age of the building doesn't necessarily dictate the customer experience or the overall hotel experience its really how its been maintained how its been improved and how its kept modern and kept up with current trends. You find a lot of hotels that are five years old that aren't as modern or aren't as equipped as a hotel that is 20 years old. It really depends on the focus. If the customer focus is there I think the necessary changes are internally done to make sure you keep customers coming back. Q: This is a very good location for businessmen. Do you think that your hotel has a certain reputation A: I think it has a reputation obviously location-wise. Obviously the proximity to a lot of major companies and a lot of major headquarters certainly IT-wise there's quite a bit of activity here. There's a lot of guests staying in Bundang and doing IT work and things like that in Bundang. We run shuttles back and forth. There's a lot of that happening right now. Locationwise and also a vast food and beverage offering here so local guest-wise I think that the hotel certainly has a reputation for food and beverage. The great majority of our food and beverage guests, about 85%, are local customers. Q: Do you find that to be different from other locations A: No. Not necessarily. I think that obviously you want to maintain your capture rate or your in-house rate. Your in-house guests obviously consume food and beverages as much as you can in your hotel. I think that in other parts of Asia though you find that if the restaurants are of the caliber or the food is over the caliber that keeps the outside guests interested and frequenting. I mean as a percentage potentially it might be higher, but comparing to maybe Japan or Thailand or something like that, I think the average is probably pretty substantial in those places as well. Q: In general, what do you think of the Korean hotel industry A: As a whole, the hotels in Seoul, I'd say a very competitive, very modern product. I think you'd see a lot of hotels, they're doing renovations every 3 to 5 years. I think as a whole they are very competitive to the rest of Asia. I think rooms product-wise, its very progressive and very modern for the most part. Certainly compared to the United States and compared to Hawaii, I think that for a business environment and things like that, things are very efficient, and then theres touches of luxury in most major hotels. Q: So do you think the Korean hotel industry needs competitive improvement A: I Think the industry as a whole obviously visitor levels need to continue to improve. There's challenges there for the industry as a whole, which is obviously going to put a strain on improvements and competitiveness and making changes or upgrades to hotels themselves to make them world class or continue to make them world class, visitor numbers need to continue to improve. I think that that is a good challenge, certainly better than it was in 2005. Business travel obviously, those are where the premium rates are. As long as the business environment as as whole continues to improve in this country then things are optimistic. But it really depends upon how things are happening economically how big the industry can grow and how aggressively rates can grow in the city.